Graywolf Press is an
independent,
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
located in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
. Graywolf Press publishes
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
,
non-fiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
, and
poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
.
[
Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mellon Foundation, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.][
Graywolf Press currently publishes about 27 books a year, including the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winner, the recipient of the Emily Dickinson First Book Award, and several translations supported by the Lannan Foundation.
]
History
Graywolf Press was founded by Scott Walker and Kathleen Foster in 1974, in a space provided by Copper Canyon Press in Port Townsend, Washington. The press was named for the nearby Graywolf Ridge and Graywolf River, and for the canid
Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a family (biology), biological family of caniform carnivorans, constituting a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). The family includes three subfamily, subfamilies: the Caninae, a ...
. The press had early successes publishing poetry heavyweights such as Denis Johnson and Tess Gallagher. In 1984, Graywolf Press was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, in 1985 with the support of 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 feder ...
. Fiona McCrae, formerly of Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
, became the director of Graywolf Press in 1994, following the departure of Scott Walker.[ In 2009, Graywolf Press moved its publishing operations to the historic Warehouse District of downtown ]Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, Minnesota.
Books and authors
The Graywolf publication list includes novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and poetry by writers such as Maggie Nelson, Deb Olin Unferth, Eula Biss, Elizabeth Alexander, Kevin Barry, Charles Baxter, Sven Birkerts, Ron Carlson, Maile Chapman, Mark Doten, Percival Everett, James Franco, Dana Gioia, Albert Goldbarth, Linda Gregg, Eamon Grennan, Matthea Harvey, Tony Hoagland, Jane Kenyon, William Kittredge, J. Robert Lennon, Ander Monson, Per Petterson, Benjamin Percy, Carl Phillips, Catie Rosemurgy, Tracy K. Smith, A. Igoni Barrett, Nuruddin Farah
Nuruddin Farah (, ) (born 24 November 1945) is a Somali novelist. His first novel, '' From a Crooked Rib'', was published in 1970 and has been described as "one of the cornerstones of modern East African literature today". Farah has also written ...
, William Stafford, David Treuer, Brenda Ueland, and Binyavanga Wainaina.
Awards
Graywolf Press won the 2015 AWP Small Press Publisher Award given by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs that "acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation" of small presses and "their contributions to the literary landscape" of the US.
Graywolf Press Prizes
The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, founded in 2005, "seeks to acknowledge – and honor – the great traditions of literary nonfiction” by publishing “the boldest and most innovative books from emerging nonfiction writers" (Robert Polito). Submissions of finished books to the Nonfiction Prize are welcomed from previously unpublished U.S. authors. The winner is announced in April of each year. Graywolf also oversees publication of winners of the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award, as well as every third winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winners
* 2020: ''Voice of the Fish'' by Lars Horn
* 2018: ''Zat Lun'' by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint
* 2017: '' The Collected Schizophrenias'' by Esmé Weijun Wang
*2014: ''Riverine'' by Angela Palm
* 2013: ''Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight'' by Margaret Lazarus Dean
* 2011: ''The Empathy Exams: Essays'' by Leslie Jamison
* 2010: '' The Grey Album'' by Kevin Young
* 2008: '' Notes from No Man's Land'' by Eula Biss
* 2007: ''Black Glasses Like Clark Kent'' by Terese Svoboda
* 2006: ''Neck Deep and Other Predicaments'' by Ander Monson
* 2005: ''Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles'' by Kate Braverman
Graywolf Press Africa Prize winners
Since 2018, Graywolf Press has also awarded a prize for "a first novel manuscript by an African author primarily residing in Africa."
References
External links
* {{Official, http://www.graywolfpress.org/
''Graywolf is turning readers into donors'' > by Marianne Combs > Minnesota Public Radio December 29, 2006
Lannon Foundation Profile of Graywolf Press
''Minnesota: land of long-lasting small presses''
by Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio October 8, 2004
Profile of Graywolf Press
Poets.Org
mnartists.org > ''Thinking Souls: An Interview with Mary Matze''
by Shannon Gibney > August 17, 2006
Book publishing companies based in Minnesota
Companies based in Minneapolis
Culture of Minneapolis
Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota
Publishing companies established in 1974
1974 establishments in Minnesota