Graywolf Press is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

located in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. Graywolf Press publishes

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the

College of Saint Benedict The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related private, Catholic higher education institutions in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is a women's college located in St. Joseph, while Saint John's Univ ...

, the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

, and

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

. Graywolf Press currently publishes about 27 books a year, including the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winner, the recipient of the Emily Dickinson First Book Award, and several translations supported by the

Lannan Foundation The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

History

Graywolf Press was founded by Scott Walker and Kathleen Foster in 1974, in a space provided by

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both popu ...

Port Townsend, Washington Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

. The press was named for the nearby Graywolf Ridge and Graywolf River, and for the

canid Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within the ...

. The press had early successes publishing poetry heavyweights like Denis Johnson and Tess Gallagher. In 1984, Graywolf Press was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and moved to

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in 1985 with the support of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. Fiona McCrae, formerly of

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, became the director of Graywolf Press in 1994, following the departure of Scott Walker. In 2009, Graywolf Press moved its publishing operations to the historic

Warehouse District This is a list of notable warehouse districts. A warehouse district or warehouse row is an area found in many urban setting known for being the current or former location of numerous warehouses. Logistically, warehouses are often located in indust ...

of downtown

Books and authors

The Graywolf publication list includes novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and poetry by writers such as

Maggie Nelson Maggie Nelson (born 1973) is an American writer. She has been described as a genre-busting writer defying classification, working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, queerness, sexual violence, the history of the avant-garde, ae ...

Deb Olin Unferth Deb Olin Unferth (born November 19, 1968) is an American short story writer, novelist, and memoirist. She is the author of the collection of stories ''Minor Robberies'', the novel ''Vacation'', both published by ''McSweeney's'', and the memoir, ...

Eula Biss Eula Biss (born 1977) is an American non-fiction writer who is the author of four books. Biss has won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and the ...

, Elizabeth Alexander,

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a Bri ...

, Charles Baxter,

Sven Birkerts Sven Birkerts (born 21 September 1951) is an American essayist and literary critic. He is best known for his book ''The Gutenberg Elegies'' (1994), which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other tec ...

Ron Carlson Ron Carlson (born 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer and professor. Life Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, and grew up in Salt Lake City. He received a master's degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The ...

Maile Chapman Maile Chapman is an American novelist and short story writer. Chapman was born in Tacoma, Washington, and has a BA from The Evergreen State College and an MFA in Fiction from Syracuse University. She is currently a PhD candidate and Schaeffer Fe ...

Mark Doten Mark Doten is an American novelist and librettist. He is the author of two novels, ''The Infernal'' and ''Trump Sky Alpha'', both published by Graywolf Press, and he has been a librettist for the Los Angeles Opera and the San Francisco Opera. '' ...

Percival Everett Percival Everett (born December 22, 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Life Everett lives in Los Angeles, California. Literary career While completing his AM degree at B ...

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Ma ...

Dana Gioia Michael Dana Gioia (; born December 24, 1950) is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. Since the early 1980s, Gioia has been considered part of the literary movements within American poetry known as New Formalis ...

Albert Goldbarth Albert Goldbarth (born January 31, 1948) is an American poet. He has won the National Book Critics Circle award for "Saving Lives" (2001) and "Heaven and Earth: A Cosmology" (1991), the only poet to receive the honor two times. He also won the Mar ...

Linda Gregg Linda Alouise Gregg (September 9, 1942 – March 20, 2019) was an American poet. Biography She was born in Suffern, New York. Ms. Gregg grew up on the other side of the country, in Marin County, California. She received both her Bachelor of A ...

, Eamon Grennan, Matthea Harvey,

Tony Hoagland Anthony Dey Hoagland (November 19, 1953 – October 23, 2018) was an American poet. His poetry collection, ''What Narcissism Means to Me'' (2003), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His other honors included two grant ...

Jane Kenyon Jane Kenyon (May 23, 1947 – April 22, 1995) was an American poet and translation, translator. Her work is often characterized as simple, spare, and emotionally resonant. Kenyon was the second wife of poet, editor, and critic Donald Hall who made ...

William Kittredge William Kittredge (August 14, 1932 – December 4, 2020) was an American writer from Oregon, United States, who lived mostly in Missoula, Montana. Biography He was born in 1932 in Portland, Oregon, and grew up on a ranch in Southeastern Oregon's ...

J. Robert Lennon John Robert Lennon (born 1970) is an American novelist, short story writer, musician and composer. Early life Lennon was raised in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania (1992) and an M.F.A. (19 ...

Ander Monson Ander Monson (born April 9, 1975) is an American novelist, poet, and nonfiction writer. Life He was raised in Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. His mother's death when he was seven years old is reflected in the themes of his later fict ...

Per Petterson Per Petterson (born 18 July 1952 in Oslo) is a Norwegian novelist. His debut book was ''Aske i munnen, sand i skoa'' (1987), a collection of short stories. He has since published a number of novels to good reviews. ''To Siberia'' (1996), set in t ...

Benjamin Percy Benjamin Percy is an American author of novels and short stories, essayist, comic book writer, and screenwriter. Career Benjamin Percy has published four novels, ''The Dark Net'', ''The Dead Lands'', ''Red Moon'', and ''The Wilding'', as well a ...

Carl Phillips Carl Phillips (born 1959) is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. Early life Phillips was born in Everett, Washington. He was born a child of a military family, moving year-by-year unti ...

Catie Rosemurgy Catie Rosemurgy is an American poet who has authored of two collections of poetry, ''My Favorite Apocalypse''

Tracy K. Smith Tracy K. Smith (born April 16, 1972) is an American poet and educator. She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. She has published four collections of poetry, winning the Pulitzer Prize for her 2011 volume ''Life ...

, A. Igoni Barrett,

Nuruddin Farah Nuruddin Farah ( so, Nuuradiin Faarax, ar, نورالدين فارح) (born 24 November 1945) is a Somali novelist. His first novel, ''From a Crooked Rib'', was published in 1970 and has been described as "one of the cornerstones of modern East ...

William Stafford,

David Treuer David Treuer (born 1970) (Ojibwe) is an American writer, critic and academic. As of 2019, he had published seven books; his work published in 2006 was noted as among the best of the year by several major publications. He published a book of essays ...

Brenda Ueland Brenda Ueland (October 24, 1891 – March 5, 1985) was a journalist, editor, freelance writer, and teacher of writing. She is best known for her book ''If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit''. Background Brenda was born ...

, and

Binyavanga Wainaina Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (18 January 1971 – 21 May 2019) was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In April 2014, ''Time'' magazine included Wainaina in its annual ''Time'' 100 as one of the "Mo ...

Awards

Graywolf Press won the 2015 AWP Small Press Publisher Award given by the

Association of Writers & Writing Programs The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' c ...

that "acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation" of small presses and "their contributions to the literary landscape" of the US.

Graywolf Press Prizes

The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, founded in 2005, "seeks to acknowledge – and honor – the great traditions of literary nonfiction” by publishing “the boldest and most innovative books from emerging nonfiction writers" (Robert Polito). Submissions of finished books to the Nonfiction Prize are welcomed from previously unpublished U.S. authors. The winner is announced in April of each year. Graywolf also oversees publication of winners of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

' Walt Whitman Award, as well as every third winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winners

* 2020: ''Voice of the Fish'' by Lars Horn * 2018: ''Zat Lun'' by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint * 2017: '' The Collected Schizophrenias'' by Esmé Weijun Wang *2014: ''Riverine'' by Angela Palm * 2013: ''Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight'' by Margaret Lazarus Dean * 2011: ''The Empathy Exams: Essays'' by

Leslie Jamison Leslie Sierra Jamison (born June 21, 1983) is an American novelist and essayist. She is the author of the 2010 novel ''The Gin Closet'' and the 2014 essay collection ''The Empathy Exams.'' Jamison also directs the non-fiction concentration in wri ...

* 2010: ''

The Grey Album ''The Grey Album'' is a mashup album by Danger Mouse, released in 2004. It mixes an a cappella version of rapper Jay-Z's '' The Black Album'' with samples from the Beatles' self-titled ninth album, commonly known as "The White Album". ''The ...

'' by Kevin Young * 2008: '' Notes from No Man's Land'' by

* 2007: ''Black Glasses Like Clark Kent'' by Terese Svoboda * 2006: ''Neck Deep and Other Predicaments'' by

* 2005: ''Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles'' by

Kate Braverman Kate Braverman (February 5, 1949 – October 12, 2019) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. Los Angeles is the focus for much of her writing. Biography Kate Braverman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 5, 1949 ...

Graywolf Press Africa Prize winners

Since 2018, Graywolf Press has also awarded a prize for "a first novel manuscript by an African author primarily residing in Africa." The winners include: * 2019: ''American Girl and Boy from Shobrakheit'' by Noor Naga * 2018: ''The House of Rust'' by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber

References

External links

* {{Official, http://www.graywolfpress.org/
''Graywolf is turning readers into donors'' > by Marianne Combs > Minnesota Public Radio December 29, 2006

Lannon Foundation Profile of Graywolf Press

''Minnesota: land of long-lasting small presses''
by Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio October 8, 2004
Profile of Graywolf Press
Poets.Org
mnartists.org > ''Thinking Souls: An Interview with Mary Matze''
by Shannon Gibney > August 17, 2006 Book publishing companies based in Minnesota Companies based in Minneapolis Culture of Minneapolis Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1974 1974 establishments in Minnesota