New poetry, a new small press, and an exhibition on children’s books that talk about the Civil Rights movement

Pressing on

Curator Beth Kantrowitz and artist Roberta Paul have been pals and collaborators for years, and have recently announced a new shared endeavor: they’ve started a new independent publishing house based in Brookline called k+p press. Kantrowitz, who co-directed the fiery, spirited Allston Skirt Gallery in Boston, and Paul, a painter and mixed-media artist, wanted “to bring the same approach from the gallery and the studio to literary work,” wrote Kantrowitz in an e-mail. They’ll publish fiction and nonfiction undergirded by an energy of “stories on the pulse of the present.” Their first title, a debut novel called “A Season Unknown” by Westwood-based psychologist Keith Cohen, due out April 27, is a coming-of-age story with a mystical and environmental bent. A virtual launch will take place on May 1 through the Brookline Booksmith. k+p press will start accepting submissions of finished manuscripts of fiction and narrative nonfiction in May.

Picturing civil rights

Now through June 11, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is hosting an acclaimed exhibition — the first of its kind — that explores the civil rights movement through the lens of picture books. “Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Books” includes more than 80 illustrations by 41 artists, that explore the the people, places, and themes that drove the movement. Divided into three sections, the show looks at the the ignition of the movement, its prominent figures and events, and aims an eye ahead to the revivification of activism in the United States right now. Co-curated by the award-winning children’s book author Andrea Davis, the exhibition includes work by Raúl Colón, Brian Pinkney, Ekua Holmes, Selina Alko, Faith Ringgold, Floyd Cooper, and Kadir Nelson, among others, capturing defining moments and people: Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., and the four Black women who became pivotal mathematicians at NASA during the Space Race, among others. The show, which premiered in Atlanta in 2020, raises questions, sparks conversation, and celebrates equity and racial justice.

Coming Out

“On Time and Water” by Andri Snær Magnason, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Open Letter)

“The Twilight Zone” by Nona Fernández, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Graywolf)

“Double Blind” by Edward St. Aubyn (FSG)

Pick of the Week

Josh Cook at Porter Square Books in Cambridge recommends “Two Stories” by Osvaldo Lamborghini, translated from the Spanish by Jessica Sequeira (Sublunary Editions): “Less ‘stories’ and more ‘linguistic landscapes’ or ‘ambient textualities’ or ‘en-languaged fogs,’ “Two Stories” is one of those books that questions how books and sentences are supposed to work. Lamborghini is an utterly unique, tantalizingly difficult, and occasionally dirty writer.”