In November 2004, members of the Michigan diaspora in Chicago reacted to bad news with a party. The Gothic Funk Nation called on the ghosts of Ann Radcliffe and James Brown, Ian Curtis and Chicago’s Warehouse (and director Baz Luhrman, too). The collective included artists, authors, DJs, architects, physicists, actors, physicians, activists, clerks, temp workers, and more. Their work was a synthesis of dark gothic sublimity and the rhythmic intensity of funk. For seven years, the Nation coordinated literary readings, writing workshops, its own arts journal featuring writing, music, painting, and photography, and its signature themed arts parties.

By 2010, many members of the Nation were leaving Chicago and the collective went on hiaitus. At this time, cofounder Connor Coyne launched the Gothic Funk Press to establish a new independent publishing voice in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Welding the aethetic impulses of Gothic Funk to the dynamic grassroots literary scene in Flint, the Press has striven to build a new community of ambitious, subversive, challenging writers speaking to the zeitgeist with urgency.

Today, the permanent staff of Gothic Funk Press includes Amy Czarkowski, Connor Coyne, Skylar Moran, Sam Perkins-Harbin, and Reinhardt Suarez, as well as many dedicated volunteers.

In addition to books, the Press publishes numerous anthologies and our multi-media Paramanu Pentaquark arts journal, and coordinates community engagement opportunities such as the Teen Writers Workshop (offered in partnership with the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library) and the Gothic Funk Salon, as well as social opportunities such as our Gothic Funk Parties and Gothic Funk Hangouts.

We invite you to explore this site, purchase a book, drop us a line, and get involved!