Charles Bernstein

Susan Bee on Segue and Roof Books

Photo by Mel Nichols at ROOF Books celebration, Zinc Bar, NYC, Nov. 17, 2012.

From 1980 to 1992, I worked extensively on most of the Roof and Segue Books produced during that period. I worked with the publisher James Sherry and the authors and the typesetters and cover artists. The work consisted of getting the manuscript from James and the authors, which was often very hard to procure, making sure it was proofed and edited and ready, then bringing it to Skeezo, the typesetters on 27th Street. They set the galleys on their machines. Then I’d come and pick up the Xeroxes of the galleys, proofread them, and then bring the galleys back for corrections with author’s corrections too. When the final galleys were ready. I would lay out the book by hand. I made an initial dummy for the book and then pasted up the final mechanical on boards with glue or wax. Often as in the case of Hannah Weiner’s and Bruce Andrews’ books, I would be moving around single words or letters or lines of type with an exacto knife to create shapes or odd spacing. The cover was also done by me, but with various artist’s works on them. Then the book would go to the printer and come back by US mail for blues. It was a lengthy and detailed process of production in those days without e-mail or computers to speed things along.

Rudy & Jacob Burckhardt films on PennSound Cinema

The Automotive Story, 1954
A Cittadura Documentary

Rudy Burckhardt, Director
Jane Freilicher, Narration
Kenneth Koch, Text
Debussy, Poulenc, and Scriabin, Piano Music
Frank O'Hara, Music Player

Read the full transcription of a 1976 radio interview with Rudy Burckhardt about Automotive Story at Jacket Magazine.

Video portraits series 11: Yarmolinsky, Lazer, Perloff, Royet-Journoud, Loney, LI (2008-2009)

Ben – Maybe Not: Ben Yarmolinsky
Hank Eats the Shell ("The Shrimp is a poem in itself"
Marjorie & Joe: Marjorie Perloff
Claude's Prepositions: Claude Royet-Journoud
Alan's Print Performance: Alan Loney
Li: The Snow of Yesteryear: Li Zhimin

Series 11 at PennSound

New York Talk: 1984 series at Segue Foundation

series curated and moderated by Charles Bernstein

Munich and Berlin bilingual readings, 2012: video and audio

at Lyrik Kabinett Jan. 25 & Lettretage Sept. 11

(l to r): Tobias Amslinger, Norbert Lange, Charles Bernstein, Dennis Büscher-Ulbrich, Mathias Traxler in Berlin

In the next couple of years, Christian Lux will be publishing a German translation of my selected poems, All the Whiskey in Heaven. Norbert Lange and company have been working on the translation with marvelous ingenuity and astonishing dedication. Norbert, Christian and I first met in January whne I did a reading at Lyrik Kabinett. We next read together last month at the Berlin Literary Festival ("Reveal Codes") and then at Lettrétage.