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Author Mon Aug 12 2013

A Chat With Lesley Dixon, Author of Mirrors for Princes

Mirrors for Princes is the latest release from Chicago's very small Meekling Press, and it looks great:

books1-e1373658982137.jpg

I got a chance to catch up through emails with Lesley Dixon, the author of this collection of bizarro micro-fictions on sale here. Dixon has recently relocated from Chicago to Austin, Texas.

You put this book out with Meekling Press. Can you explain what it's like to work with them?
It's a small operation of really talented people who are also tolerable, even charming. This is a rare thing, as talented people are usually the worst. Meekling books (and book-objects) are made entirely by hand, often with a letterpress; Rebecca does the design work and a lot of the heavy lifting, then everybody pitches in to assemble the parts. She's got a really amazing aesthetic, and everything Meekling publishes is completely unique in a way that both enriches the text and reflects the author. They're very cleverly constructed. So it was great to work with Meekling. They proposed a couple of designs, I loved it, we got some people together, we bought beer and pizza, and after a lot of diligent and tedious work with thread and glue and bone-folders, there was this awesome book with my name on it. The process was very straightforward, we didn't even have to bring lawyers into it.

Pizza and books? No lawyers? Sounds illegal to me.
It's a little known fact, but anything done without a lawyer present is actually illegal. Pizza, bookmaking, sex, everything.

I think I understand the economy much better, now, having learned this. What other projects are you involved in that we should know about?
Not much at the moment. I just moved across the country, and haven't really had time to glom onto any movements or projects yet. But my eyes are peeled for coattails to Marty McFly on. I know some talented people here and I'm excited about doing creative stuff with them. I'm also still in touch with Meekling, and I think someday it'll be a trans-national venture. I started working on a novel about a year ago because there wasn't enough futility in my life, and I'm just focused on finishing up the first draft right now. In other news, at the age of 27 with two degrees under my belt, I finally qualify for temp agencies, which I think is an important step in any writer's career.

I look forward to seeing how the spoils of bureaucracy influence your
work. Thanks, Lesley!

 
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