“Beyond the Borders That Divide Us”: An Interview with Tyler Orion, on Lucky Cloud Books
Split Lip Mag’s own Tyler Orion is starting a bookstore! Lucky Cloud Books will promote queer/trans and BIPOC writers and books in translation, highlighting small presses. Daniel Garcia sat down to talk to Tyler about their vision for this exciting new venture.
Daniel Garcia: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, Tyler—congrats on the bookstore! Very exciting stuff! Tell me a little bit about yourself and Lucky Cloud Books.
Tyler Orion: I’ve worked at independent bookstores for most of the past twenty years, and recently I began envisioning a bookstore of my own with a curated selection of books that centers around uplifting and promoting marginalized voices. BIPOC, queer, and trans/non-binary writers are creating some of the most innovative, insightful, and powerful books right now, and while they are reaching a wider audience in the past year or two, the publishing world, the bestseller lists, and the prominent book awards are still predominately keeping these writers on the margins. With Lucky Cloud Books, my intention is to bring these writers to the forefront, to bypass the popularity of the bestseller lists, and to celebrate the voices that are radically changing our cultural landscape.
I also highlight books in translation because I believe that we, as a culture, need to step beyond the borders that divide us and read work from writers around the world. As I read more books in translation, I realize how people in other cultures perceive, process, and create in often vastly different ways than people in the US, and it feels so exciting to me to be pushed to expand how I understand my world on a macro and microcosmic way.
Finally, Lucky Cloud also puts books by small presses at the forefront because they are the ones who are often the most committed to promoting marginalized voices, willing to take a chance on writers who are pushing genre boundaries, and truly are the ones changing the scope of literature. While big publishers are often driven by capitalism and normalization, it is small presses that are championing the boldest, strangest, most creative voices who are throwing all the supposed rules about writing out the window and walking into completely new and unexplored territory. These are the books that get me energized, that give me hope for humanity, and that make me fall in love with reading all over again.
DG: What’s the history behind Lucky Cloud Books? Why did you found it?
I founded Lucky Cloud because I knew my passion in life centered around books, yet I wanted and expected something from the book world I wasn’t finding. I spent years selling whatever was on the bestseller list that week, whatever book or writer was being promoted by The New York Times book reviews etc., and, while, yes, there are some stunning books that make the bestseller lists, most of what I found to truly be carrying the heart and soul of the written word remained deep in the shadows. I’ve been so inspired recently reading about the many independent bookstores opening with BIPOC, queer, and trans owners, and I see a shift in values toward supporting local businesses and celebrating marginalized voices.
DG: Your pop-up will be in Vermont. Can you tell us a little bit about why Vermont?
TO: I’ve lived in Vermont for many years, and in many ways there is a tremendous community of people here, but it’s taken me a long time to feel a part of that community. It hasn’t been easy being a queer, trans person living very rurally in Vermont. In recent years there are more queer, trans, and BIPOC folks moving to rural areas in Vermont and the communities are expanding, yet there is still a lack of resources and support systems in many parts of the state. My intention, as a pop-up store, is to reach communities in Vermont that don’t have a bookstore locally and to bring a diverse selection of books to areas that otherwise may not have access to them. There are people of all backgrounds and all identities in every community, yet it can feel very isolating and lonely in rural places, and I hope to connect with people who might otherwise not have many connections that feel supportive.
DG: What’s your larger, overall goal for Lucky Cloud? What are some things you’re hoping to bring about with it?
TO: As a queer, trans/non-binary person, I have for many years sought out books that speak to my own experiences, but it wasn’t until very recently that more books started to be published around trans and non-binary identities, and queer books that didn’t focus solely on the pain of being queer but also spoke to queer joy, to trans joy. As I gathered books around me that supported and celebrated queerness and transness, and as I read other people’s stories (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), I began to feel much less alone and much more empowered. My life shifted focus from centering solely on survival, to actually participating in and enjoying life, to freeing my body and my spirit, and to reaching out to the community of people around me instead of hiding from it. It is not an exaggeration to say that books have saved me and helped get me through some very dark years. Our world is incredibly noisy and fast-paced, and while there are now many more resources for people of marginalized identities, I believe that books still hold a place where we can go to be alone with our deepest selves, where we can find community, companionship, and support, and where we can come together and forge new connections, heal together, and create a world where the foundation of our culture is on love and the celebration of all people.
My hope in creating Lucky Cloud Books is to assist in that creation and to be a place where no one is silenced, to offer books where people of all identities and backgrounds can find themselves represented and celebrated. I notice myself using the word “celebration” often these days, because it feels like an active and powerful way of counteracting the hatred, violence, isolation, despair, and loneliness so prevalent in our culture today. Every time I finish a book that speaks deeply to my heart, that reaches me in my bones, and that sings about an experience long silenced, I have the sensation of confetti pouring down around me, getting lost in a swirl of color, and feeling a vibrant joy reaching all of my cells. Even while I am alone with a book, I feel connected to the whole world around me. This is what makes me feel alive. This is the power of the written word. And my goal is, yes, to celebrate these voices and to help offer that experience to others.
DG: What’s the one book you’ve read this year that everyone needs to read? Or, is there a forthcoming book you think should be on everyone’s radar?
TO: Oh, where to start! 2021 has been a very exciting year for books by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers and books in translation, and I’ve seen many more books published by small presses making big waves. I really do see a much-needed shift happening in the book world that makes me so inspired to a bookseller at this time. I’ve read so many books this year that I want to mention but will try to choose a few (many more on my Bookshop page!): “Heavy” by Kiese Laymon, “A Passage North” by Anuk Arudpragasam, “Rainbow Milk” by Paul Mendez, “Afterparties” by Anthony Veasna So, “Hurricane Season” by Fernanda Melchor, “A Ghost in the Throat” by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, “Heaven” by Mieko Kawakami. I’ve been really excited by these small presses (among so many others!): Bibioasis, Deep Vellum, New Directions, Archipelago, Charco Press, Two Lines Press, Catapult Press, Coffee House Press, Other Press, and Two Dollar Radio.
It’s impossible to pin-point the “one” book of the year because there are so many books that are radically altering the literary landscape, and because I feel the traditional approach to the “big book of the year” that the publishing industry relies on is deeply exclusionary and a disservice to the incredibly wide scope of writers working today. Even lists are limiting. They are a jumping off point, but the ocean is deep. My main wish is that people don’t limit their reading to the bestseller lists, or even the books that are making a splash in literary world, because there is so much more. Most of my favorite books hardly make a ripple, but they still deeply change me, and, as a bookseller, I am committed to finding and promoting (and celebrating!) those books that otherwise fall under the radar.
DG: Where can folks find/get in touch with you and/or Lucky Cloud Books?
TO: You can check out my website and my online store on Bookshop where I have extensive lists and recommendations. I’m most active on social media at @luckycloudbooks on Instagram. I’m hoping to have my pop-up store in the spring of 2022, so I am mostly online at the moment. Eventually, I plan to have a brick-and-mortar store in Vermont, and my hope is that starting online and with pop-ups, I can build the support and financial resources to make that happen.
DG: Anything else folks should know?
TO: While the focus of Lucky Cloud is on books, I am also a writer and I read submissions for Split Lip Magazine and The Maine Review, so I also want to give a shoutout to the incredible literary journals that are playing a huge role in expanding the literary world. Like small presses, I often find some of the most exciting and innovative writing to be happening in journals. I often see writers get their start in journals before publishing books, so in many ways literary journals are doing the initial work of promoting marginalized voices and supporting emerging writers and artists. And most of the work in putting together these journals is voluntary and often with little to no recognition, so my deepest gratitude to all the folks who are essentially laying the foundation for the entire literary world. And many thanks to all the incredible folks at Split Lip for supporting Lucky Cloud, and for creating an awesome community that brings writers and readers together from around the world.
Daniel Garcia’s essays appear or are forthcoming in SLICE, Ninth Letter, Guernica, Passages North, The Offing, and elsewhere. Poems appear or are forthcoming in The Puritan, The Arkansas International, Ploughshares, Zone 3, Gulf Coast, and others. A recipient of awards, prizes, and scholarships from Bat City Review, So to Speak, Tin House, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and others, Daniel currently serves as a memoir reader and editorial assistant for Split Lip Magazine. Daniel’s essays also appear as Notables in The Best American Essays. Daniel tweets @daniellovesyooh.
Tyler Orion (they/he) is a queer, trans writer and photographer living in northern Vermont. Orion works as a bookseller, is a reader for Split Lip Magazine and The Maine Review and has work forthcoming or published recently in Orion, The Hopper, GASHER, The Offing, Brevity, an anthology from Damaged Goods Press, and elsewhere. Tyler tweets @luckycloudbooks.