Lunch with LitNYS Season 1, Episode 4

When asked about his start in the literary world, Ira Silverberg said, “‘Find your kind, they say,’ and I did.”

His kind happened to include famed literary radicals such as William S. Boroughs (whom he described as “my mother-in-law”), June Jordan, Kathy Ackers, and Grove Press’ founder, Barney Rosset.

“I am in awe of writers and artists. It’s social justice. It’s literary justice. It’s community building. It’s expressing your taste as a freak. I’m an arts person. Karmically, this is where I wound up and I don’t question it anymore.”

Now, Ira is on a mission to bring the punk ethos to independent publishing. Reflecting on the theme of the Lit NYS conference, he said that making publishing work for writers and readers means focusing on disrupture.

“While I may want to rip them (traditional systems) apart, I can still respect the fact that they still exist. I can write a grant, I’m on boards, I do all of that, but I’m here to try to… change a system that I think isn’t working and get work out in ways that is more effective for readers and writers.”

Linda Kleinbub and her indie press, Pink Trees Press, are relative newcomers to the scene, having started in the New York City downtown arts scene in 2012, creating small batches of handmade books. Its first mass-marketed book was the Silver Tongued Devil Anthology, published in 2020, edited by Linda Kleinbub and Anthony C. Murphy. In addition to being a Girls Write Now mentor, Linda has fostered a literary community through readings series and her press.

She said that she is proud of the fact that after graduating from the New School, she is now in a position to help other writers get published.

“Small presses really look at the work, and they don’t care if you’re a celebrity or not. So I think the small press gives the little guy a chance. It’s a way we can get good work out there that a big publisher won’t take a chance on.”

Both Ira and Linda said the hardest thing about working for small literary organizations is the lack of funding. Additionally, small presses struggle with distribution. After the nonprofit Small Press Distribution shut down in 2024, many indie presses struggled to survive. Still, Linda and Ira are both optimistic about the promise of indie publishers in making the literary scene more inclusive and exciting.