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As a result of grief unites us,
just like the locked antlers of moose
who die on their knees in pairs.
-William Matthews
We’re heartbroken on the lack of Austin literary legend, writer of Host Publications, proprietor of impartial bookstore Malvern Books, founding father of Adam’s Music Home, and pal Joe W. Bratcher III, who handed away final Thursday, July twenty eighth, on account of issues from Covid.
Host Publications, which Joe cofounded in 1988 with Elzbieta Szoka, started as a small press primarily devoted to publishing high quality worldwide works in translation, together with Nobel Prize winners Pablo Neruda and Wisława Szymborska. In 2010, Joe opened Malvern Books, a bookstore and neighborhood house for literary fans in Austin, Texas, specializing in “visionary literature and poetry from impartial publishers, with a give attention to lesser-known and rising voices the world wants to listen to.”
Joe Bratcher was a serious donor and mentor to American Brief Fiction. He made frequent cameos at our annual showcase, The Stars at Evening—in 2017 he was named our Neighborhood Star for his work championing Austin’s literary neighborhood, and in 2018 he launched Fernando A. Flores, our Debut Star, who was celebrating the forthcoming publication of his novel, Tears of The Trufflepig, from MCD x FSG Originals, and whose debut assortment about Rio Grande Valley punk-rockers, Dying to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas, was printed by Joe at Host.
For writers and readers in Austin, Malvern is a touchstone—a spot to seek out your subsequent unusual and delightful learn, to make cherished associates who love books as a lot as you do, to fulfill established authors you admire and hearken to writers studying their work for the primary time. And Host Publications, which organizes an annual chapbook contest for girls writers and produces the podcast The Host Dispatch, is a crucial platform for locating new voices.
At ASF, we are going to keep it up Joe’s infectious love of literature and at all times bear in mind his honest kindness and generosity towards everybody he met. We have been so fortunate to know him.
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