Mission
Perugia Press publishes one collection of poetry each year, by a woman at the beginning of her publishing career. Our mission is to produce beautiful books that interest long-time readers of poetry and welcome those new to poetry. We also aim to celebrate and promote poetry whenever we can.
All Perugia poets are available for readings. Please contact the press to schedule an event.
2013 Winner
Begin Empty-Handed
By Gail Martin
Winner of the 2013 Perugia Press Prize
The poems in Begin Empty-Handed ride the hinge between the life expected and the reality of life in process. When the mid-life speaker surrenders to hard truths—loss of parent, enduring marriage, mothering daughters in trouble, for example—she’s a subject-changer, she digresses, pivoting between being empathetic and disengaged. The result is a paradoxical, believable stance with a witty and ironic tone. No illness, damage, or danger is made light of; painful situations are witnessed or resisted with a raw and intermittently comic attitude as the poet goes about the brutal work of letting go.
2012 Winner
THE WISHING TOMB
By Amanda Auchter
Winner of the 2012 Perugia Press Prize
The Wishing Tomb is a love letter to New Orleans, exemplifying a portrait of America’s cultural, urban, and historical landscape. “Amanda Auchter romances the grit, the rampant spice, the twang, the mystery, the brick, the swelter, and the insistent hallelujah conjured by the Crescent City,” says Patricia Smith.
$50,000 Gift of Freedom Winner
Perugia Press is pleased and proud to announce:
A Room of Her Own Foundation
$50,000 "Gift of Freedom" Winner
Diane Gilliam, author of Kettle Bottom
Manuscript reviews
Pulling it All Together:
Preparing Your Poetry Manuscript for Publication
Personal Manuscript Reviews by Perugia Press Editor Susan Kan
“You put your finger on the pulse of the problem with this manuscript.”
— Rebecca Foust, November 2012
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