Review of McDuffie's book

A very favorable review of Brad McDuffie's And The West Was Not So Far Away has been published by fellow hymnagistes Alex Andriesse Shakespeare at Rattle. Please read the review here

Anyone interested in purchasing McDuffie's book of poems (or any other book by Des Hymnagistes Press) should contact deshymnagistes@gmail.com.

New Books Available from Des Hymnagistes Press

See Press Release below re: release of new volume of poetry Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology. This book had its American debut at the Kentucky Writers Day celebration in late April; the world premiere will take place at Brunnenburg Castle in Italy in June, with readings by many of the poets included in the volume (e.g., descendants of the original Imagists; the new book, of course, resonates with the landmark 1914 volume of Imagist poetry--Des Imagistes: An Anthology.)

1) Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology
Edited by Matthew Nickel & H. R. Stoneback

Paperback (108 pages): $20 includes S&H
Hardback (108 pages): $40 includes S&H


2) Matthew Nickel, ed. Knowledge Carried to the Heart: A Festschrift for H. R. Stoneback (softbound 60 pages)--$15 (plus $2 shipping)

If you would like to order Knowledge Carried to the Heart, please mail Matthew Nickel at deshymnagistes@gmail.com


3) H. R. Stoneback, Fitzgerald Variations (poems; softbound 41 pages)--$12 (plus $2 shipping). To purchase Fitzgerald Variations please make check payable to H. R. Stoneback, indicate how many you would like, and send to:






If you are interested in purchasing books, please write Des Hymnagistes Press at deshymnagistes@gmail.com for ordering information.

American Premiere of Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology

The 2010 Kentucky Writers Day Celebration at Historic Penn's Store will feature the American Premiere of the new poetry volume Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology (Des Hymnagistes Press, 2010). The book will have its World Premiere and formal release celebration in June at Brunnenburg Castle in Italy, former home of Ezra Pound and now the residence of his daughter Mary de Rachewiltz. The Des Hymnagistes volume resonates with Pound's landmark Des Imagistes: An Anthology (1914). Inspired by Imagism, filtered through a century of literary history and transformed by influences such as hymns and country songs, Hymnagism is a worldwide movement with deep Kentucky roots--over the past decade, for example, many Hymnagistes poets have read their works at Kentucky Writers Day Celebrations. This new volume includes poems by descendants of the original Imagists (e.g. Pound's daughter Mary de Rachewiltz and Richard Aldington's daughter Catherine Aldington),Valerie Hemingway, as well as the work of the well-known Kentucky poet H. R. Stoneback and other rising young Hymnagiste poets. Along with Stoneback, several other contributors to the volume--A.B., William Boyle, Brad McDuffie, Matthew Nickel, Alex Shakespeare--will read at the 2010 Kentucky Writers Day, Sunday, April 25th at 2 PM, at Penn's Store. All of these Hymnagiste poets will be in Kentucky for their annual pilgrimage to the Elizabeth Madox Roberts Conference at St. Catharine College in Springfield (April 24-26). And they claim Roberts, Kentucky's great novelist, as an Imagiste, a proto-Hymnagiste.

The American Premiere and Hymnagiste Readings are scheduled for 2:00pm until 3:30pm, April 25 during the 2010 KENTUCKY WRITERS DAY CELEBRATIONS at Historic Penn's Store. Penn's Store is located at 257 Penn's Store Road, off KY HWY 243 3 miles SE of Gravel Switch, Kentucky.


From the Kentucky Literary Newsletter and Kentucky Writers Day Press release, April 1, 2010.

Coming Soon!

Des Hymnagistes Press is hard at work on a new Anthology to be available soon. Please check back for updates in the coming weeks. We still have available copies for sale of Brad McDuffie's And the West Was Not So Far Away, H. R. Stoneback's Amazing-Grace-Wheel-Chair-Jumpshot-Jesus-Love-Poems, and the anthology edited by Matthew Nickel, Illumination & Praise: Poems for Elizabeth Madox Roberts and Kentucky. Please contact Des Hymnagistes Press at deshymnagistes@gmail.com for questions and more information.