Autumn House 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 * Independe ...

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 ...

literary publishing company based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

Autumn House Press was founded in 1998 by Michael Simms when prominent American publishers, driven by economic concerns, dramatically reduced their poetry lists. As a result, influential contemporary poets were left struggling to find publishers. Over time, Autumn House started publishing

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 tradi ...

and

nonfiction 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 ...

titles as well. Since its founding, Autumn House has published over 100 titles, including full-length collections of

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 meani ...

, short stories, and

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s as well as

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

, and poetry chapbooks, most of which are still in print. In 2016, founder and then editor-in-chief Michael Simms retired after 18 impressive years. Christine Stroud took on the role of editor in chief and Melissa Becker became board president.

Books and Authors

The press publishes books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by such authors as

Chad Abushanab Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republ ...

, Ellery Akers, Beth Alvarado,

George Bilgere George Bilgere (born 1951) is an American poet. Bilgere grew up in Riverside, California, and earned his BA at the University of California, Riverside. He received his MA in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and earne ...

Chana Bloch Chana Bloch (March 15, 1940 – May 19, 2017) was an American poet, translator, and scholar. She was a professor emerita of English at Mills College in Oakland, California. Life and work Born as Florence Ina Faerstein in the Bronx, New York, sh ...

, Andrew Bourelle, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher,

Sherrie Flick Sherrie Flick is an American fiction writer whose work has appeared in ''Prairie Schooner'', ''North American Review'', ''Quarterly West'', '' Puerto del Sol'', '' Weave Magazine'', '' Quick Fiction'', Lit Hub, and other literary magazines. Flick ...

, Frank X. Gaspar,

Andrea Hollander Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ...

Dickson Lam Dickson may refer to: People * Dickson (given name) * Dickson (surname) Places In Australia: *Dickson, Australian Capital Territory in Canberra *Dickson College in Canberra *Dickson Centre, Australian Capital Territory in Canberra *Division of Di ...

, Danusha Laméris,

Ada Limón Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tu ...

Ed Ochester Edwin Frank Ochester (born September 15, 1939 Brooklyn, New York) is an American poet and editor. He was educated at Cornell University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Currently he is a core faculty member of th ...

, Steven Schwartz, Cherene Sherrard,

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 ...

, and

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is a Liberian (African Diaspora) poet and writer and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State University. She is a Liberian Civil War survivor who immigrated to the United States with her family in 1991, ...

. Other prominent Autumn House authors include Sheryl St. Germain, who was named the Louisiana Writer of the Year in 2018, and Cameron Barnett, who received the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards for Emerging Artist and whose debut collection, ''The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water'', was a finalist for the

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

. Autumn House Press's other especially notable titles include ''Anxious Attachments'' by Beth Alvarado and ''Not Dead Yet and Other Stories'' by Hadley Moore, both of which were longlisted for the

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of lite ...

Literary Awards in Nonfiction Essays and Debut Short Story Collections, respectively. ''Anxious Attachments'' was also awarded the Oregon Book Award in 2020. In 2013, Clifford Thompson's ''Love for Sale and Other Essays'' won the Whiting Foundation Award. The press also publishes comprehensive anthologies including ''New America: Contemporary Literature for a Changing Society'' and ''When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women''. Autumn House Press titles have been reviewed in such venues as ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

'', ''

The Georgia Review ''The Georgia Review'' is a literary journal based in Athens, Georgia. Founded at University of Georgia in 1947, the journal features poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, and visual art. The journal has won National Magazine Awards for Fiction ...

'', '' The Hollins Critic'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', and the ''

Washington Independent Review of Books The Washington Independent Review of Books is a volunteer organization that operates a website for book reviews. It was founded by a group of writers in the Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockw ...

''. Poems and excerpts have been featured in venues such as ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', '' The Slowdown'', '' American Life in Poetry'', ''

Lit Hub Literary Hub is a daily literary website that launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter. Conte ...

'', ''

The Millions ''The Millions'' is an online literary magazine created by C. Max Magee in 2003. It contains articles about literary topics and book reviews. ''The Millions'' has several regular contributors as well as frequent guest appearances by literary no ...

,'' and ''Cleveland Review of Books.'' The press was featured on

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Boston. ...

as part of their "Indie Spotlight" interview series.

''Coal Hill Review''

Michael Simms and Joshua Storey founded the ''Coal Hill Review'' in 2007. The journal published poetry by both emerging and established writers and took its name from Coal Hill, otherwise known as

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

, in Pittsburgh. From 2009 to 2018, ''Coal Hill'' also published print poetry chapbooks. In early 2017, the Autumn House staff began working to reimagine and redefine the journal. Beginning in November of 2018, ''Coal Hill'' became a triannual, multi-genre literary journal that offers a greater representation of Pittsburgh authors.

Prizes

Autumn House holds annual contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction; the winners of which receive publication of a full-length manuscript a $1,000 advance against royalties, and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote their book. Previous fiction winners include Michael X. Wang's ''Further News of Defeat: Stories'' and Sharma Shields's ''Favorite Monster''.

Melissa Wiley Melissa Anne Peterson (born December 17, 1968), known by her pen name Melissa Wiley, is an author of children's books, known especially for two book series about Laura Ingalls Wilder's ancestors: ''The Martha Years'' and ''The Charlotte Years''. ...

won the nonfiction prize in 2019 for ''Skull Cathedral: A Vestigial Anatomy'', and poetry winners include ''lucky wreck'' by

, ''The Moons of August'' by Danusha Laméris, and makalani bandele's ''under the aegis of a winged mind'', most recently. The press additionally awards the "Rising Writer Prize" in poetry and, beginning in 2021, in fiction. The prizes are awarded for first full-length books of by authors 36 years old or younger and are aimed at supporting the work of younger, less-established writers who will become the voices of an emerging generation. Winners receive publication and a cash prize. Previous winners include Dennis James Sweeney's ''In the Antarctic Circle'', Eric Tran's ''The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer'', and Cameron Barnett's ''The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water''. Autumn House additionally holds an annual chapbook contest which offers publication and a $1,000 advance against royalties. Previous winners of the Autumn House (formerly ''Coal Hill Review'') Chapbook Contest include ''Epithalamia'' by Erinn Batykefer.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.autumnhouse.org/ Book publishing companies based in Pennsylvania Culture of Pittsburgh Non-profit organizations based in Pittsburgh Publishing companies established in 1998