Established in 1975, Wake Forest University Press is a non-profit literary

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

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, on the campus of

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

. Although small among

university presses This article lists notable university presses, arranged by country. Associations of university presses are listed afterwards. Entries on this list should be publishing houses associated with one or more academic institutions and have their own ...

, it is a major publisher of

Irish poetry Irish poetry is poetry written by poets from Ireland. It is mainly written in Irish language, Irish and English, though some is in Scottish Gaelic literature, Scottish Gaelic and some in Hiberno-Latin. The complex interplay between the two mai ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Wake Forest Press publishes poets from the Republic of Ireland and from Northern Ireland. Poets published include

Brendan Kennelly Timothy Brendan Kennelly (17 April 1936 – 17 October 2021), usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. Following his retirement he was a Pr ...

, Ciarán Carson, Austin Clarke,

Harry Clifton Harry Clifton may refer to: * Harry Clifton (poet) (born 1952), Irish poet * Harry Clifton (actor), American silent film actor * Harry Clifton (footballer, born 1914) (1914–1998), English footballer * Harry Clifton (footballer, born 1998), We ...

Denis Devlin Denis Devlin (15 April 1908 – 21 August 1959) was, along with Samuel Beckett, Thomas MacGreevy and Brian Coffey, one of the generation of Irish modernist poets to emerge at the end of the 1920s. He was also a career diplomat. Early life and ...

, Peter Fallon, Leontia Flynn, Alan Gillis, Vona Groarke,

Michael Hartnett Michael Hartnett ( ga, Mícheál Ó hAirtnéide) (18 September 1941 – 13 October 1999) was an Irish poet who wrote in both English and Irish. He was one of the most significant voices in late 20th-century Irish writing and has been called " Mu ...

Thomas Kinsella Thomas Kinsella (4 May 192822 December 2021) was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside Dublin, Kinsella attended University College Dublin before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s ...

Michael Longley Michael Longley, (born 27 July 1939, Belfast, Northern Ireland), is an Anglo-Irish poet. Life and career One of twin boys, Michael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to English parents, Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast A ...

Derek Mahon Derek Mahon (23 November 1941 – 1 October 2020) was an Irish poet. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland but lived in a number of cities around the world. At his death it was noted that his, "influence in the Irish poetry community, lit ...

, Richard Murphy,

Medbh McGuckian Medbh McGuckian (born as Maeve McCaughan on 12 August 1950) is a poet from Northern Ireland. Biography She was born the third of six children as Maeve McCaughan to Hugh and Margaret McCaughan in North Belfast. Her father was a school headmaster ...

Paula Meehan Paula Meehan (born 1955) is an Irish poet and playwright. Life and work Paula Meehan was born in Dublin in 1955, the eldest of six children. She subsequently moved to London with her parents where she attended St. Elizabeth's Primary School ...

, John Montague,

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon (born 20 June 1951) is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he is currently both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University P ...

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (; born 1952) is a leading Irish poet. Biography Born in Lancashire, England, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5 and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle, Mo ...

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (; born 1942) is an Irish poet and academic. She was the Ireland Professor of Poetry (2016–19). Biography Ní Chuilleanáin was born in Cork in 1942. She is the daughter of Eilís Dillon and Professor Cormac Ó Cuil ...

, Caitríona O'Reilly,

Conor O'Callaghan Conor O'Callaghan (born 1968) is an Irish novelist and poet. Biography O'Callaghan was born in Newry in 1968 and grew up in Dundalk. His first novel, ''Nothing on Earth'', was published to acclaim in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Kerry Grou ...

, and

Peter Sirr Peter Sirr (born 1960) is an Irish poet, born in Waterford, Ireland. He lives in Dublin where he works as a freelance writer and translator. Life Peter Sirr was born in Waterford in 1960, before moving to Dublin with his family as a child. Sir ...

. The Press also published ''The Donegal Pictures'', a book of black-and-white photographs by photographer Rachel Geise (now Brown). Other noteworthy publications include the anthologies, ''The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women's Poetry, 1967-2000'', revised and expanded in 2011 and published as ''The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women's Poetry''; ''The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry'', volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4; and ''The New North'', an anthology of contemporary Northern Irish poetry, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and selected and edited by Chris Agee. For a number of years, Wake Forest University Press published a bilingual series of 20th-century French poetry, but that series is no longer active. The Press began when Dillon Johnston, Irish scholar and professor of English, realized how few titles of contemporary Irish poetry were consistently available in the United States. Supported by the administration at Wake Forest, he established the press in 1975. Johnston retired from Wake Forest in 2003, but remains an advising editor. Jefferson Holdridge, who received his doctorate at University College Dublin, is the press's director and editor. He is also Professor of English at Wake Forest University, specializing in Irish literature. Staff includes Advising Assistant Director Candide Jones, Manager Amanda Keith, and a workforce of student interns. {{quote, Through the Wake Forest University Press, Ireland comes to America, Helen Vendler,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

External links

Wake Forest University Press
Publishing companies established in 1975 Book publishing companies based in North Carolina University presses of the United States

Press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

1975 establishments in North Carolina