Spencer Madsen

Spencer Madsen is a contemporary American poet and small press publisher.

He is a Brooklyn-based contemporary writer as well as the founding editor of Sorry House, an independent publishing press in New York City. Madsen is part of a genre of independent poetry that is unique in its association with the New Sincerity movement as well as its use of social media platforms as its main source of publicity. He is described by The Fader magazine as "a writer who will, with equal enthusiasm, tweet a selfie of his butt and write the sincerest, saddest line of poetry you’ve ever read."^[1]

Poetry

The notice of Madsen's poetry began with him posting a photo someone had taken of his 2010 self-published book A Million Bears^[2] on Tumblr, which reached over 10,000 notes in the first 24-hour period. After reaching 300,000 notes The Huffington Post featured the excerpted poem online, dubbing it the "Sad Cat Poem".^[3] In an interview with Adam Humphreys at "Thought Catalog", Madsen reported that "A Million Bears" was out of print at the time of this spike in Tumblr publicity,^[4] but he later issued a second edition with a new cover.^[5]

A second book of poetry from Spencer Madsen entitled You Can Make Anything Sad was published by Publishing Genius press on April 29th, 2014. It received advanced praise from Dennis Cooper.^[6] In a review at Dazed & Confused (magazine) Lauren Oyler said “There’s a disconnect between the narcissism Madsen and his alt-lit contemporaries have been accused of and the truly original insights you find yourself reading.”^[7] At Vice (magazine) Madsen interviewed New York Tyrant publisher Giancarlo DiTrapano about his experience reading Madsen's book. In the interview, they debate editing a line from the text that simply states, "Dick like gogurt."^[8] Paper Magazine named You Can Make Anything Sad one of five "Indie Poetry Books That Even Non-Lit People Will Love."^[9]

Publication and promotion

Using his following on Tumblr and Twitter^[10] as well as his position as head of Sorry House, Madsen continues to promote and support fellow rising American poets such as Mira Gonzalez and Victor Vazquez (musician) in addition to publishing his own material.

Sorry House continues to gain acclaim,^[11] while insisting on publishing in print only.^[12] It has also "transformed into a legitimate business" in early 2014 by becoming an official Limited Liability Company^[13]

In an interview with Monkeybicycle, Madsen cited Dalkey Archive, Melville House Publishing, Grove Press, Muumuu House, and others as publishing influences.^[14]

On March 12, 2014, Madsen wrote an article called "I Made the Mistake of Starting a Small Press and So Can You" that guides others to create their own small press.^[15]

References