DIRT, the ecologically focussed imprint of Dialect Press, makes plantable pamphlets that treat publishing as something living rather than fixed and forces us to confront the realities of our environment and the impact of consumption on the planet. We loved how the publisher brings this into practice, in a genuine, actionable and collaborative way, while still pushing at the boundaries of what poetry means and what is has the potential to be.
About DIRT imprint of Dialect Press, a message from the publisher
DIRT models Earth-positive publishing. Our ambition is to shift the whole window of expectation in poetry book production to publications that are fully aligned with today's ecological urgency. To demonstrate DIRT's pragmatic ideal we use commercial processing with vegetable inks on beautiful brown paper working with a carbon-neutral printer. Our poetic provocation is to ask readers to plant DIRT pamphlets with the perennial seeds provided which will sink 3kg carbon in their first year of growth, taking DIRT pamphlets from carbon-neutral to earth-positive. What else is our work for if not to create the future we want, a future where publishing actively benefits our home planet? DIRT plantable poetry is written collaboratively by inspired poets including Clare Pollard, Hannah Copley and Alycia Pirmohamed. DIRT is an imprint of Dialect Press. If you'd like to write a DIRT collaboration, look out for our competition in June.
