Notebooks 12-16 , 2006-2007

This collection contains the papers of poet, author, publisher, and political activist Robert White Anbian (1949-2022). Anbian graduated from the University of Virginia in 1971, after which he spent three years in Niger with the Peace Corps from 1974 to 1977. He then relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a writer and poet until his death. From 1985 to 1996, Robert served as the editor of the monthly Film Arts Foundation magazine, Release Print, and the publicist for an independent filmmaker education and advocacy group. He founded his own publishing house, Night Horn Books. Anbian published three poetry collections: WE Parts 1 & 2 (Night Horn Books, 1999), Antinostalgia (Ruddy Duck Press, 1992), and Bohemian Airs & Other Kêfs (Night Horn Books, 1982).

The collection contains sketchbooks, journals, handwritten and printed drafts of poems, screenplays, short stories, and longer works, notes, newspaper clippings, articles, printed publications, posters, pamphlets, resumes, an astrological chart, artworks, photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and publications published by Night Horn Books.

The papers span from 1974 to 2022 and document his work as a writer and publisher. Materials include his journals and sketchbooks from 1974 to 2019, which include his artwork, notes, and poetry. There are synopses, drafts, notebooks, and notes of two of his novels, "The Glittering Zero" and "Deep Blue Sea," as well as his poetry, short stories, and screenplays.

Aside from his written work, the collection contains correspondence between Anbian and other poets, personal handwritten notes, postcards to friends and family members, resumes, photographs, and artwork by Anbian. Works published by Wilderness Press and Night Horn Book, authored by Anbian and others, are also included. See External Documents for a detailed box-folder inventory of the collection's contents.