Sarabande Books is an American not-for-profit literary press founded in 1994. It is headquartered in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, with an office in New York City. Sarabande publishes contemporary poetry and nonfiction. Sarabande is a literary press whose books have earned reviews in the New York Times. The press was co-founded by

Sarah Gorham Sarah Gorham (born March 30, 1954) is an American poet, essayist, and publisher residing in Prospect, Kentucky. Background Gorham was educated at the Ecole D'Humanité, an international boarding school in Switzerland and received her MFA from t ...

(President and Editor-in-Chief) and

Jeffrey Skinner Jeffrey Skinner is an American poet, writer, playwright, and emeritus professor in the Department of English at the University of Louisville. His most recent collection of poetry is ''Salt Water Amnesia'', (Ausable Press, 2005). Skinner is editor ...

(Chair). According to a CLMP Newswire interview, "The press was named after an Aztec mating dance that was later adopted and banned in Spain and finally made respectable in Britain. Its mission, according to Gorham, is to publish poetry and fiction and to disburse the works of its authors 'with diligence and creativity.' The press also serves as an educational resource to teachers and creative writing students." The press publishes the winners of its national poetry and fiction competitions, as well as manuscripts accepted through general submission. Sarabande Books titles are distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. The press has received grants from the

Kentucky Arts Council The Kentucky Arts Council, established in 1966, is the Kentucky state arts agency, and is responsible for developing and promoting support for the arts in Kentucky. Part of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Arts Council ...

, 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 private foundations. Notable authors published by Sarabande Books include

Ralph Angel Ralph Angel (May 2, 1951 – March 6, 2020) was an American poet and educator. Early life and education Born on May 2, 1951, in Seattle, Washington, Angel was a second-generation American of Sephardic Jewish descent. He attended inner-city publ ...

Rick Barot Rick Barot (born February 19, 1969) is an American poet and educator. Life Barot was born in the Philippines, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended Wesleyan University and The Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He ha ...

Frank Bidart Frank Bidart (born May 27, 1939) is an American academic and poet, and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Biography Bidart is a native of California and considered a career in acting or directing when he was young. In 1957, he began to s ...

Sallie Bingham Sallie Bingham (born January 22, 1937) is an American author, playwright, poet, teacher, feminist activist, and philanthropist. She is the eldest daughter of Barry Bingham, Sr., patriarch of the Bingham family of Louisville, Kentucky. Sallie ...

Alice Fulton Alice Fulton (born 1952) is an American author of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Fulton is the Ann S. Bowers Professor of English Emerita at Cornell University. Her awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, ...

Louise Glück Louise Elisabeth Glück ( ; born April 22, 1943) is an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal". He ...

Mark Jarman Mark F. Jarman (born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky) is an American poet and critic often identified with the New Narrative branch of the New Formalism; he was co-editor with Robert McDowell of '' The Reaper'' throughout the 1980s. Centennial Pro ...

, James Kimbrell,

Karen An-hwei Lee Karen An-hwei Lee (born 1973) is an American poet. Life Born in 1973, and raised in Massachusetts, Lee is a Chinese American poet, translator, and critic. She earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from Brown University and a Ph.D. in literatur ...

Cate Marvin Cate Marvin is an American poet. Life She graduated from Marlboro College, University of Houston, University of Iowa, and University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D. She has taught at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and Columbi ...

, Cleopatra Mathis,

Alyce Miller Alyce Miller is an American writer who currently lives in the DC Metro area.''Poets & Writers'' Directory of Writers > Alyce Miller Biography She was born in Zürich, Switzerland and lived "most of her life"Author Website > Bio in the San Fran ...

Kyle Minor Kyle Minor (born 1976) is an American writer. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, Minor lived in Ohio and Kentucky before settling in Indiana. He studied writing at Ohio State University, where he was a three-time honoree in ''The Atlantic ...

Edith Pearlman Edith Ann Pearlman ('' née'' Grossman; June 26, 1936 – January 1, 2023) was an American short story writer.

Kiki Petrosino Kiki Petrosino (born 1979) is an American poet and professor of poetry. She currently teaches at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Early life and education Petrosino was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. After spend ...

Lia Purpura Lia Purpura (born February 22, 1964, Mineola, New York) is an American poet, writer and educator. She is the author of four collections of poems (''King Baby'', ''Stone Sky Lifting'', ''The Brighter the Veil'', ''It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful' ...

Joan Silber Joan Silber is an American novelist and short story writer. She won the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her novel ''Improvement''. Biography Joan Silber was born in 1945. She gre ...

Gerald Stern Gerald Daniel Stern (February 22, 1925 – October 27, 2022) was an American poet, essayist, and educator. The author of twenty collections of poetry and four books of essays, he taught literature and creative writing at Temple University, Indi ...

Deborah Tall Deborah Anne Tall (March 16, 1951 – October 19, 2006) was an American writer and poet. From 1982 until 2006, she was a professor of literature and writing at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and edited the literary journal, ''The Seneca Revie ...

, and

Ann Townsend Ann Townsend (born December 5, 1962) is an American poet and essayist. She is the co-founder of VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts and a professor of English and director of the creative writing at Denison University, She has published three origin ...

. Authors have been recipients of many awards including the Whiting Foundation Award, the PEN USA Award in Poetry, the

Norma Farber First Book Award The Norma Farber First Book Award is given by the Poetry Society of America "for a first book of original poetry written by an American and published in either a hard or soft cover in a standard edition during the calendar year". Poetry Society of A ...

, the Pushcart Prize, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Fellowships, and numerous other honors. Sarabande Books titles have been reviewed in ''The New York Times Book Review'', ''Publishers Weekly'', ''Library Journal'', ''Kirkus Reviews'', ''The Nation'', ''American Book Review'', and many other publications. Awards given by Sarabande Books include the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.

Awards

In 2013, Sarabande Books was the inaugural winner of the 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.

References

External links

Sarabande Books Website

Mary McCarthy Prize

Kathryn A. Morton Prize
{{Authority control Poetry publishers Publishing companies established in 1994 Book publishing companies of the United States Non-profit organizations based in Louisville, Kentucky Literary publishing companies 1994 establishments in Kentucky