T H E   B E S T   N E W   W O M E N   P O E T S

 
Poetry is super powerful. It can help, heal, and spark conversations. It is great for removing shame around sexual violence, and I hope this book does that. —Megan Peak

Dear Supporters and Friends of Perugia Press,

We are already reading manuscripts from across the country for next year’s Perugia Press Prize. It’s always exciting to read what women poets are writing each year!

The 2018 Perugia Press Prize winner, Girldom, was just released on September 15. This first book by Texas poet Megan Peak couldn’t be more relevant in today’s political and cultural climate, and it has been especially moving to see how audiences react to Megan’s poetry. One professor taught poems from the book in advance of Megan’s visit, and she said, “I had the best in-class discussion I’ve ever had about poetry … Megan’s work is life changing. Thanks for putting it out in the world.” 

At another event, Megan was asked how she feels about the book being called a #MeToo collection. “I’ve gotten Facebook and Twitter messages from people reaching out to share their experiences with trauma,” she said. “Poetry is super powerful. It can help, heal, and spark conversations. It is great for removing shame around sexual violence, and I hope this book does that.”

Please help us get Girldom, and all the Perugia Press books, into the hands of readers far and wide. 

You can donate on our website anytime, or by visiting my Facebook fundraiser through year's end. For gifts of $100 or more, we will send you a copy of Girldom (or, if you prefer, we’ll donate the book to a library or school of your choice). Thank you for reading our books, using them in your classrooms, volunteering with the press, submitting your manuscripts, attending Perugia Press events, and of course, donating money so we can keep pursuing our mission. 

With gratitude,

Rebecca Olander, Editor/Director

Perugia Press is a non-profit, Section 501(c)(3) organization;
donations are tax-deductible; EIN #861159639
 
 
 
 
Girldom is already garnering praise in the press! Thanks to Katy Dycus for this reading of Girldom, featured on the Wild Detectives Bookstore site, where Megan Peak read in November. Regarding one of Peak's poems, Dycus writes, "If there are so many ways of being emptied, are there equally as many ways of being filled up again? Each person gets to decide how to regain fullness. Poems, like photographs, with their edges as boundaries, are great at showing just enough information to make meaning possible. And that’s precisely what Peak gives us in Girldomjust enough to make meaning possible."

 
 * New Poems From Perugia Poets *
 
Frannie Lindsay, author of Lamb, has a new poem, "The Rabbit of Upland Road," in Under a Warm Green Linden along with a recording of the poem. Here's an excerpt:
 
But look: two brown rabbits
have popped naïvely out from behind 
the lilacs. In their lovely identical eyes 
rests the gem of everyday trust. It needs 
no faceting.
 
Lynne Thompson, author of Beg No Pardon, has a new poem, "They," in Pedestal Magazine along with a recording of the poem. Here's an excerpt:
 
How can I explain to you:
my skin, leather black with time,
sashayed through a room of daggers.
 
L. I. Henley, author of Starshine Road, has a new interview accompanied by new poems, in Mojave River Review. Here's an excerpt from her poem, "When I Was a Tumble Weed":
 
I had that carnival-ride whorl
topsy-turvy     undone and grateful
 
Oh how I loved to snap     roll
death a gambler's gain
 
Nothing loneliness could do
that I hadn't done to myself

 
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