Who are we?
We are an indie press out of Detroit, Michigan who honors the author’s authentic voice as the core of our projects, strives for thoughtfulness in writing and publishing, and loves to connect with our community of readers.
Our Executive Editor is author E.D.E. Bell, working alongside Managing Editor Chris Bell, and a whole team and community of family, friends, and associates, including Emily’s Executive Assistant, AJ Super. We love our family, our communities, and every way they overlap.
Atthis Arts operates on the land of the Three Fires Confederacy and with the hospitality of Black Detroit.
What is an Atthis Arts title?
Our stories are centered around our core values of authenticity, thoughtfulness, and community. This presents an eclectic catalogue, but with many common threads:
Authenticity: We encourage writers to express themselves in their most genuine voice. We’d sure like sales, but always: Voice first. Our works highlight bold, neurodivergent, queer, and global storytelling.
Thoughtfulness: We strive for thoughtfulness to content and impact in publishing. We review content for sensitivity. We stand by our values. We try not to center violence in our works, nor leverage it for entertainment. We present difficult material with thoughtfulness to trauma. We publish content notes for all of our titles.
Community: We believe in community. We are grateful for all the ways ours support us, and are thrilled when we can support and lift a network of writers, illustrators, designers, and editors through our projects. You can join us on our Discord server.
Our Values
Black Lives Matter.Black Trans Lives Matter.Protect Trans People.Be kind to yourself and each other.
We stand with our neighbors: BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+, global, disabled, neurodivergent, intersectional, and otherwise marginalized by structural inequality. We speak plainly and stand against racism, colonialism, transphobia, and ableism. We welcome and seek to amplify voices under invasion or occupation, including Palestinian and Ukrainian. We stand with the essential nature of body autonomy, including reproductive rights. We support libraries.
Our little hummingbird, the Atthis Ellioti (the wine-throated hummingbird), reminds us of hope, and sun, and that the smallest birds can add unique beauty to the world.
From where does the name Atthis Arts originate?
Atthis is a character in the poetry of the lyric poet Sappho, whose poetry was mostly destroyed over time, including the nine collected volumes created by the Library of Alexandria. What remains are fragments, collected over the centuries, often from decorative items or from being quoted in other books. In these, Sappho expresses great affection for Atthis, saying, “Atthis, I loved you long ago while you still seemed to me a small ungracious child. I was proud of you too. In skill I think you need never bow to any girl – not one who may see the sunlight in time to come.” Then Atthis leaves her, and Sappho says, “After all this Atthis, you hate even the thought of me.” She laments the “venom” with which love has struck her down. Then declares, “You may forget but let me tell you this: someone in some future time will think of us.” And finally, “Pain penetrates me drop by drop.”
We can’t know whether Atthis was literally as such in Sappho’s life, but with ideas so powerful, we believe that she was. Atthis has been dead for over 2500 years now and every book that recorded Sappho’s poems was destroyed, but yet through scraps and fragments, now you remember her. You remember the love that Sappho felt for her, and the pain at her rejection. “You may forget but let me tell you this: someone in some future time will think of us.”
Atthis Arts believes in this power. The power of storytelling. The power of the written word. The power to carry as simple a thought as, “I love you, Atthis” over the millennia. 2500 years ago, and we know that it hurt. It is this power that we strive to share and uplift.
If you’re a reader:
We strive to deliver heartfelt, artistic titles that you will enjoy. We hope you’ll check out our stories.
If you’re an author seeking to publish:
We are currently closed to submissions. We’ll be evaluating this and addressing it further over the winter.
Atthis Arts carries with us:
Trowby Brockman, Carol Flynt, Al McKenzie, Deborah Reilly, Ihor Mysiak, Jubilee Cho