Hi, my name is Jonathan Penton, and I want to thank you for visiting our Patreon page.

I'm the Editor-in-Chief at Unlikely Stories and Unlikely Books. It's 2018, and we're here in New Orleans celebrating twenty years of publication at www.UnlikelyStories.org.

At Unlikely Stories, we believe in change. We believe in literature and art as a focus for change—a transformative force that is powerful, but also subtle and complex, capable of not only challenging political regimes, but also the emotional and spiritual issues that enable toxic political regimes to thrive. We don’t believe in change through platitudes, but rather through art that’s as bloody and passionate as it is original.

So every week, our web site presents new content: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, first hand accounts of activism, visual art, movies, music, art criticism, and special projects. We publish around three to five books a year with that same ethos: overtly political writings, sure, but always work that seeks to challenge reader perceptions—work that thrives on the unexpected, that seeks to change what art does and what it’s capable of.

And we take these books to fairs, readings, and conferences throughout North America—bringing new art to new audiences, showing as many people as possible the extraordinary things that poetry, literature, and art can do.

It takes a lot of volunteer hours—from me, and from our wonderful staff—to make this happen, but it also takes raw materials, postage, and conference fees. Your patronage is an essential part of our success, so if you’re interested, check out our web site, and if you believe in what we do, please do send us a few bucks a month. We’ve got lots of great rewards for patrons, so be sure to check those out.

Unlikely Stories is:
Jonathan Penton, Editor-in-Chief
dan raphael, Prose Editor
Leona Strassberg Steiner, Art Director
with love and thanks to Michelle Greenblatt (1982–2015) for her wisdom during her tenure as Poetry Editor.

Works featured in this video:
Visual Poetry by John M. Bennett
“The Policy” by Alex “PoeticSoul” Johnson
Michelle Greenblatt reading from Ashes and Seeds
We’ll See Who Seduces Whom by Tom Bradley & David Aronson
Soy solo palabras but wish to be a city by León De la Rosa and Gui.ra.ga7
León De la Rosa reading off-site, AWP Conference, 2010
John Warner Smith reading in Lafayette, Louisiana
j/j hastain at the Mercury Cafe, Denver

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