Kore Press is an American nonprofit literary press founded in 1993 and located in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. The press publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by women, transgender or gender non-conforming women. Kore Press's output includes books, audio CDs, and broadsides. The press was co-founded by Lisa Bowden (publisher) and poet Karen Falkenstrom. Shannon Cain was its Executive Director from 2004 to 2009. Kore Press publishes manuscripts accepted through general submission and annually awards prizes for a first book of poetry, a single short story and a memoir or a memoir-in-essays. Kore Press titles are distributed by

Independent Publishers Group Independent Publishers Group (IPG) is a worldwide distributor for independent general, academic, and professional publishers, founded in 1971 to exclusively market titles from independent client publishers to the international book trade. As p ...

. The press has received grants from 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 ...

and awards including the

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

Innovations in Reading Prize The Innovations in Reading Prize was an annual award given to organizations and individuals who "developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading." The prize was awarded by the National Book Foundation, presenter of t ...

. Notable authors published by Kore Press include

Alison Hawthorne Deming Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946 Hartford, Connecticut) is an American poet, essayist and teacher, former Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment and Social Justice and currently Regents Professor Emerita in Creative Writing at the University of A ...

, Carolyn Hembree,

Ofelia Zepeda Ofelia Zepeda (born in Stanfield, Arizona, 1952) is a Tohono O'odham poet and intellectual. She is Regents' Professor of Tohono O'odham language and linguistics and Director of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) at The ...

, Linda Hogan, and Jennifer Barber. Author Kelcey Parker's book ''For Sale by Owner'' was the 2011 recipient of the Next Generation Indie Book Award in Short Fiction. In 2010, Kore Press produced a one-woman play titled "Coming In Hot," depicting women's accounts of military service in recent conflicts around the world. The play was based on the press's 2008 anthology ''Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks from Vietnam to Iraq,'' co-edited by Lisa Bowden and Shannon Cain''.'' As part of their commitment to social activism, in 2011 Kore Press began a series of justice programming. Their first project, ''Big Read Tucson 2011,'' was held in conjunction with the

’ literacy initiative
Big Read
'. Kore's 10-week community engagement program involved 40 local partners and celebrated the life and work of poet

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

with a variety of events. For their 2014 cross-generational program ''The Listening Project'', teenage girls interviewed female service members and veterans about their lives and experiences serving in the military. Their radio stories were broadcast publicly and were used to create an on-line
audio archive
on civil discourse. In 2016, in conjunction with over 25 health, cultural and justice organizations, Kore Press organized ''Unsilencing Anatomies'', a two-month, community-wide event that looked at the ways ethnicity, sexuality and gender affect people’s experiences with health and the medical system. In 2017, the press hosted poet, experimental vocalist and scholar Tracie Morris for a local performance to address the issues of race, gender and class.

References

External links

Kore Press Website

Independent Publishers Group > Kore Press Publisher Page
{{Authority control 1993 establishments in Arizona American companies established in 1993 Book publishing companies of the United States Companies based in Tucson, Arizona Non-profit organizations based in Arizona Poetry publishers Publishing companies established in 1993