PRESS II PRESS
WORDS AND ART FOR THE FUTURE
no social media. word of mouth only. like fight club? yeah, but for art.
The Beautiful Pause Prize is now open for nonfiction manuscripts and pitches, through May 1st 2026!
Volume 11 has finally been sent to the printers.
Pre-order today. (Pre-orders get 2 bucks off.)
This volume is about what happens when we pause long enough to notice what’s right in front of us. From Albrecht Dürer’s delicate study of a pillow (in the featured throwback) to work that wrestles with memory, loss, and moments of feebleness and desperation, this volume simply… looks closely. Each piece offers its own kind of quiet rebellion against our collective rush. (Maybe that’s why it took so long to get here?!?!?!)
Featuring
Fiction by...
Matt Bender (3rd place winner of the Beautiful Pause Prize for Fiction, 2024) / Charles Byrne / Barlow Crassmont / Patrick Doerksen / Terence Patrick Hughes / Melissa Loftus / Rene Maori / Pia Quintano / Kaylie Saidin / Anita Pan / Toluwaleyi Meadows
Nonfiction by...
John W. Ballantine / Sarah Harley / Jamie Simons / Jacob Taylor / Skylar Lynn Tibbetts / Renee Shi
Poetry by...
Carol Everett Adams / Mariam Ahmed / f. elliot / Jason Fraley / Gerburg Garmann / Ash Goedker / Dean Hel / Zama Madinana / Larissa Martins / Alise Versella
Art by...
Mark Blickley / Derritt Meyer / Jamie Simons / Rachel Turney / James Reade Venable
Music by...
Joshua Kepfer / Gerburg Garmann
Cover art by…
James Reade Venable - “All The Wild Sneezys”
From “Mayflower”, by Kaylie Saidin, October 2025, Press Pause V11
volume 10
10 is a beautiful number humans love celebrating. So, naturally, this volume is a huge celebration, featuring tons of art, a featured young artist in every category, and work from some of our wonderful former contributors (one of which was a featured young writer once)! Order today to celebrate number 10 with us. :)
Featuring
Fiction by…
Zach Murphy / Heather Carvell / AJW / Nina Patricia Martinez / Timothy Froessel / Abigail Ann Gray / Gia Masih / Soramimi Hanarejima
Poetry by…
Rushing Pittman / Monique Harris / Dane Lyn / Cole Hammer / Nellie Bridge / Hayden Armos / Mae Baltazar / Kevin Chesser / Kaylie Barreda
Nonfiction by…
Ryan Weatherbee / Brett Ann Stanciu / Carolyn Lu / Lindsay Thurman / Maleka Kakkar / Reema Rajbanshi / Colleen Markley
Art by…
Ryan Agarwal / Ernest Williamson III / Ben Miller / Pia Quintano / Kasia Runte / Nina Patricia Martinez (cover art and more) / 6 yo Sullivan / Sabahat Ali Wani
Music by…
SLO Pony / Phil Coomer / Adam Wan
grab one of the last copies of volume 9!
Let us tell you the story of Volume 9. Here we go.
We are beleaguered. The news is hard to read. The world is a hungry canine. Many of us are working multiple jobs. But we love Press Pause, and art and writing and music, so we keep doing it. And it looks like there are a lot of wonderful, talented people who feel the same because Volume 9 is full of beautiful resilience and grit. Be careful. It might move you.
Ready to ship! It’s always better in print. Our volumes are fun to hold and pretty to behold.
All orders support our ability to keep printing. As do donations. :)
featured from the family room
The Cauldron
the reading corner
Read more book reviews, book recommendations, etc in The Reading Corner of The Family Room
press play
Read more from Press Play in The Family Room
the great pause
Read more from The Great Pause in The Family Room
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Press Pause Press is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization kept alive through public support.
“If she believed the boardwalk T-shirts, a woman was a ball or chain, someone stupid you’re with, someone to lie to so a man can drink beer. If she believed the television fathers, women were a constant pain, wanting red roses or a nice dinner out. If she learned how to be a girl from songs, it was worse. If she learned from other girls, worse still.
The bass notes of ‘The Choice is Yours’ begin, sounds that had until that moment filled her body with so much energy she thought she’d faint. She walks faster so she won’t have to hear the entry of the tinny, female voices promising, Here we go, yo, here we go, the looping This or that, the try or don’t worry or you can’t intervene, divine statements that beat her around the circle in double time with something extra in her body, for once, abundance. The song has flipped on her—she’s the one left without choices, violated and decepticated, no one running after her, no one calling her back.”
-Marie-Helene Bertino