Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press PrizeAPress for the 2020 Perugia Press Prize winner Per

Dear Friends of Perugia Press,

 

We're feeling deep gratitude for our community. We reached our goal of $10,000 for our year-end fundraiser, and we have you, friends of Perugia Press, to thank for this. Thank you to everyone who was able to give to Perugia's appeal at the end of last year and into the beginning of this year. Your gifts are helping us to start 2026 with strength, and your generosity will continue to bolster us as we do our work, which you are all a part of. Sincere thanks for your donations and for the way you uplift our work, and therefore the work of new women poets.

 

These are trying and traumatic times. As people in Minneapolis and beyond are illustrating daily, standing together to advocate for the things that matter and oppose what seeks to divide us is necessary, powerful, sustaining, and ultimately joyful work. We send solidarity and care to folks across the country supporting their neighbors and communities. 

 

With gratitude,

Rebecca Olander, Editor/Director

& the Perugia Press Board 

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

Holli Carrell's Apostasies:

* Press, Events & Honors *

 

Two beautiful reviews of Apostasies came out this month. First, Amanda Auchter's gorgeous take on the book was highlighted in RHINO, and then Samantha Strong Murphey's personal and insightful reading was published in North American Review. Thanks to both writers and to the editors of the journals in which these reviews appeared. We're so grateful for the coverage of this incredible collection!

 

Check out Holli's continuing book tour for Apostasies below, as well as an announcement of her being named the winner of the 2026 Last Syllable Award in Poetry. Congratulations, Holli!

 

 

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight

 

January 2026 Poet: Jaia Hamid Bashir

 

The Waiters

 

Blued rags in my hands. We eat 

shooed seconds of half-gods—

under each plate, quarter moons 

hide before glow. In the parking lot 

 

after bleached tables, we gaze over 

rainbows, outerglint on asphalt, 

 

from the gas station. Holding fires 

to purple mouths—a strike of a momentary beauty. 

 

With tired hands, generous still

-to-smooth waves—we are each other's

 

tangled hair in nets. In the tight embrace

of no embers, no control over light.

Undoing my unlovely ponytail, caught dark

 

hair freed into directions of clocked-out air—

there are no borders. In your palms softening 

 

your name over callus in Nastaliq.

 

 

from Desire/Halves (Nine Syllables Press, 2024)

 

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

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

Readings & Roots:

Megan Peak on "The Killing Jar"

 

Our video series “Readings & Roots: Perugia Poets on

Poetic Process,” features our poets reading a poem of their choice from their Perugia book and talking about the

genesis of the piece and/or the process of writing the poem.

The latest video features Megan Peak and a poem from

her Perugia Press book Girldom. Watch it here! 

 

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

The Story of My Book:

Amanda Auchter on The Wishing Tomb

 

Our series “The Story of My Book,” chronicles Perugia

Press’s collections through the words of their authors.

Our latest post features Amanda Auchter on her book

The Wishing Tomb, the 2012 Perugia Press Prize winner. 

 

Winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize

Welcoming a New Board Member: 

 

Kristin LaFollette has joined the board for a term beginning

in January, 2026. Thank you, Kristin for coming aboard! 

 Read about our current members here.

 

 

Kristin LaFollette is the author of the poetry collections Intern Year (Harbor Editions, 2026), Hematology (winner of the 2021 Harbor Editions Laureate Prize), and Body Parts (winner of the 2017 GFT Press Chapbook Prize), and her poems have been published in The Missouri Review, Ghost City Review, Rogue Agent, The Tusculum Review, and The Maynard, among others. She received an M.A. from Indiana University South Bend and a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University and is a professor at the University of Southern Indiana. Learn more at Kristin's website.