About Us

Mission Statement

We publish literary fiction, poetry, and art based in contemporary urban (and sometimes sub-urban) settings. Our goal is to support the independent publishing process and to promote urban-themed writing.

Follow @CurbsidePress

Publication Process

We publish a bi-monthly e-zine at the E-Zine. Work that is published online will be communicated to our readers via our social networks and our monthly e-newsletter. We publish a semi-annual print journal of work selected from our Curbside online publications and new pieces, showcasing longer stories. Our current issue available: Curbside Splendor Issue 2. We also publish books from time to time. We're the publisher of Another Chicago Magazine. Please visit our store to purchase one of our titles. Our titles typically ship within one week of order, unless otherwise noted on the product page. If you are a bookseller, or would like to purchase our books via check or money order, please see our contact info below.

Submission Guidelines - E-Zine/Curbside Journal

We accept submissions of short fiction, poetry, and photography/art for our E-Zine and the semi-annual print journal at our Submission Manager ONLY. Submissions sent to any other address will not be reviewed. The Submissions Manager contains pertinent guidelines.

Submission Guidelines - Books

We accept book submissions by invitation only. If you have a book that may fit our vision, please send us a one or two page query letter by email to submit@curbsidesplendor.com summarizing the finished work, yourself, and why you think we may be a fit.

Reading Series / Events

In conjunction with Two With Water, a fellow Chicago-based literary group, we present a bi-monthly reading series at Beauty Bar Chicago occurring the second Sunday of every other month. If you would like to be a featured reader, best thing is to come to an event and introduce yourself, get up and read at the open-mic session we have at the beginning of each event.

We also like to sponsor, present, co-present literary friendly parties at places like Beauty Bar Chicago and Empty Bottle. If you have something in mind, would like to work with us somehow, send us a note at info@curbsidesplendor.com

Curbside Splendor Bookstand

Because there are so many great small publishers in Chicago, and we love our community of Logan Square, Chicago, we run a pop-up bookstore at the Logan Square Farmer's Market at which we sell books / journals by Chicago presses and authors. See here for further details: Bookstand

Curbside Splendor YouTube Channel

We periodically publish videos of us or our contributors reading their work on YouTube. Visit and subscribe to our channel: Curbside Splendor

Payment / Fees / Writing Contests

We do not charge a reading fee. We do not pay for submissions accepted at the present. Payment for books we publish is established separately with the author.

We offer writing awards (i.e. contests) from time to time. See here for the current opportunity: Winter 2010 Curbside Writing Award.

Legal Stuff

Curbside Splendor Publishing accepts no liability arising from the publication of an author’s work. Authors retain copyright on all works. We request one-time electronic rights and the right to publish your work in the print journal. Work published will be archived indefinitely. Submission to Curbside Splendor Publishing constitutes acceptance of these conditions. We do not accept returns or exchanges of books purchased from us.

History

Curbside Splendor was conceived in the early 1990's at an apartment in Urbana, Illinois. Officially, it was founded in the fall of 2009 and is located in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

Staff

Victor David Giron is publisher, editor-in-chief, publicist, and accountant. He's a CPA who can't let go of his desire to be a philosopher. He started Curbside Splendor originally to publish his first novel Sophomoric Philosophy, but then was like "dang, publishing is fun", and so here we are. He lives in Logan Square, Chicago.

Ben Tanzer is publicity / operations officer, and books acquisition editor. He's a daddy-cool author of many, many books and short stories and runs This Zine Will Change Your Life and This Blog Will Change Your Life. We like to think of him as our secret weapon.

Jacob S. Knabb is books acquisitions editor. He's better known as Harold Ray, a ruinous West Virginian janitor who secretly longs to become a famous country singer but has no discernible talents other than an ability to drunkenly croon. He hosts the variety show "So You Think You Have Nerves of Steel" at the Hungry Brain in Chicago because he thinks it will lead to a record deal in Nashville, Tennessee. He's also known for being editor-in-chief of Another Chicago Magazine.

Lauryn Allison Lewis is senior managing editor, primarily in charge of pre-publication editing of our online content and print projects, along with general promotion and party-planning. She writes fiction, essays, interviews, and bakery reviews. Her writing has appeared at a variety of places. She regularly hosts all-night dance parties in her kitchen and is working on her first novel, The Beauties. She is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse Magazine.

Leonard Vance is assistant editor, primarily in charge of the Curbside monthly e-zine / and print journal editor. You’ve probably seen him reading a book as he crosses the busy streets of Chicago. He writes fiction and essays, works a web copywriter at Vivid Seats, and as an editor for Narrative Magazine.

Joey Pizzolato is our reviews / interviews editor. He's an MFA candidate at Spalding University. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of journals, websites, and magazines. He lives in Austin, TX, and currently serves as the literary editor of Composite {Arts Magazine}(www.compositearts.com )

Garett Holden is art editor, and resident videoagrapher. He's a multi-faceted artist, a man of many talents, who does his magic out of Brooklyn, NYC.

Karolina "Koko" Faber is a contributing designer and overall fashion director. She's a transglobal party girl, and one hell of a photographer, painter, designer, everything. She grew up in Poland, came to Chicago in her teens, and now lives in Berlin.

Tyler Gillespie is a junior editor. We met him at the first annual Chicago Book Expo November 2011 and he emailed us expressing an interest in helping and we met with him and so now he's helping us primarily with the Curbside monthly e-zine. He recently was a finalist in the Rose Metal Press annual chapbook contest, which we think is really great.

Heather Leigh Maher is a junior editor. She teaches writing and literature at several Chicagoland colleges, inducting students into the mysteries of the formal research essay. She is currently researching the integration of contemporary social media into the college classroom, as it is an excellent excuse to get students writing weekly blogs. She currently lives in Chicago's southwestern suburbs in a house with an unusually high cat-to-human ratio.

Sarah Bradford is a junior editor. She’s a craft lover and can often be found with her hot glue gun in hand. Since her Bookmobile days, she’s been obsessed with getting her hands on stories and editing them to perfection. She was assistant editor on a project with Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, editing Lauryn Allison Lewis’ novella, Solo Down, through which she then came to learn about us.

Stephen Shoup is our design intern. We met him at a bookstore in Logan Square and got to talking and he seemed nice and interested in what we do. He later emailed us expressing in interest in helping, has design skills, and so now he's helping us.

Seamless designed and manages our website. They rock.

Contact

For general questions, contact us at:

victor@curbsidesplendor.com or info@curbsidesplendor.com

Call us at 312.342.5935.

Other

Some of our favorite sites:

www.anobiumlit.com

www.emptybottle.com

www.featherproof.com

www.karolinafaber.com

www.jerseydevilpress.com