PUBLISHING NEW WOMEN POETS SINCE 1997

* GRATITUDE *
 
Thank you to all who donated to our 2022 year-end appeal,
to our monthly donors, and to all who buy our books
throughout the year. Did you know Perugia Press donates 5%
of our book sales at year-end to organizations that support
the lives and work of BIWOC folx (Black, Indigenous,
and women of color)? In 2022, buying our books supported
us as well as these three selected organizations:
We'll donate to these same orgs at the end of 2023; when you
buy our books, know your purchase creates ripples of support.

* American Sycamore Events *
 
We're looking forward to welcoming Lisbeth White
to Massachusetts to celebrate her book American Sycamore
at three events at local institutions. She'll be at Westfield State University in the Arno Maris Art Gallery at 4pm on Wednesday, February 15 (free & open to the public), at Amherst College
in Frost Library's CHI Think Tank at 7pm on Thursday,
February 16 (free & open to the public), and at Smith College
in the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at noon on Friday,
February 17 (luncheon salon for Smith College community). 
 

Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight

January 2023 Poet: Laurel Nakanishi
 
 
Waimea Valley III

I've been saving this in my mind for you —
the loulu palms with skirts of crackling leaves,

the wide net of a monkey pod tree,
the bird with a branded face and backward steps —

how she walked over the lily pads
until she sank and floated like a duck,

how bromeliads love the mango bark,
how seeds stick to the wing.

Up mauka the ridgelines crowd
with ironwood, strawberry guava and grass.

But I've been saving this in my mind —
the forest that could be. The seedlings of lama,

wiliwili, and koa cast down roots. The ‘ohi‘a ‘ai,
‘ohi‘a lehua, and alahe‘e reach into the sky.

They will catch the clouds above the old stream beds
and pull down the rain.  
 
 
From Ashore by Laurel Nakanishi (Tupelo Press, 2021).
Reprinted with permission from Tupelo Press.

To read more about this poet and her work, check out our blog. 

"The Story of My Book":
Catherine Anderson on The Work of Hands
 
Published periodically, “The Story of My Book” posts bring our collections to life through a series of five questions we ask all of
our poets that highlight what makes every book unique and why Perugia is the right home for each of them (and may be for you and your book too). The latest installent comes from Catherine Anderson on The Work of Hands (Perugia, 2000). 
 

* PERUGIA POET NEWS *
 
Perugia poet Rebecca Pelky was awarded a 2023
 According to the NEA, these fellowships are "for published
creative writers and are very competitive, with nearly 1,900 applications received this year. The NEA awarded
36 Creative Writing Fellowships of $25,000 each for a total
of $900,000. These FY 2023 fellowships are in poetry
and enable the recipients to set aside time for writing,
research, travel, and general career development.”
 
 
 
*
 
Perugia poet Gail Thomas had her new book 
 Leaving Paradise reviewed by Ellen Miller-Mack
 
 
*
 
"Sometimes when I write it feels like I am lifting"
published in the Los Angeles Review.
And her poem "I am driving a whale heart"
was published in South Dakota Review.
 
*
 
"Three Lies and a Truth"
published in Poetry Daily.
 
*
 
Perugia poet Lynne Thompson will have a new book,
Blue on a Blue Palette, out with BOA Editions in 2024.
Also, listen to Thompson sharing her poem
“Seed of Mango, Seed of Maize” from her Perugia book
 Beg No Pardon on KNAU radio's "PoetrySnaps!"
 
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