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Authors / Events

Celebrating the polyvocal launch of Tressing Motions at the Edge of Mistakes

Briana Gwin — 03/11/2024

On February 22, Milkweed Editions hosted a virtual launch event to celebrate the publication of Imane Boukaila’s Tressing Motions at the Edge of Mistakes: Poems. The book is the fourth addition to Multiverse, a literary series curated by—and devoted to—neurodiverse voices. Boukaila was joined by Multiverse editor, Chris Martin, who moderated the event, and four poets selected by Boukaila to “give voice” to their favorite poems from her book. The launch concluded with a dazzling “homing rally,” a collaborative poetry exercise open to all.

Among the many feats Multiverse has accomplished in the years since its…

Authors / Poetry & Migration

On Yalie Saweda Kamara’s Besaydoo: a monument to multiplicity (and home)

Briana Gwin — 03/11/2024

As an Afro-Latina American citizen, I tend to seek stories that center voices, cultures, experiences, and lifeways historically peripheralized by the Western literary canon. But for all the breadth that I encounter still with every new BIPOC-authored book I read, I am routinely enchanted by a sense of what remains familiar. What lands have you been denied, what spaces have you been neglected in—and rejected from—and from what sunless places were you forced to grow? I ponder these questions as I read, acutely aware of the ways longing for BIPOC authors so often manifests on the page as a reaching…

Awards & Prizes

Sarah V. Schweig Wins the Eighth Annual Jake Adam York Prize

Milkweed Staff — 02/23/2024

 

Copper Nickel and Milkweed Editions are thrilled to announce that judge Cynthia Cruz has chosen Sarah V. Schweig’s collection of poems, The Ocean in the Next Room, as the winner of the 2023–24 Jake Adam York Prize. The Ocean in the Next Room will be published by Milkweed Editions in January 2025, and Schweig will receive $2,000.

Sarah V. Schweig’s first book, Take Nothing with You, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2016. Her poetry has appeared in Boston Review, Granta, Tin House, and the Yale Review, among others, and her critical essays have…

Authors

Debra Magpie Earling on surfacing through silence: “The time is now.”

Briana Gwin — 02/14/2024

Debra Magpie Earling wasn’t exactly surprised when her first novel, Perma Red, was banned after its re-release in 2022. She’d already faced more than her fair share of adversity bringing the book to fruition: after spending nearly a decade conceiving of the first draft, she would lose it to a cabin fire. After tirelessly working to rewrite the story, she’d be advised—repeatedly—to adapt the ending of the work to cater to Western audiences. And after finally signing her first publication deal in 2002, the imprint would shutter its doors and force the novel out of print just four years…

Authors

The Quickening creates community at the ends of the earth

Briana Gwin — 01/05/2024

On the first day of the new year, we received an exciting and somewhat extraordinary message confirming that one of our books, The Quickening by Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Rush, is now available in the Little Free Library at the South Pole! For us, the announcement is cause for celebration, as well as gratitude and reflection. We are humbled by the ways in which The Quickening has made waves in the world. And what book could be a better fit for the South Pole’s collection than this one, whose apt subtitle is Creation and Community at the Ends of

Authors

The inspiring reemergence of Debra Magpie Earling

Briana Gwin — 12/22/2023

Books often come to us at Milkweed Editions in unusual ways, and Bitterroot Salish author Debra Magpie Earling’s work is no exception. The Missoula, Montana-based writer was highly referred to our Publisher & CEO Daniel Slager by Chris Dombrowski, a fellow Missoulian author who had already published a book with us. Slager was intrigued to learn that Earling had broken ground in the literary world with the publication of her highly-successful debut novel, Perma Red, back in 2002, only for the imprint to shutter its doors four years later, sending the novel out of print. He became even…

Authors

One poet's impact, written in the stars

Briana Gwin — 12/22/2023

As an independent publisher, we look at more than just a book’s potential when a manuscript proposal comes our way. We also consider the promise of the artist behind the art, prioritizing transformative potential over profitability. Today, we’re proud to be the creative home of dozens of change-making artists—from international award winners to MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows, and even a Poet Laureate of the United States. Ada Limón has achieved all of the above and more. We’re proud to point to her impact in the world today as an example of the effects of our commitment to build relationships with…

Authors

Making waves in 2023: A year in review

Milkweed Staff — 12/22/2023

As we near the end of 2023, we find ourselves reflecting and looking forward. We hope you’ll join us in doing the same by reading, sharing, and celebrating a few highlights of 2023—none of which would have been possible without you.

We can’t wait to reach new heights, elevate more transformative voices, and make waves in the cultural conversation in 2024, empowered by your belief in our mission to publish life-changing literature.

In the meantime, read on to find out why Ada Limón, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Debra Magpie Earling, Elizabeth Rush, and our roster of debut authors are among our…

Awards & Prizes

Weijia Pan wins 2023 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize

Milkweed Staff — 12/19/2023
Ibrahim Badshah

We are thrilled to announce that Weijia Pan is the winner of the 2023 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. His manuscript, titled Motherlands, was selected by judge Louise Glück and will be published in September 2024. In addition to publication, Weijia Pan will receive $10,000.

We at Milkweed Editions are deeply saddened by the loss of Louise Glück, a deeply generous and prolific member of the literary community. Glück worked closely with our team to select Motherlands, and with Weijia Pan to develop the manuscript. Her attention and care to this process is emblematic of her brilliance as…

Authors

From Conversations with Birds to dialogues on the world stage

Briana Gwin — 11/30/2023

When Priyanka Kumar began writing her debut memoir, Conversations with Birds, she had a profound realization. Since the dawn of the Information Age, modern Americans have struggled to find fulfillment in their lives more than ever before—but to Kumar, the solution to this problem was surprisingly simple, and could be found in a single word. “We’re at a crossroads in the world,” Kumar says. “Our lives have become fragmented in so many ways by all these devices that we’re basically living inside of now. But there’s something in us that’s very human and wants to break open, that remembers…