Atomic Bohemian is a publishing house and daughter of its parent project Cape Magazine. I started Cape with a friend in our second year of university to rebel against the (many) rejections we were facing from other publishers at the time. We wondered if we could remedy our rejection blues not by trying to take up more space, but by offering our space to others: healing through giving. Cape was designed to take in other misfits of the publishing landscape and offer them a space around our campfire, giving them some brief warmth in what can be a cold industry. This makes us sound quite cool but, truthfully, we were a couple of disgruntled twenty-somethings with a bone to pick with The Man (who had no idea who we were, nor did he care). Eventually, we escalated our mission from an online ‘zine into the world of books, and thus, Atomic Bohemian was born.
Though we began what we lovingly nicknamed “AtBo” together, I was soon flying solo, and I have been running it for the past nine months. I have published six books from writers around the world at the time of writing this, with three more on the way. In a short time, the AtBo family has grown into a small but mighty band of writers and readers, and our books have reached poetry open mics in Australia, book shops in Singapore, and have been up and down all parts of the UK, USA, and Europe. Clearly I was mistaken in my angsty Cape-days, and I am not the misfit I thought I was, as I have had no trouble finding a merry troupe of fellow artists with whom I've created fabulous (if I do say so myself) books.
I think about Toni Morrison's famous line a lot: 'if there is a book that you want to read, but it doesn't exist yet, then you must write it'. The same can be said for publishing. If you crave a space where you feel at home but haven't quite found it yet, then you can (and should!) create it. This is why I try my best to lead AtBo using three core values that matter to me: Authenticity, Accessibility, and Kindness. These are nothing new, of course, but everything I choose to do with AtBo comes back to them. Through Authenticity, I am asking for writing that reveals something about its writer. There is no need for grand proclamations, sweeping revelations, or rushed generalisations with me. Anyone can write about the world, but no one can write about you as well as YOU can. This does not work without Accessibility, which is an ongoing objective of mine. I am still learning how to widen my arms to embrace as many people as I can, but learn I will! If AtBo – and I – am not accessible, I cannot ask people to be authentic. This leads to me the final value, because Authenticity and Accessibility are impossible without Kindness. I am a strong believer in paying it forward. It is the reason why Cape and AtBo exist at all; two people wanted to see what would happen if they made room for others instead of themselves.
Ultimately, AtBo is run by a human on too much caffeine with too little time. I am currently working two jobs and doing a PhD full-time. Everything about AtBo is done for the love of publishing and appreciation of writers, and nothing else. I have made more mistakes than money, but AtBo has opened my world. It could not be done without the occasional editing help of Will Wren, nor my first line-up of writers. I choose to end with thanks to them: Tracee Findlater, Fliss Cary, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Cath Barton, Daryl Li, JP Seabright, David Hay, Paul Truan, Paul atten Ash, and Sam Dapanas.
