PUBLISHING NEW WOMEN POETS SINCE 1997
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* Thank You! *
We are so grateful to all the women who submitted their manuscripts to
the 2022 Perugia Press Prize contest for a first or second full-length book by a woman-identifying poet. We received over 540 submissions! We look forward to reading your collections (and have already been enjoying the submissions we've read so far). We'll have results by April 1, and we appreciate that you chose to send your work to Perugia Press. Thank you!
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It's #GivingTuesday, and we're kicking off
our year-end appeal! Read our letter below:
Dear Friends of Perugia Press,
We want our donors to know about one of the important new decisions we made toward becoming a more diverse and equitable organization. This decision has to do with submission fees for our annual contest—one of the main sources of income for the press.
First, in 2020, we started collecting demographic information (optionally and anonymously) from the poets who submit their manuscripts for consideration. This gave us a sense of who was even interested in becoming a Perugia Press poet.
The results didn’t satisfy us, so in 2021, we have instituted contest fee options. Now, poets can opt for (1) full-rate, which includes a complimentary book, (2) reduced-rate, or (3) fee-free, available to Black, Indigenous, and women of color poets. We consider this a reparation and not an assumption of financial need. Our intention is to offer to repay BIWOC poets for the extra time and energy it takes to navigate systemic racism in the publishing industry.
The results are heartening! We have successfully encouraged more poets of color to enter our contest, which will lead to more poets of color on our list of authors, readers for our contest, participants in events we produce, and on our board of directors.
If this success in removing barriers feels important to you too, we hope you’ll help us balance the good news with the downside, which is a loss of income. Submission fees are integral to our operations and go directly toward the mission and work of our nonprofit press.
Please give us your vote of confidence and help us keep submissions more accessible for all by making a generous donation (on #GivingTuesday or any day) to Perugia Press so we can continue to offer fee options.
Gratefully,
Susan Kan, Founder and President of the Board of Directors
Rebecca Olander, Director/Editor
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* Another Way to Support the Press *
Are you a Florence Bank customer? Florence Bank is donating $100,000 again this year to local non-profit organizations in their Annual Customers' Choice Community Grants Program, and account holders decide who gets the money! Please consider voting for Perugia Press this year. It takes just a moment to vote, and any nonprofit with at least 50 votes gets a share.
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Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight
November 2021 Poet: Karen Rigby
The New York Botanical Garden
The audio tour explains harvesting
palm hearts. Outside, hoarfrost burns the lawn.
I'm inside the snow-globed conservatory peering into
a replica hut: hammock slung
from a beam, mortar and pestle
stationed on the floor. Placards label
everything like a crime. Tell me
something new about the manicole acreage.
A human organ salvaged from the wreck,
my own heart tinned.
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* Gateway City Arts Holiday Book Fair: 12/4, 2-6pm *
Perugia Press is excited to be participating in an in-person celebration of art and community featuring micro readings,
a holiday book fair with authors and presses & good food & drink. Editor/Director Rebecca Hart Olander, Perugia poet Janet Aalfs, and Perugia board member Sarah Sousa will be there along with other local W. MA writers and artists. Hope you can join us
THIS SATURDAY, December 4, from 2-6pm at Gateway City Arts
in Holyoke, MA. Proof of vax and mask-wearing required, and
the venue is accessible. The event is free, though donations to the venue are gratefully accepted. More details in the Facebook event listing, including info about signing up as a participant!
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* Rebecca Pelky & Gwendolyn Paradice Reading *
Perugia Press held a virtual reading and conversation in honor of Native American Heritage Month on November 18 co-sponsored by the English Dept. and the S.A.I.L. Program at Westfield State University and featuring Rebecca Pelky and Gwendolyn Paradice. It was a beautiful reading followed by an interesting and important conversation. Here's the link to watch the recording of the event. (passcode: ?PI72f=W)
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PERUGIA PRESS
PO Box 60364, Florence, MA 01062
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