Kore Press is an American nonprofit literary press founded in 1993 and located in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. The press publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by women, transgender or gender non-conforming women. Kore Press's output includes books, audio CDs, and broadsides. The press was co-founded by Lisa Bowden (publisher) and poet Karen Falkenstrom.

Shannon Cain Shannon Cain (born June 3, 1964) is an American writer, editor, teacher, visual artist, and activist living in France. She is the founder of La Maison Baldwin, an organization that celebrates the life of James Baldwin in Saint-Paul de Vence. Cai ...

was its Executive Director from 2004 to 2009. Kore Press publishes manuscripts accepted through general submission and annually awards prizes for a first book of poetry, a single short story and a memoir or a memoir-in-essays. Kore Press titles are distributed by

Independent Publishers Group Independent Publishers Group (IPG) is a worldwide distributor for independent general, academic, and professional publishers, founded in 1971 to exclusively market titles from independent client publishers to the international book trade. As per ...

. The press has received grants from 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 ...

and awards including the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize. Notable authors published by Kore Press include

Alison Hawthorne Deming Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946 Hartford, Connecticut) is an American poet, essayist and teacher, former Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment and Social Justice and currently Regents Professor Emerita in Creative Writing at the University of A ...

, Carolyn Hembree,

Ofelia Zepeda Ofelia Zepeda (born in Stanfield, Arizona, 1952) is a Tohono O'odham poet and intellectual. She is Regents' Professor of Tohono O'odham language and linguistics and Director of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) at The ...

, Linda Hogan, and Jennifer Barber. Author Kelcey Parker's book ''For Sale by Owner'' was the 2011 recipient of the

Next Generation Indie Book Award The Next Generation Indie Book Awards, also known as the Indie Book Awards, is a literary awards program that recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 70 different categories. "Indies" include ...

in Short Fiction. In 2010, Kore Press produced a one-woman play titled "Coming In Hot," depicting women's accounts of military service in recent conflicts around the world. The play was based on the press's 2008 anthology ''Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks from Vietnam to Iraq,'' co-edited by Lisa Bowden and Shannon Cain''.'' As part of their commitment to social activism, in 2011 Kore Press began a series of justice programming. Their first project, ''Big Read Tucson 2011,'' was held in conjunction with the

’ literacy initiative
Big Read
'. Kore's 10-week community engagement program involved 40 local partners and celebrated the life and work of poet Emily Dickinson with a variety of events. For their 2014 cross-generational program ''The Listening Project'', teenage girls interviewed female service members and veterans about their lives and experiences serving in the military. Their radio stories were broadcast publicly and were used to create an on-line
audio archive
on civil discourse. In 2016, in conjunction with over 25 health, cultural and justice organizations, Kore Press organized ''Unsilencing Anatomies'', a two-month, community-wide event that looked at the ways ethnicity, sexuality and gender affect people’s experiences with health and the medical system. In 2017, the press hosted poet, experimental vocalist and scholar

Tracie Morris Tracie Morris is an American poet. She is also a performance artist, vocalist, voice consultant, creative non-fiction writer, critic, scholar, bandleader, actor and non-profit consultant. Morris is from Brooklyn, New York. Morris' experimental so ...

for a local performance to address the issues of race, gender and class.

References

External links

Kore Press Website

Independent Publishers Group > Kore Press Publisher Page
{{Authority control 1993 establishments in Arizona American companies established in 1993 Book publishing companies of the United States Companies based in Tucson, Arizona Non-profit organizations based in Arizona Poetry publishers Publishing companies established in 1993