The Encyclopedia Project is an encyclopedia of fiction and fictional forms. It is a 5-volume hardcover book project that seeks to present a wide variety of approaches to narrative by reimagining and reinterpreting the reference book and the literary journal. The first volume is Encyclopedia Vol 1 A-E and its 336 pages are filled with original fiction, paintings, essays, plays, photographs, lists, prose poems, and video stills by 114 writers and artists.

Encyclopedia borrows the aesthetic and design of the traditional encyclopedia, but subverts the canonical structure and method. Like the traditional encyclopedia, our Encyclopedia’s entries span A-Z, and will be contained in five cross-referenced volumes that will be published annually—Vol. 2, F-K; Vol. 3 L-P; Vol. 4 R-U; and Vol. 5 V-Z.

We began The Encyclopedia Project, and our press, Encyclomedia, because we saw the necessity of increasing visibility not just of “the arts” but of the arts that are continually marginalized because of social and cultural biases against work considered “experimental” or “avant-garde”. We also wanted to challenge the ways in which traditional literary journals and anthologies segregate arts and artists rather than connect them and their ideas, and to offer a venue for new, innovative works.

How it works

Design credits:

Encyclopedia Vol. 1 A-E was designed by James Meetze (www.tougherdisguises.com), a San Diego-based book designer, with initial design ideas provided by AK Burns (www.gogotumbleweed.com), a New York-based graphic designer. The cover of Encyclopedia and this web site were designed by Jason Pontius of White Whale Web Services in Providence (www.whitewhale.net), and the logo was created by the fantastic individuals at Boston-based Schwadesign (www.schwadesign.com). Our printer is Tien Wah Press, in Singapore.