Earlier this month, MacEwan University’s Betty Andrews Recital Hall was host to the launch of Beyond the Concert Hall, the latest anthology from Edmonton-based publisher Laberinto Press.
Hosted in partnership with MacEwan University, the event celebrated the latest installment in the Beyond series, which began in 2020 with Beyond the Food Court.
The anthology features 19 stories and poems by multiple authors exploring the role of sound in shaping memories, emotions, and personal experiences. The collection spans different places and time periods, examining how music and sound can bring people together, offer comfort, and evoke difficult memories.
Before the event, the Griff spoke with Laberinto Press editor and publisher Luciana Erregue-Sacchi about the anthology, the publishing house’s origins, and the importance of bringing Edmonton’s literary community together.
The Beyond anthology series began in 2019, when Erregue-Sacchi received funding through the Edmonton Arts Council’s Diversity in the Arts to publish what would become her 2020 anthology Beyond the Food Court.
While preparing to publish the anthology, Erregue-Sacchi was encouraged by a friend who helped with the grant application to establish her own publishing house.
“That’s how Laberinto Press came to be,” said Erregue-Sacchi.
She wanted the publishing house’s name, which means “labyrinth” in Spanish, to reflect her Argentinian roots.
“I wanted the name as a symbol of stories that join us and separate and weave within one another.” The first anthology, Beyond the Food Court, was published in 2020 around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its focus on food encouraged Erregue-Sacchi to expand the series to explore other senses.
“All living creatures have senses. So that’s one way of finding commonality with all of us.”
Since then, Laberinto Press has received provincial recognition, including being named publisher of the year at the 2024 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.
While most of the contributors are based in Canada, Erregue-Sacchi said the selection process emphasizes community and collaboration. She described the anthology’s contributors as a “roster of allies” who helped bring the project together.
“It’s really bringing the whole literature community together and elevating all of us.”
Unlike a traditional book launch, Beyond the Concert Hall featured live readings from contributing authors alongside a special musical performance from Gavin Bradley, reflecting the anthology’s focus on sound
The emphasis on sound extends beyond the book launch itself. Select physical copies of the anthology include a bookmark featuring a QR code that links to a Spotify playlist, described as a “secret, raw audio world curated directly by the authors.”
According to Laberinto Press’s website, only 60 of these printed QR codes were produced for the initial release.
For Erregue-Sacchi, these interactive elements reflect the publishing house’s approach to storytelling, which aims to bring literature beyond the printed page.
“We like interaction with the reader. We wait for the stories to land on the reader, and sometimes, inadvertently, we end up having something completely immersive. We did a Litfest event last year where we added dance afterwards”
“So we really like bringing this 2D page into the 3D world because literature is life.”
