Small presses have a long history in Philly. In fact, publishing is one of the city’s oldest industries. Just three years after its founding, the city already had its first printing press. And by the end of the 18th century, Philadelphia had become the center for book printing and publishing in the entire country, surpassing New York and Boston.
Today, centuries later, small and independent presses continue to play a vital role in the city’s literary and intellectual landscape.
Much like publishers back then who helped shape political discourse when ideas like freedom of speech were central in conceiving independence from Britain, today’s publishing houses are increasingly committed to a socially engaged, thought-provoking mission.
To them, the mission does not compromise the quality of content, but rather redefines it, prioritizing voices that have long been unheard and ensuring that publishing remains a space for meaningful encounters and dialogue.
Billy Penn spoke with several small, independent publishers to learn how they are reshaping this legacy, each with their own approach but a shared commitment to promoting diversity, creativity and sustainability.
We are sharing our conversations with them as a series of articles. This is the second one. The first was with Beehive Books’ co-founder Josh O’Neill.
This installment welcomes Linda Gallant, of The Head and The Hand.
So, let’s start the presses!
Linda Gallant, project director at The Head and The Hand
Could you describe The Head and The Hand?
We are a small bookstore as well as an independent publisher, and we are a non-profit. So that model allows us to apply for grant funding in order to support the programming that we do both inside the bookstore as a brick-and-mortar and just in general.
We slowly evolved into a bookstore as well as a publisher just to sort of become a place where we could both host interesting programming and to support the literary landscape of Philadelphia. We wanted the space in which to do that and there’s really no substitute for gathering together and hearing work shared. It’s irreplaceable. So we wanted to sort of have that as a hub and then the nonprofit decision was because we knew that it was going to be a challenge to be consistent with our revenue stream from sales alone from the works that we were publishing. So we decided to shift that model in order to become eligible for grant funding.
Tell us more about the story behind the name of The Head and The Hand.
The name of the organization is rooted in the idea of “action follows thought.” So the founder wanted to engage with writers who had not just a powerful voice in terms of the quality of the prose that they wrote, but also that there was a galvanizing message as well … We call it “the power to spark change and entertain,” combining those two forces together.
We’ve evolved along into the lines of more, smaller-scale works that we publish called chapbooks, which enable us to make a balancing act between the bookstore operations as well as the publishing side, which we had to sort of “right-size,” especially with the pressures that we felt along with the pandemic like so many others.
What obstacles and challenges have you faced along the way?
We are certainly really fortunate to have longtime partnerships with other organizations in Philadelphia in the literary landscape. We were so fortunate to partner with Drexel Writers Room, for example, on publishing collaboration, and we have a very strong tie with Blue Stoop, which runs workshops, writing workshops in Philadelphia … But we also acknowledge that independent experimental publishing is not a major moneymaker. This is very much still a passion project and operating on a smaller scale both gives us freedom in order to make every decision but also … what we grapple with is an awareness where you know it’s always been a challenge to scale our marketing for the organization in order to give as much awareness around our project as possible.
And I think too that, as a non-profit, we are subject to the review of granting organizations. It’s a great amount of effort that it takes to make sure that we are putting as much effort into the grant-writing process as possible while still maintaining our collective time and capacity.
Why is balancing the bookstore, grant applications and the publishing process so important for your organization?
We are committed to this space. We have renewed our lease on Frankford Avenue. We love our community members. Running the bookstore allows us to maintain a really strong tie to both the writers and the publishers in our area. I think it offers so many opportunities to learn and collaborate that we would really have to take a step back in order to think about the ways in which we would sort of pivot to do one or the other fully. I think we are a hybrid at heart, we want to responsibly continue and try to scale as much as possible while maintaining that dual nature.
After more than a decade in the business, have you noticed any changes in readership or public interest in visiting the bookstore?
We don’t have a membership program per se, but we are really lucky to have our regular collaborators, both in terms of writers and organizations, and then community members who show up to our events, with a great deal of consistency and support and love. So we really couldn’t be more thankful. We definitely still, as any independent bookstore … we aren’t in a position where we can take any sale for granted. Every single show of support matters to us. It really does, down to the dollar.
It’s a great moment for educating the public on top topics like, when you support a small business like ours — whether it’s bookstores or something else — you are making a direct impact on the folks who may be sacrificing a larger paycheck somewhere else or are doing it in order to maintain this identity, to make people feel like they’re in a specific time and place when they walk into the bookstore.
We take it very seriously. We love working with emerging authors, taking a chance on folks who may not yet have had the chance to publish … We consider ourselves a launch pad for many authors. Once they have this first publication, they can then show that to other, perhaps larger, companies and hopefully they can continue on their path toward greater success and recognition.
What types of books, authors and topics do you publish, and can people reach out if they have a project in mind?
We have worked with a range of authors. It’s crazy to see some of the evolutions of some of our writers. More recently, we’ve published three chapbooks through a grant-funded program with Penn Treaty Special Services District … We worked in partnership with Taller Puertorriqueño, the Cultural Center in Kensington. And we were just so thrilled to have them come through and nominate folks to be published in our chapbook form, one of whom Pthalo … They are a young Black queer poet who is just extraordinary. Another poet that is part of our recent chapbook series, Gabriel Ramirez just got a distinction from the American Academy of Poets as well.
Are all the authors based in Philly?
Yes. One of the criteria for this recent round of publications was that they have a meaningful connection to Philadelphia and neighborhoods in what are called the River Wards — Kensington, Fishtown, Port Richmond and beyond. It was hyperlocal, connecting artists and writers. We had events that were salon-style where artists showcased work and writers read, and then there was a sort of matchmaking that happened. If someone sparked to the aesthetic of an artist and a writer, and vice versa, they said, “I would like to work with this person.” And then that artist would be responsible for the cover art of the chap book. It just worked out in a way that was so wonderful and the experiment was really more than we could have asked for.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that The Head and The Hand exists in Philly, given the city’s long history with publishing?
Our founder, Nic Esposito, did use the almanac model as inspiration for one of our first publications. It was an anthology called “The Rust Belt Rising Almanac.” It actually had the word almanac in its name in a nod to “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” We went to the Rosenbach Museum and handled the copies that they have there in the archives. We took advantage of being in a city where we could access those resources and wanted to take that precedent really seriously with this anthology celebrating how creativity can take root when an industry passes on … And Philadelphia is counted among those places where the industry is no longer here, but then creative industries can make something new.
How do ideas like independent publishing and freedom influence your work today?
I just think it is a safe space where we welcome pluralism and want to celebrate identities. When people have a truth and it’s expressed through a medium that is creative, that’s celebratory. We want to celebrate that and oh my god, it’s so important to us and it makes me emotional right now, honestly. That inclusivity is something we strive to make known to everyone that comes into contact with us. It’s at the core of what keeps us going. It hurts to imagine that that sense of inclusivity is somehow counter to what’s happening in the current administration. But that’s “Well, OK then.” That’s the position we will maintain.
What invitation would you like to extend to our readers?
Go out into your community and seek out the places [like] bookstores, [which] are one of those places where inclusivity matters. Find those kindred spirits and do what you can to support them by either showing up, supporting financially if it’s possible, but otherwise like just being a person that occupies that space in solidarity is a really wonderful act if that’s something that you’re able to do.
