Autofocus Books

Happy publication day to Issue 19 of Stanchion Magazine and to the 22 talented writers featured within. Thanks to each of you for being a part of this tremendous issue curated by @fbereaud.bsky.social. Buy a copy today in print, from Stanchion or wherever you order books, or as a PDF.

Publisher’s Marketplace Deal Report. Author of First Love Lilly Dancyger's BALLET WILL HEAL ME, a novella-length essay about dance, chronic pain, and the mind/body connection that weaves together the author's lifelong relationship with ballet, her struggle to get treatment for unexplained debilitating pain, research into the effects of emotional trauma on the body, and the stories and histories of classical ballets, to Michael Wheaton at Autofocus, with Lena Crown editing, in a nice deal, for publication in February 2027 (world English).

2027 is looking mighty fine already at Autofocus! Thrilled to be working with @lillydancyger.bsky.social on this absolute gem of a book.

A Publisher's Marketplace book deal announcement, reading: Author of FIRST LOVE Lilly Dancyger's BALLET WILL HEAL ME, a novella-length essay about dance, chronic pain, and the mind/body connection that weaves together the author's lifelong relationship with ballet, her struggle to get treatment for unexplained debilitating pain, research into the effects of emotional trauma on the body, and the stories and histories of classical ballets, to Michael Wheaton at Autofocus Books, with Lena Crown editing, in a nice deal, for publication in February 2027 (world English).

Surprise! I'm writing a new nonfiction book!! About dance and chronic pain and the ways the body can both express, and be impacted by, emotion. Forthcoming from @autofocusbooks.bsky.social in 2027!

🙌🙌

Hey @autofocusbooks.bsky.social and @tahomareview.bsky.social, guess who's boothed up next to you at AWP26? SEE YA IN BALTIMORE! ❤️

The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #94: Erin Dorney "At first I thought my book was 'just' poetry. But when pieces started getting picked up by literary journals with a non-fiction focus, I started thinking of it more as autofiction."

Was just re-reading my interview at @memoirland.bsky.social to prepare for my event on parasocial fandom this afternoon - it's a pretty good overview of my book & the headspace I was at when writing it.

memoirland.substack.com/p/the-memoir...

Some of the @rejectionlit.bsky.social fam (including photographer @squeakypig.bsky.social — I’m sorry I doubted your vision for this shot) at the @autofocusbooks.bsky.social reading last night! @dtrobbins.bsky.social & Sean Moeller and me!

Still open for pitches for short NF books!

Flyer for An Autofocus Books Reading: If I Can Be Honest, featuring readers Alyson Zetta Williams, Diana Ruzova, Lexi Kent-Monning, D.T. Robbins, and Katharine Coldiron, taking place Wednesday, July 23rd at 7pm at Stories Books and Cafe in Echo Park, 1716 W Sunset Blvd, LA, CA 90026

Angelenos, come out on Wednesday night to Stories for the book launch and reading for @autofocusbooks.bsky.social's new compilation, IF I CAN BE HONEST! I'm so excited to celebrate Autofocus and the incredible writing it continues to shepherd into the world!

When I say I’m a fan of @autofocusbooks.bsky.social, it’s not just because I’ve published 1 book with them + have another coming out in Feb (I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE Teen Queen Training!!)—it’s bc I genuinely love the work they publish. I don’t collect a press’s entire catalog unless I mean it ❤️❤️❤️

I'm excited to teach this class. Come join the fun!

Love to see the band together!

@autofocusbooks.bsky.social book mail days are great days

"Take the Bus Home" essay by Suzy Eynon picture of page in anthology

If I Can Be Honest, anthology from Autofocus Books edited by Michael Wheaton, cover with bird outline, held by hand with chipped nail polish against white desk.

Grateful to have the essay "Take the Bus Home" included in the @autofocusbooks.bsky.social anthology alongside so many writers whose work I admire.

autofocusbooks.com/store/p/if-i...

A few weeks earlier, J and I had rearranged all the furniture in our bedroom, overcome one afternoon by the compulsion home renters sometimes get to make small, arbitrary adjustments to their interior decorating scheme in the hopes that one of them might improve the quality of their lives.

Orientation - The Rumpus At the time, though, I couldn’t make much sense of anything. So I accepted everything with the detached nonchalance of a guy who has no idea what’s going on.

Wrote about my father-in-law's stroke and the feeling of getting all turned around for one of my all-time favorite magazines @therumpus.net.

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therumpus.net/2025/07/17/o...

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Second this!

You are far too kind, and I SO appreciate it, Thad! 🙏

You know this -- what Michael Wheaton has done to raise the profile of CNF in 5 years is extraordinary. AUTOFOCUS is the go-to for the best CNF written today. The catalog is exceptional. And it started w/ a journal that never missed. So grateful to be in IICBH. Get this book & support the press.

Baby's first anthology! I have an essay about doing yoga with my mom in this new collection from Autofocus. Can't wait to read through everything else 🙏 🙏 🙏

What a thrill and an honor to have a piece included in this anthology. I can’t wait to read the whole thing!

Got an essay coming out soon and was just thinking about my oldies like, On Baths, which shows up in my book @autofocusbooks.bsky.social .

I'm so thrilled to have one of my favorite essays "A Brief History of My Knees" included in this anthology. What a beautiful keepsake of the journal's legacy - and I'm a little humbled to be in the company of this TOC.

my essay about Angela Carter's mysterious unfinished Jane Eyre sequel is featured in this anthology! so happy to be in the company of so many writers I admire ☺️ happy pub day to everyone, and thank you as always to @autofocusbooks.bsky.social!

The new Autofocus anthology, If I Can Be Honest, is out today! It commemorates the four years of the online journal that morphed into this press. Some of the best formally rich short personal prose you can find anywhere, if we may say so!

autofocusbooks.com/store/p/if-i...

If I can be honest from autofocus books. Off white cover with a faint red/orange gnarly looking bird (possibly a phoenix). Selected prose from the 4 years autofocus was an online journal.

A snippet of my contribution “about accidental firearm discharge on campus”

A piece of mine is in the anthology of the summer, out today! IF I CAN BE HONEST from @autofocusbooks.bsky.social.

Incredible collection of writers and their work. My contributor copy is about to be put through the wringer.

Thrilled to have a piece in this new anthology, If I Can Be Honest, from @autofocusbooks.bsky.social , which celebrates the four year run of the journal run by Michael Wheaton.

I had a fantastic chat with Mike Nagel for the latest Counterforce podcast. One of my favourite interviews. Actually, it wasn’t even really an interview, just a great conversation @misternagel.bsky.social
Listen here to the whole ep here etceteraetc.podbean.com/e/episode-76...

Just “hung out” with @augstone.bsky.social & @misternagel.bsky.social in my garden for the last hour or two. Perfect Sunday morning.