Up until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Hypocrite Press.  But as someone much wiser than I once said:  “It’s always better late, than never”.  As it turns out the small, independent press has been around in Charlottesville for well over fifteen years.  Founded in 1991, Hypocrite Press states as its mission statement:

…to promote awareness of, and a healthy critical stance toward, the underground subculture of downtown Charlottesville by printing and distributing the works of young local authors who choose to write about their lives in Charlottesville.

To date, Hypocrite Press lists eleven books currently available in print through Lulu, the online retailer and print on demand self-publishing website.  Many of Hypocrite’s early works including The Noble Salvage:  A Song of the South, Laughing Friends Deride, and Fandango depict the Boho-scene of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall in the early to mid 1990’s and serve as important historical and cultural snapshots into the lives of Charlottesville’s twenty-somethings before the “boom” of the past decade.

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More recent offerings from Hypocrite Press have dealt with a range of topics including poems inspired by the Vietnam War (Expended Casings), a collection of film reviews (High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans), and the presence of racism at UVA (The Veil). 

It should be noted that Expended Casings and High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans were both written by former Green Beret and VMI professor Alan F. Farrell and that the latter was nominated for the 2006 Library of Virginia Literary Awards in Nonfiction.  The Veil, written by Taylor Harris, is one of Hypocrite’s most recent offerings and I will be giving it a proper review in the coming days.

For a complete list of offerings from Charlottesville’s Hypocrite Press click here. 

Let us know if you’ve read any of the works from the folks at Hypocrite Press, and if so, please share your thoughts. 

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