Nion is the name of a letter of the Celtic alphabet. It is also the name of a Celtic Zodiac sign and refers to the ash tree. In Celtic belief, the ash tree was thought to be sacred, having the power to enchant. Its branches were used as wands and as broomsticks—instruments, it would seem, for magic wielded by women. In Celtic mythology, the ash tree is regarded as the “World Tree,” reaching with its vast height into the heavens while spreading its roots deep into the ground. It thus forms a bridge between worlds.
Nion Editions publishes three works per season (the length of which will vary), and has a special interest in chapbooks and uncategorizable forms. The press is interested in work that might be deemed incipient, worrisome, or fugitive—though just what those terms describe remains, for us, open-ended. It may include finished works, but also works-in-progress, partial works, thought experiments, guesswork, shards, and remnants. As for genre: nothing is out of the question (everything is in the question).
The print run of each publication is small (200 copies). Distribution is principally through subscription, which are available by email request at nioneditions@gmail.com. Individual publications may be purchased via Small Press Distribution.
Generally, authors of Nion Editions publications are specifically invited to write something for the press. The editors will respond to unsolicited queries, but the press’s resources are limited and it is unlikely that unsolicited works can be considered.
Nion Editions was founded in 2015 and is co-edited by Jane Gregory, Lyn Hejinian, and Claire Marie Stancek.
co-founder & co-editor
Jane Gregory
Jane Gregory is the author of My Enemies (The Song Cave, 2013) and YEAH NO (The Song Cave, 2018), and two chapbooks. She lives in Oakland.
co-founder & co-editor
Lyn Hejinian
Lyn Hejinian is a poet, translator, and scholar. She is the author of over twenty-five volumes of poetry and critical prose, the most recent of which are Tribunal (Omnidawn Books, 2019) and Positions of the Sun (Belladonna, 2019). A volume of essays, titled Allegorical Moments: Call to the Everyday, is forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press, and The Proposition, a critical edition of her early (1963-1983), previously uncollected work will be published in spring 2022 in the University of Edinburgh Press’s “Foundations of Avant-Garde Writing” series. She lives in Berkeley with her husband, the musician Larry Ochs.
co-founder & co-editor
Claire Marie Stancek
Claire Marie Stancek is the author of wyrd] bird (Omnidawn, 2020), Oil Spell (Omnidawn, 2018), and MOUTHS (Noemi, 2017). She has a Ph.D. in English from University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Philadelphia.