I want to spend the summer near water. I want to spend every day in my bathing suit, wrapped up in a beach towel, hair left wild to dry. I want to read all the books that I’ve been stacking for months on my desk and my nightstand and the side-table by the window that gets the best sun, where I keep many of my houseplants. (Right now I’m making my way through both Friederike Mayröcker’s The Communicating Vessels and Diane Stein’s All Women are Psychics.) I take my dog to the park, sit in the shade and write in my journal while she chases squirrels and rolls in the clay dirt. I’ve always haunted benches. I’ve always found spaces to sit with my pen and my thoughts. It is no wonder, then, that these summer activities I am yearning for occur in isolation—where else have I ever gone but off by myself? But too much time alone gets lonely; too much time with myself drains all of my best.
The purpose of The Champagne Room, beyond creating a physical space for collecting and sharing writing that we believe in, that we believe needs to be read, is to generate, collaborate, commune. Although I often seek solitude, what I have always wanted most is community, one that I know is present, accessible, inspiring. Good things are fueled by collaboration in most areas of life; by sharing ideas and shattering constructs, we work together to find the light.
Behind the scenes of The Champagne Room, we are continuing to find ways to accomplish this vision of connectivity, which is why this month, to celebrate the release of ISSUE 02, we will be hosting a virtual reading. The reading will take place on Thursday, June 16th, from 5-7pm (EST). Many of our contributors will be participating, and more information, including the Zoom link, will follow.
In the meantime, copies of ISSUE 02 of The Champagne Room are now available for purchase. We are thrilled to be able to share such special, stunning, necessary work, and we will continue to share distribution updates, including various bookstores where The Champagne Roomcan be found, in future newsletters.
Finally, be sure to visit our website to read our contributor conversationwith Kaia Preus, author of “Frankenstein’s Mother,” featured in ISSUE 02. Her thoughts on writing superpowers, musicality, and the magic of art-making will be live on June 15th.
Go swimming. Read something new. Take care of yourself.
Love and Light,
Heather
(she/her)
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Champagne Room