Antenna Press (New Orleans, LA) is dedicated to publishing books from cultural contributors who produce projects at the intersection of gender and identity, the environment, equity, renewable resources, abolition, restorative justice, and the histories of the Gulf South. Paper Machine, our printshop and bookbindery, is located in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Antenna Press has been a partner of the A.R.T. Library Program since 2024.

A.R.T. Library Program Questionnaire gathers insights from librarians and publishers within the Program's distribution network to reconsider and reflect on what it means to make art books public today.

• How do you characterize the books that you publish?

Antenna Press publishes books from cultural contributors who produce projects at the intersection of gender and identity, the environment, equity, renewable resources, abolition, restorative justice, and the histories of the Gulf South. We offer resources for authors and artists to materialize their perspective in book form, at Paper Machine, our printshop and bookbindery, located in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

• How would you define the audience for your books?

We focus our efforts on sharing and contributing with local, regional, and national audiences whose work and interests rest at the intersection of gender and identity, the environment, equity, renewable resources, abolition, restorative justice, and the histories of the Gulf South. We do this while reaching out to a community interested in book arts and small independent publishing.

• How has the distribution of books changed in the last five years, and how does this impact what or how you publish?

We connect to our audience through programming, having readings, and talks open to the local community in our physical space in New Orleans. We participate in all the local book fairs that align with our mission, and some regional and national artist book fairs as well. We also donate our publications to the New Orleans Public Library, and we keep establishing relationships with special artist books collections at different libraries locally and nationwide. Antenna Press also has an online bookstore, where our audience can acquire our publications. Collaborating with the A.R.T library program is a good way to reach a wider audience of under-resourced communities as well.

• When did you start participating in the A.R.T. Library Program?

We started participation in the program in July, 2024.

• How do you decide what to donate to the program?

We selected titles that could offer a diversity of content, like comics, graphic novels, artist books, and poetry.