The Poetics of Endangered Species: Let’s Give Voice to the Voiceless!

The Poetics of Endangered Species: Let’s Give Voice to the Voiceless!User's Anatoli & Friends project in the category Print

About the project
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Help us republish a new and improved facsimile edition of our Poetics of Endangered Species!

Let us tell you a story. A little over twelve years ago, not long after Estonian poet Timo Maran and Ukrainian Cultural Center founder Anatoli Ljutjuk first met, an idea was born to give voice to the voiceless – to make it possible for Estonia’s most endangered species to be heard. Anatoli then gathered up his family and friends – papermakers, illustrators, calligraphers, and more – to shepherd The Poetics of Endangered Species into existence. And so, that’s how it came to be that in 2007, the first copies of our book appeared.

People across Estonia took an instant liking to our book as it soon disappeared off the shelves of the country’s top bookstores. And not long after, even our own reserve supply ran out. These days, if you are lucky enough to even find a copy in a used bookstore, it will probably cost you several times its original publication price. We are pleased that The Poetics of Endangered Species is the kind of book that everyone likes to keep!

For the last half dozen or so years, people have kept asking Anatoli, Timo, and everyone else involved in the original project: “When will you be working on a new edition of the book?” As it just so happens, Timo has come up with some ideas for new poems and Anatoli's son Nestor thinks he can improve on his original drawings – indeed, everyone on the original team believes that we have learned a lot about making better books over the last ten years – and so the time has come to produce a new edition. We would really like to do it this year so that the new book can become our collective gift to Estonia on her 100th Anniversary.

We need your help to make our improved and expanded edition of The Poetics of Endangered Species possible. So, if you would like to help us give voice to the voiceless, you’ll be able to receive a facsimile edition of The Poetics of Endangered Species along with exclusive gifts made with our handmade paper – a postcard and a bookmark – only available through Hooandja. We are even adding a unique handmade, letterpress-printed dust jacket to cover our Hooandja facsimile edition to help make it extra special. Please consider ordering an extra copy or two to give to your family members or friends. As each of Timo’s poems will be accompanied by a translation into English, you can even gift an extra copy far beyond Estonia’s borders!

If our Hooandja campaign turns out to be a full success, we would also like to produce a very special edition of no more than ten fully handmade copies of The Poetics of Endangered Species. Created in Labora’s workshops from our handmade paper, printed on our letterpress, and handbound with our unique wooden covers, these books would make ideal additions to any true book lover’s collection or – if there are any truly generous souls out there – they would make ideal gifts for major Estonian libraries so that they can become a permanent part of Estonia’s collective memory in celebration of her 100th anniversary.

Shipping within Estonia is included as part of our Hooandja rewards! If you are ordering from outside of Estonia, we will contact you when our campaign is successfully funded to let you know the exact additional mailing cost. We guarantee that it won’t be higher than 10 more Euros as we will cover any additional cost beyond that.

We thank you for your help! And we hope our book will become your guide to help you connect with Estonia’s spectacular nature and its many different species.

- Anatoli & Friends

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