1 of 2
2 of 2
Jack White, international rockstar, Nashville legend, and co-founder of Third Man Records, is now helping grow Nashville's literary scene through Third Man Books, the book-publishing arm of Third Man Records.
In 2014, following the release of two photography books, Third Man was ready to take their publishing efforts to the next level. So, when Chet Weise, host of local poetry reading series 'Poetry Sucks!,” reached out to Ben Swank, a Third Man co-founder, about creating an anthology, Swank not only wanted to be a part of the project, but he also wanted Third Man to publish it. Language Lessons: Volume I became the imprint's first commercially available publication. It also landed Weise the job as chief editor of Third Man Books.
'We figured that starting with poetry would be so unexpected and would put distance between ourselves and the record label,” Weise says.
Two years later and poetry is still a driving force at Third Man. This past August brought the release of My Dinner with Ron Jeremy, a poetry collection from local poet Kendra DeColo. Later this month, they'll release their first fiction title, a collection of short stories from Kiini Ibura Salaam calledWhen the World Wounds: A Collection.
>>> Nashville Independent Bookstores
But Weise and team aren't stopping there. 'We're starting to do rock books now,” he says, 'which is what everyone expected us to do [from the beginning].” In November, Third Man will publish Total Chaos: The Story of The Stooges / As Told by Iggy Popp by author Jeff Gold and contributor Johan Kugelberg.
