Three years ago, Shawn Graham approached me and asked me whether The Digital Press might be interested in publishing a paginated, print-on-demand version of his new digital journal Epoiesen. 

Without hesitating, I said “yes!” And today, the third volume of Epoiesen appears as a downloadable PDF or as a print-on-demand book available on Amazon. 

To celebrate the third volume of Epoiesen, I button-holed Shawn Graham for a seven-question interview about his new book, Failing Gloriously and Other Essays, Epoiesen, and his various other projects. You can read that interview here.

Or you can read a bit more to find out more about Epoiesen! 

Epoiesen (ἐποίησεν) – made – is a journal for exploring creative engagement with the past, especially through digital means. It publishes primarily what might be thought of as “paradata” or artist’s statements that accompany playful and unfamiliar forms of singing the past into existence.

What have you made? What will you make? This journal, in its online home, makes space to valorize and recognize the scholarly ways of knowing that are expressed well beyond the text. Bill White reminds us why society allows archaeologists to exist in the first place:

“it is to amplify the whispers of the past in our own unique way so they can still be heard today.”

The journal seeks “to document and valorize the scholarly creativity that underpins our representations of the past. Epoiesen is therefore a kind of witness to the implied knowledge of archaeologists, historians, and other professionals, academics and artists as it intersects with the sources about the past. It encourages engagement with the past that reaches beyond our traditional audience (ourselves).”

Graham remarks, “The excitement and interest in Epoiesen has been gratifying. Clearly, there’s an appetite for engaging with history and archaeology that traditional venues are not able to fill! I’m grateful to the Digital Press for this tremendous vote of confidence and look forward to working with them as Epoiesen continues to grow.”