Copper Canyon Press
Copper Canyon Press[1] is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington.
| Founded | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Fort Worden Port Townsend, Washington |
| Distribution | Consortium Book Sales & Distribution |
| Publication types | Books |
| Fiction genres | Poetry |
| Official website | www |
Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both popular and emerging[2] American poets, translations of classical and contemporary work from many of the world's cultures,[3] re-issues of out-of-print poetry classics, prose books about poetry, and anthologies.
The press achieved national attention when Copper Canyon poet W.S. Merwin won the 2005 National Book Award for Poetry[4] in the same year another Copper Canyon poet, Ted Kooser, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was appointed to a second year as United States Poet Laureate.[5] Merwin later won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry[6] and in 2010 was named United States Poet Laureate.[7] Copper Canyon has published more than 400 titles, including works by Nobel Prize Laureates Pablo Neruda, Odysseas Elytis, Octavio Paz, Vicente Aleixandre and Rabindranath Tagore; Pulitzer Prize-winners Ted Kooser, Carolyn Kizer, Maxine Kumin, Theodore Roethke, and W.S. Merwin; National Book Award winners Hayden Carruth, Lucille Clifton, and Ruth Stone; and some contemporary poets and translators such as Jim Harrison, C. D. Wright, Bill Porter (aka Red Pine), Norman Dubie, Eleanor Wilner, Arthur Sze, James Richardson, Tom Hennen and Lucia Perillo. In 2003 it published The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth.
The press published What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford to great critical acclaim in 2015. In his New York Times review,[8] Dwight Garner complimented the press for performing a "vital and difficult task" and giving the reader "a chance to see him (Stanford) whole." National Public Radio called the book's release "the big event in poetry for 2015."[9]
Also in 2015, Copper Canyon Press acquired the U.S. rights to a manuscript of lost poems by Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. Discovered by archivists from The Pablo Neruda Foundation in the summer of 2014 just after the April 2013 exhumation of Neruda's body in Chile,[10] this collection of poems has been called "a literary event of universal importance" and "the biggest find in Spanish literature in recent years".[11] The collection, Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems, translated by Pulitzer finalist Forrest Gander, was released in April 2016 and includes full-color, facsimile presentations of Neruda's handwritten poems. Copper Canyon was also awarded the rights to publish Neruda's first book, Crepusulario, which has also never appeared in the U.S. in English translation.
Not only does Copper Canyon Press publish works of established poets, it also strives to publish the first books by talented new poets. In 2016, Copper Canyon published two debut collections: Camille Rankine's Incorrect Merciful Impulses and Ocean Vuong's Night Sky With Exit Wounds; both of these titles received critical acclaim.[12][13]
Major prizes
- Jericho Brown - 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Tradition
- Arthur Sze - 2019 National Book Award for Poetry for Sight Lines
- Ocean Vuong - 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize for Night Sky with Exit Wounds
- Natalie Diaz - 2013 American Book Award for When My Brother Was an Aztec
- Laura Kasischke - 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for Space, In Chains
- C.D. Wright - 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for One With Others
- W.S. Merwin - 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Shadow of Sirius
- Ted Kooser - 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Delights and Shadows
- W.S. Merwin - 2005 National Book Award for Poetry for Migrations: New and Selected Poems
- Ruth Stone - 2002 National Book Award for Poetry for In the Next Galaxy
- Hayden Carruth - 1996 National Book Award for Poetry for Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey
References
- ^ Jennings, Dana (Oct 24, 2013). "Poetry Profiles: Copper Canyon Press". Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ Jennings, Dana (Oct 22, 2013). "Kerry James Evans: From Combat Engineer to Poet". Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ "A Small Press Brings Poetry to World : Kitsap Sun". Archived from the original on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
- ^ Jenna Krajeski (20 April 2009). "Copper Canyon's Big Time". The New Yorker.
- ^ Gelder, Lawrence Van (Apr 9, 2005). "Arts, Briefly (Published 2005)". The New York Times. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ Rich, Motoko (Apr 20, 2009). "Pleased by His Pulitzer, Surprised by Poetry". Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ Cohen, Patricia (Jul 1, 2010). "W. S. Merwin to Be Named Poet Laureate (Published 2010)". The New York Times. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ Garner, Dwight (Apr 6, 2015). "Review: 'What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford' (Published 2015)". The New York Times. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ "Resurrections, Do-Overs, And Second Lives: A 2015 Poetry Preview". NPR.org. 17 January 2015.
- ^ Grimes, William (19 June 2014). "Neruda Poems Found". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
- ^ Flood, Alison (2014-06-19). "Pablo Neruda poems 'of extraordinary quality' discovered". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Incorrect Merciful Impulses by Camille Rankine. Copper Canyon (Consortium, dist.), $16 trade paper (80p) ISBN 978-1-55659-490-8". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko (May 9, 2016). "Review: 'Night Sky With Exit Wounds,' Verses From Ocean Vuong (Published 2016)". The New York Times. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.