Blue Light Press is dedicated to the publication of poetry, fiction and flash fiction that is imagistic, inventive, emotionally honest, and pushes the language to a deeper level of insight. We are all poets and artists, and our books are respected for their vision, language and artistic design. As a cooperative press, we rely on the poets we publish to actively promote their books, send out review copies, and set up readings at bookstores, universities, and reading series. We use print on demand technology to save trees and partner with 1st World Publishing to produce and distribute books. Our contracts are author-friendly, with poets receiving a 30% royalty on book profits.

Diane Frank, Chief Editor, is author of eight books of poems, three novels, and a photo memoir of her 400 mile trek in the Nepal Himalayas, Letters from a Sacred Mountain Place. Her new book of poems, While Listening to the Enigma Variations, won the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Poetry. Diane curated the bestseller anthology Fog and Light: San Francisco through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here, which was featured with Diane on KQED. She plays cello in the College of Marin Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with Matt Arnerich to create an orchestral suite based on her poem, “Tree of Life.” Blackberries in the Dream House, her first novel, won the Chelson Award for Fiction and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Melanie Gendron, our principal book designer, is a multi-talented painter and graphic artist, book designer and poet. Nationally known and respected for her visionary art, she is also creator of the Gendron Tarot. Inspired by many cultures, Melanie’s prizewinning artwork is widely exhibited in public and private collections. In her words: “I seek to express realms beyond surface perception, to provide a bridge between what is seen and unseen. Living art breathes through the symbiotic relationship of artist and observer, through awareness shared. I explore invisible subtleties inherent in physical manifestation, drawn by the infinite source of creation to express Itself.”

Terry Lucas, Publicist, has authored two prize-winning chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections, most recently The Thing Itself (Longship Press, 2020). His poems have appeared in numerous national and international journals, including Alaska Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, and The Sun. He was a founding editor of Trio House Press and a regular guest speaker for the Dominican University of California's MFA program. He holds an MRE from Southwestern Seminary and an MFA (poetry) from New England College. Terry is Poet Laureate Emeritus of Marin County, and the founder of Sturgeon Moon Poetry reading series. His services include book launch packages, writing book reviews, manuscript and poem consultation, manuscript editing, submissions management, and Zoom poetry workshops.

Erik Ievins is our web designer and final-check proof reader extraordinaire. His engineering training, precision, and love of good writing allow him to see continuity errors and typos many authors miss. As Daniel J. Langton told us, "if people knew what you could do, they'd be lining up around the block!" Along with being an engineer, programmer, and fine-tuning expert, Erik is also a musician. Dancers, poets, and musicians have long welcomed his expressive voice on cello. Classically trained since he was old enough to hold a bow, Erik joined professional symphony and pops orchestras while he was still in high school. He also enjoys improvising for songwriters in the recording studio. When collaborating with poets, Erik expresses the emotions of the poem through music.

Poets in the Blue Light Press publishing group include Diane Frank, Chief Editor; with Stewart Florsheim, Scott Caputo, Kirston Koths, Alice Rogoff, Lynne Barnes, Louise Nayer and Elinor Gale on our Editorial Board. Our books are distributed by Ingram, Amazon.com, and 1st World Publishing.