[ artful autobiographical writing ]
SNAPSHOT
Autofocus Books is a publisher of artful autobiographical writing in any genre or form: personal essay, memoir, autofiction, confessional poetry, journals & diaries, letters & e-mails, bits & pieces of each of these, or some other thing that makes art from your life. The press specializes in relatively brief books that fit, and occasionally stretch, the boundaries of our literary interests. Currently, we publish six to eight books a year.
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The press evolved out of an online literary journal and related podcast that published consistently from October 2020 - October 2024.
Autofocus Lit was our online journal for artful autobiographical writing. At times, it published weekly, at times monthly, at times seasonally. The archive of 318 works can be found here. Its final three issues featured art by theaxmax.
The Lives of Writers was our podcast series of interviews with writers about their lives in and out of books. It published 162 interviews with mostly small press authors on a weekly or monthly basis. While no longer active, the podcast will still occasionally release interviews with authors of forthcoming Autofocus Books in 2025.
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The press launched, officially, in January 2022.
MASTHEAD
Publisher/editor: Michael Wheaton
Guest editors: Lena Crown (A Calendar Is A Snakeskin), Ryan Rivas (A Healthy Interest in the Lives of Others), Aaron Burch (How to Write a Novel anthology)
Assistant editors: Sienna Zeilinger, Kaycie Hall
Art director: Amy Wheaton