Copper Canyon 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 ...

small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication 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 meanings i ...

. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both popular and emerging American poets, translations of classical and contemporary work from many of the world's cultures, re-issues of out-of-print poetry classics, prose books about poetry, and anthologies. The press achieved national attention when Copper Canyon poet W.S. Merwin won the 2005 National Book Award for Poetry in the same year another Copper Canyon poet,

Ted Kooser Theodore J. Kooser (born 25 April 1939) is an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate selec ...

, won the 2005

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

and was appointed to a second year as United States Poet Laureate. Merwin later won the 2009

and in 2010 was named United States Poet Laureate. Copper Canyon has published more than 400 titles, including works by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

Laureates Pablo Neruda, Odysseas Elytis,

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

Vicente Aleixandre Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo (; 26 April 1898 – 14 December 1984) was a Spanish poet who was born in Seville. Aleixandre received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977 "for a creative poetic writing which illuminates ma ...

and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

; Pulitzer Prize-winners

Carolyn Kizer Carolyn Ashley Kizer (December 10, 1925 – October 9, 2014) was an American poet of the Pacific Northwest whose works reflect her feminism. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. According to an article at the Center for the Study of the Pacific ...

Maxine Kumin Maxine Kumin (June 6, 1925 – February 6, 2014) was an American poet and author. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1981–1982. Biography Early years Maxine Kumin was born Maxine Winokur on June ...

Theodore Roethke Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book ''The Wa ...

, and W.S. Merwin;

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

winners

Hayden Carruth Hayden Carruth (August 3, 1921 – September 29, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic and anthologist. He taught at Syracuse University. Life Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Woodbury, Connecticut. He gra ...

Lucille Clifton Lucille Clifton (June 27, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was an American poet, writer, and educator from Buffalo, New York. From 1979 to 1985 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. Clifton was a finalist twice for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Li ...

, and

Ruth Stone Ruth Stone (June 8, 1915 – November 19, 2011) was an award-winning American poet. Life and poetry Stone was born in Roanoke, Virginia and lived there until age 6, when her family moved back to her parents' hometown of Indianapolis, Indian ...

; and some contemporary poets and translators such as

Jim Harrison James Harrison (December 11, 1937 – March 26, 2016) was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s ...

, C. D. Wright, Bill Porter (aka Red Pine),

Norman Dubie Norman Dubie (April 10, 1945--February 20, 2023) was an American poet from Barre, VT. Life He was the author of twenty-eight collections of poetry. Dubie's work often assumes historical personae and has been included in ''The New Yorker'', ''Ploug ...

, Eleanor Wilner, Arthur Sze, James Richardson, Tom Hennen and

Lucia Perillo Lucia Maria Perillo (September 30, 1958 – October 16, 2016) was an American poet. In 2000, Perillo was recognized with a "genius grant" as part of the MacArthur Fellows Program. Life and career Perillo was born in Manhattan on September 30, 1 ...

. In 2003 it published The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth. Building housing Copper Canyon Press

The press published ''What About This: Collected Poems of

Frank Stanford Frank Stanford (born Francis Gildart Smith; August 1, 1948 – June 3, 1978) was an American poet. He is most known for his epic, ''The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You'' – a labyrinthine poem without stanzas or punctuation. In a ...

'' to great critical acclaim in 2015. In his New York Times review, Dwight Garner complimented the press for performing a "vital and difficult task" and giving the reader "a chance to see him (Stanford) whole." National Public Radio called the book's release "the big event in poetry for 2015." Also in 2015, Copper Canyon Press acquired the U.S. rights to a manuscript of lost poems by Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. Discovered by archivists from The Pablo Neruda Foundation in the summer of 2014 just after the April 2013 exhumation of Neruda's body in Chile, this collection of poems has been called "a literary event of universal importance" and "the biggest find in Spanish literature in recent years". The collection, ''Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems'', translated by Pulitzer finalist

Forrest Gander Forrest Gander (born 1956) is an American poet, translator, essayist, and novelist. The A.K. Seaver Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts & Comparative Literature at Brown University, Gander won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2019 for ''Be With' ...

, was released in April 2016 and includes full-color, facsimile presentations of Neruda's handwritten poems. Copper Canyon was also awarded the rights to publish Neruda's first book, ''Crepusulario'', which has also never appeared in the U.S. in English translation. Not only does Copper Canyon Press publish works of established poets, it also strives to publish the first books by talented new poets. In 2016, Copper Canyon published two debut collections: Camille Rankine's ''Incorrect Merciful Impulses'' and

Ocean Vuong Ocean Vuong (born , ; October 14, 1988) is a Vietnamese American poet, essayist, and novelist. Vuong is a recipient of the 2014 Ruth Lilly/Sargent Rosenberg fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a 2016 Whiting Award, and the 2017 T.S. Eliot Pr ...

's ''Night Sky With Exit Wounds''; both of these titles received critical acclaim.

Major prizes

* Jericho Brown - 2020

for '' The Tradition'' * Arthur Sze - 2019 National Book Award for Poetry for '' Sight Lines'' * Ocean Vuong - 2017

T.S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

for '' Night Sky with Exit Wounds'' * Natalie Diaz - 2013 American Book Award for ''When My Brother Was an Aztec'' * Laura Kasischke - 2011

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".W.S. Merwin - 2009

for ''The Shadow of Sirius'' * Ted Kooser - 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for ''Delights and Shadows'' * W.S. Merwin - 2005 National Book Award for Poetry for ''Migrations: New and Selected Poems'' * Ruth Stone - 2002 National Book Award for Poetry for ''In the Next Galaxy'' * Hayden Carruth - 1996 National Book Award for Poetry for ''Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey''

References

{{reflist Book publishing companies based in Washington (state) Companies based in Port Townsend, Washington Non-profit organizations based in Port Townsend, Washington Publishing companies established in 1972 American companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Washington (state)