At Host Publications, we've been dreaming of starting a podcast for over a year. There are some great literary podcasts out there, and though we are small, we want to join in the conversation and expand our outreach, always with our mission statement in mind: to elevate the voices of marginalized groups, with a focus on women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ writers.
We knew from the start that, as a small press with a core staff of 3 people, it was going to be a challenge just to learn the skills to create a podcast, let alone to create something that would sustainable for us. But over a year later, we are so proud to announce that we've released our first episode, titled "Poetry for Quarantimes" and that it is available on iTunes! 
In "Poetry for Quarantimes," Host editors Claire and Annar engage in a friendly conversation about their experience during the pandemic, and some of the poets they've turned to in these uncertain times. This is a casual conversation between friends recorded remotely, at the height of social distancing and the shelter-at-home ordinance in Austin, TX. In it, we explore some of the poems that speak to us in Mary Ruefle's recent and stunning book Dunce, (finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize!) and from the musical collection of prose poems titled Absolute Solitude (how timely!) by the late Cuban poet Dulce María Loynaz. We talk about our new found love of domesticity, the art of folding fitted sheets, and how a pandemic just might be the most appropriate time finally to allow yourself that emotional breakdown.
Though we are just at the beginning of the journey with this project, we can't wait to bring you more episodes, and to bring more voices into our conversations about life, literature, and all things creative.