Brink's Five Things: Holiday Edition
This holiday season, we invite you to give with intention. In today’s newsletter, you’ll find a thank-you from us and information for Giving Tuesday. You’ll also find new Brink bundles that allow you to save more—including a gift set of Issues no. 1-10! (Issue 1 is no longer available for purchase on its own, so completists, take note!) Finally, three team members have each thoughtfully chosen five things to recommend in the Brink Holiday Guide.
With Gratitude
Your support of our Kickstarter campaign meant more than we have the words for as a nonprofit publisher. This Giving Tuesday, we hope you’ll consider giving to Brink, where your donation will help us continue publishing boundary-pushing work from emerging and established creatives who live and create outside traditional artistic disciplines. With your support, we can expand opportunities for underrepresented writers and artists and share work that sparks dialogue and bridges divides. Join us in sustaining a space where bold ideas and diverse voices can thrive.
Save With New Brink Bundles!
Ready to find the perfect literary gift? Alongside our classic merch, we’re excited to offer gift cards, gift subscriptions, and several new bundled sets:
• Brink Bundle (4 issues + 2 stickers): $50 + $5 shipping (save $22)
• Brink Bundle+ (10 issues + 2 stickers): $125 + $8 shipping (save $55; note that this is the only way to purchase Issue no. 1!)
• M+T + Issue 10: $45 (save $8)
• M+T + Annual Subscription: $55 (save $10)
Brink’s Five Things: Holiday Edition
This year’s Holiday Guide celebrates creativity in all its forms, featuring gifts from small presses, artists, and makers whose work embodies the same spirit of experimentation and dialogue that defines Brink. Each purchase not only supports independent creators but also helps sustain the vibrant literary and artistic community that Brink champions year-round. Whether you’re shopping for a fellow reader, writer, or art lover, these gifts give back to the people and ideas that keep the creative world alive.
Editor-in-Chief Hannah Bonner
A book: If you’re looking for something unnerving, wildly funny, and a master class at the level of the line, check out Bennett Sims’s Other Minds and Other Stories (Two Dollar Radio, 2023).
A Brink: In February, Brink will offer a month-long online class entitled Where Do We Begin? taught by Golden. I’m such a fan of their work and am excited to write alongside the other participants in the class! A Brink gift card would be a great way to give part or all of the class as a gift.
A treat: Hearing Fust sing “Long Hard Days In April” in person at World Cafe Live a few weeks ago.
A lifesaver: Everyday Oil’s mainstay blend. I love the smell and lathering this on at all times of year.
A Press: Fireflies Press. The books are beautiful, and Christine Smallwood’s book length essay on La Captive is especially engrossing.
Editor-at-Large Rachel Yoder
A book: For the writer or artist on your list, legendary music producer Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being is the perfect daily devotional for their practice.
A Brink: Can you buy a Brink horse t-shirt? If you can, get two. [The delightful Brink horse t-shirt, designed by artist Jessie Kraemer, is available while supplies last! Peep the illustration in the graphic above, and email info@brinkliterary.com to purchase for $20.]
A treat: Absolutely anything from RSVP, my favorite place to go and spend too much money guilt-free, because the owner Niki Neems is such a peach and the items are eminently giftable (or keepable!).
A lifesaver: Both fun and functional, The Bowl Maker ceramic “Lucky” cups available at Iowa Artisans Gallery are the best present when you’re pinched for time or don’t know what to get for a kid, friend, or acquaintance. We have the Lucky Raven version in our house, and it definitely makes the coffee work better.
A press: Marguerite Duras, Sabrina Orah Mark, and Leonora Carrington: What more could you possibly ask for?! Dorothy Project is a perennial favorite with evergreen offerings by both lauded and overlooked geniuses, all of whom happen to be women.
Brink Books Editor Christina Wood
A book: One reviewer described The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington as “a key work in the history of literary weirdness.” A British surrealist painter who wrote in English, Spanish, and French, Carrington’s spry stories are fantastical, playful, and brimming with feminist rebellion.
A Brink: Malleable + True: A Hybrid Craft Anthology. It’s been such a joy holding Brink Books’ first book in my hands. Innovative, urgent, necessary writing and art. Creative prompts. Reflections on craft. The writing prompts especially have been useful both for teaching and for my own practice, as someone who sometimes needs a good poke to get writing.
A treat: Diaspora Co.’s amazing cardamom-forward chai masala blend is helping my mornings stay cozy and warm (and spiced).
A lifesaver: As the times get darker and weirder, I find I need to spend a lot more time looking at charming things. Korean artist Selynn Lee paints cat babushkas and festive scenes (available as prints, cards, and calendars) that feel like they belong in the type of children’s book I’d like to live inside of.
A press: Books in translation, strange gems, longform essays from my favorite thinkers—I’m always excited to see what Transit Books is putting out. And now that I’m an aunt, I’m especially excited about their children’s books.
Wishing you all a wonderful end of the year!
—The Brink Team