Massachusetts is lucky to have a number of presses that publish poetry. Not only are we wealthy in presses, but the presses are diverse in what they look for in poetry as well as the type of publication — full book, chapbook, broadsides, translations, CDs — they produce.
Support your local poetry institutions and buy locally. The presses are listed in alphabetical order below. Check them out.
Adastra Press
Begun in 1979 by poet, teacher, and printer, Gary Metras, to produce with antique methods and equipment short collections of quality contemporary poetry using the highest standards of typography and printing. All books, chapbooks and broadsides are, thusly, crafted by hand limited editions. The type is hand-set, that is, each letter, mounted on a piece of metal, is set in place one at a time, the same process as Gutenberg’s “movable type” of the fifteenth century. The printing process is letterpress with paper gathered and folded by hand, and all binding is sewn by hand, with a few titles offset and perfect bound. Through 2012, 96 titles by 59 poets (from Alaska to New Hampshire, Michigan to Florida) have been published. Distributed Small Press Distribution, Inc. In 2006 Adastra Press was chosen over Farrah Straus & Giroux as Poetry Publisher of the Year by The Contemporary Poetry Review. “As long as fine literary presses continue to handcraft handsome books like these from Adastra, serious readers of the twenty-first century can rest assured, the book is alive and well,”—American Book Review.
Recent Titles include:
- If I Take You Here, Martha Carlson-Bradley
- Check Points, Michael Casey
- God Particles, Thomas Lux
- A Cup of Water Turns into a Rose, Lawrence Raab
- Purgatory Chasm, Susan Edwards Richmond
Contact:
Gary Metras, Adastra Press, 16 Reservation Road, Easthampton, MA 01027
Anabiosis Press:
publishes the winner of the annual Anabiosis Press Chapbook Contest, ongoing since 1991. Poets published by the Anabiosis Press exhibit a heightened sensitivity toward language, which manifests emotional power and linguistic prowess. Chapbooks have an overall thematic focus, and themes cover a wide variety of topics. Winners from the last five years include the following titles:
- Both Distances by Ralph Culver
- Lucky by Jessie Brown
- Ghost by Gaylord Brewer
- Fragrant Inferno by Meghan Brinson
- Gold Leaf on Granite by William Keener
To learn more and order books, go to http://anabiosispress.org/chapwinners/pastwinners.html.
Black Ocean:
- Pink Thunder [album +songbook] by Michael Zapruder,
- Fjords vol.1 by Zachary Schomburg
- Dark Matter by Aase Berg (trans. from Swedish by Johannes Göransson).
To learn more and order books, go to http://www.blackocean.org/catalog/
Broadsided Press:
publishes monthly collaborations between writers and visual artists. Founded in 2005, our mission is to put literature and art on the streets, and to that end our distribution is grass-roots and our publications are free. Vectors print the letter-sized pdfs and post them in their community bus stops, notice boards, utility poles, etc. We look for clear, evocative, short writing that will capture the attention of “everyman,” poet or not, in the midst of a busy day. We’ve published the following poets:
- Established poets : Jane Hirshfield, Mary Jo Bang, Jericho Brown, and Robert Wrigley
- New poets: Sean Prentiss, Dolan Morgan, and Emma Sovich.
Learn more and order books at http://www.broadsidedpress.org
Hedgerow Books of Levellers Press
- D M Gordon, Nightly at the Institute of the Possible (“Must Read” designation 2012, Massachusetts Book Awards)
- Patricia Lee Lewis, High Lonesome
- Annie Boutelle, This Caravaggio
- Maya Janson, Murmur & Crush
Ibbetson Street Press:
was founded in 1998 in Somerville by Doug Holder, Richard Wilhelm, and Dianne Robitaille. We have published over 60 poetry titles.We specialize in publishing emerging poets outside of the academy. We also put out a literary magazine Ibbetson Street twice a year. The press is now affiliated with Endicott College. Some recent poets we published in our magazine (as well as books) are Sam Cornish, Afaa Michael Weaver, Dennis Daly, Zvi A. Sesling, Richard Hoffman, Philip Burnham, Jr., and others. Books published include:
- Shorelines by Philip Burnham Jr.
- The Custom House by Dennis Daly
- Dead Beats by Sam Cornish
To buy books go to http://ibbetsonpress.com or http://lulu.com/ibbetsonpress
Loom Press:
publications emphasize authors and subjects from the Merrimack River region of New England. Recent book include:
- “Bridge Street at Dusk” by Tom Sexton (poems of Lowell and Maine by a former Poet Laureate of Alaska
- “Spirits Dancing Into Light” by Judith Dickerman-Nelson (poems in English and Khmer about the experiences of Cambodian Americans)
- “Mid Drift” by Kate Hanson Foster (selected by the Massachusetts Center for the Book as one of the state’s best poetry books of 2011).
Learn more and order books at www.loompress.com. Loom Press, P.O. Box 1394, Lowell, MA 01853
Off the Grid:
publishes the best poetry by poets over 60. We run one contest a year and publish one book a year.
- Coyote Bush by Peter Nash
- Dollhouse by Elaine Teranova (forthcoming)
Learn more and order books from offthegridpress.net
Paris Press:
- Muriel Rukeyser (The Life of Poetry, Houdini: A Musical, The Orgy)
- Ruth Stone, National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award-winner (Simplicity, Ordinary Words, and Look to the Future: Ruth Stone Reads from Simplicity and Ordinary Words)
- Adrian Oktenberg, Northampton, MA-based poet(The Bosnia Elegies)
- Emily Dickinson (Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson)
- Jan Freeman, Ashfield, MA-based poet (Simon Says and Autumn Sequence)
- The Press recently released its first anthology of poetry and prose, Sisters: An Anthology, with poetry by Jane Hirshfield, Audre Lorde, Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove, Marilyn Chin, and others.
To learn more about Paris Press and our books, please visit: visit http://www.parispress.org.To purchase Paris Press books for yourself and others, visit: http://www.parispress.org/order.html or find us at your local or online bookseller.
Perugia Press:
publishes one collection of poetry each year, by a woman at the beginning of her publishing career. Our mission is to produce beautiful books that interest long-time readers of poetry and welcome those new to poetry. We also aim to celebrate and promote poetry whenever we can. Our latest books are:
- The Wishing Tomb, by Amanda Auchter
- Gloss, by Ida Stewart
- Each Crumbling House, by Melody S. Gee
- How to Live on Bread and Music, by Jennifer K. Sweeney
- Two Minutes of Light, by Nancy K. Pearson
For more information and to order books, visit www.perugiapress.com
Tupelo Press:
For more information and to order books: http://www.tupelopress.org
Zephyr Press:
is a non-profit independent literary press whose titles foster a deeper understanding of cultures and languages from around the world. We focus on literature in translation, particularly from Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. Most of our books are bilingual. Some of our latest books are:
- Paul Klee’s Boat by Anzhelina Polonskaya, translated from Russian by Andrew Wachtel
- Stone Cell by Lo Fu, translated from Chinese by John Balcom
- China’s Lost Decade : Cultural Politics And Poetics 1978–1990 In Place of History by Gregory B. Lee
- Approaching You in English by Admiel Kosman , translated from Hebrew by Lisa Katz with Shlomit Naim-Naor
- Black Square by Tadeusz Dąbrowski, from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
For more information and to order books, visit www.zephyrpress.org
[...] to celebrate Massachusetts publishers of poetry. We start by creating a page that gives you an alphabetical list of the publishers, along with what they look for in poems, what they’ve published recently, and how to reach them. [...]