Editor Interview: Perugia Press

Poetry books by women

Daring, imaginative writing.

I love every Perugia Press poet. We have an amazing group of super smart women here.
I also like to read Maxine Kumin, Martha Rhodes, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Thomas Lux, Stanley Kunitz, Adrienne Rich, and others.
And I'm a fan of memoirs.

We publish the best new women poets--first and second books of poetry by women. Because we only publish one book each year--the winner of the annual Perugia Press Prize--each poet gets undivided attention, and is able to participate in all phases of the editing, design, and promotion of her book. In addition, we feel that excellence comes this way: one book at a time, and many of our 20 years' worth of books have gone on to win national book prizes. There's a buzz about who will win the Perugia Press Prize each year.

Of course, follow the guidelines. And of course, read our books to see if yours is a good fit. We aim to publish poetry that is welcoming to new readers of poetry and interesting to longtime readers. There's nothing better than calling a winner to tell her the good news and have her say something wonderful and specific about one of our previous winning books.

The poetry is smart, imaginative, musical, daring. The language is inventive and available. Everyone of course thinks their poetry is like this, so ideally the poet will have had lots of feedback on her work before it's ready to submit. Also, the manuscript must walk the fine line between unity and repetition. I want to be wowed; I want to discover something; and I want to want to turn the page.
As far as the arcane: again, follow the guidelines. Be neat.

There are not a lot of errors. Submitters get it. Although with online submissions, it's important to remove your name from the manuscript file. We read anonymously.

Cover letters and publication credits are not read by any screeners or judges, so if you include them, they won't get looked at until and unless you win.

First of all, I don't read everything. I have a team of about 20 volunteers who screen and judge the manuscripts. So I can't speak for them. I do know that manuscripts that are great will show that off immediately, and I've learned to trust that the best ones rise to the top. If I'm bored, if I'm not sure, if I don't understand something, I don't stay with it long. That's because we are choosing one winner from more than 500 submissions. The best poetry doesn't allow space for me to doubt my judgements.