Jack White’s Third Man Records recently expanded, creating its own publishing wing, Third Man Books. Now, they are unveiling details about their first commercially available book, Language Lessons: Volume 1, edited by Third Man’s Ben Swank and Chet Wise, founder of the regular Nashville poetry/literature event, Poetry Sucks!. At 321 pages, the hardbound Language Lessons is a massive tome of contemporary poetry and prose by more than 20 acclaimed poets and authors, such as Pulitzer Prize nominee in fiction, Dale Ray Phillips, National Book Award Finalist and National Book Critics Circle Winner in poetry, C.D. Wright. Contributing non-fiction pieces are punk’s own Richard Hell and Tav Falco.

Language Lessons will also include two vinyl LPs of unheard material ranging from psychedelic punk, jazz, blues and pop by artists like William Tyler, Destruction Unit, Ken Vandermark and more. Each set of Language Lessons will also come with five pieces of frameable broadsides of poems by Frank Stanford, Wright, Jake Adam York and Chet Wise.

Language Lessons: Volume 1 is now available for pre-order on the Third Man website, and will be available at certain bookstores and record stores upon its release on August 5th.

– Samantha M. Lopez