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As we pass the perihelion of National Poetry Month, Milkweed Editions celebrated the launch of Chris Santiago’s newest poetry collection, Small Wars Manual, on April 16th. There, he was joined by poets that have each tackled small wars of their own: Kathryn Nuernberger, MC Hyland, and Rebecca Lehmann. Between the four of them—they alchemized militant warfare with poetry, prose, and shared community.

Around the room, poetry peeks from purses and palms. Signed copies curl into the crooks of elbows. In honor of National Poetry Month, poets from around the world strike pen to paper, writing a poem each…

On March 18th, Becoming Little Shell author Chris La Tray partnered with Milkweed Editions and Bimosedaa—a supportive, culturally-relevant housing program serving vulnerable indigenous populations in Minneapolis—to tour their on-site location.

“Bimosedaa, it’s Ojibwe for ‘let’s walk together,’” Program Manager Heather Day says, welcoming Chris and Milkweed staff into their apartment-style housing program. Around us, sunlight filters in through sloping glass walls.

“Bimosedaa: It’s Ojibwe for ‘let’s walk together.’”

True to their namesake, Chris and Heather radiate into the very embodiment of the phrase. As they drift past tenant rooms and gathering spaces, Heather gestures to a traditional star…

Photograph by Christopher Zebo

ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF THE 2024–25 JAKE ADAM YORK PRIZE

Milkweed Editions and Copper Nickel are thrilled to announce that judge Matthew Olzmann has chosen Bo Hee Moon’s book Birthstones in the Province of Mercy as the winner of the 2024–25 Jake Adam York Prize. Birthstones in the Province of Mercy will be published by Milkweed Editions in January, 2026, and Moon will receive $2,000. 

A South Korean adoptee, Bo Hee Moon is the author of one previous book of poems, Omma, Sea of Joy and Other Astrological Signs, which she published under another name with…

On February 27th, Milkweed Editions and the University of Minnesota Press hosted a book launch to celebrate Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Creature Conserve.

“Before we read, I want a moment to breathe with you.”—Claire Wahmanholm

“Before we read,” Claire Wahmanholm—author of Meltwater and—began, “I want a moment to breathe with you.” Under her instruction, she coaxed the crowd into a gentle meditation of hummed breath. Within three exhales, she transformed the room into a living, vibrating singing bowl. By the final round, the…

Milkweed Editions is an independent publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Our mission is to identify, nurture, and publish transformative literature, and build an engaged community around it.

As a publisher, we join in thoughtful partnerships to “build an engaged community” around the books and authors we publish. Sometimes partners are community organizations, libraries, or independent bookstores who host readings with the authors we publish. And sometimes our partners are organizations with connections to specific communities of readers that we may not otherwise reach through bookstore, digital, library, or other traditional publishing channels. One such partner is the Women’s…

We recently sat down with author (and Milkweed editor-at-large) Helen Whybrow to talk about her forthcoming book, The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life. Touching on everything from cycles of life in nature to the art of belonging to parenting on a farm, read on for a taste of what’s to come in this profoundly moving book.

Photograph by Helen Whybrow

Milkweed Staff: A favorite section from the book is your description of belonging actually being a practice of participation. Can you say a bit more about how that looks as a Shepherd, mother, and activist?

Helen Whybrow: Belonging is something so…

A locally grown collaboration with national impact: Indigenous Library Steward-sustaining Partnership

Photograph by Anna Min

Chris La Tray placing his book Becoming Little Shell into the new Indigenous Little Free Library at Red Lake Nation College in Minneapolis.

Milkweed Editions and Little Free Library are excited to share our new “steward-sustaining” partnership for the Indigenous Little Free Library Program.

What is the Indigenous Little Free Library Program? Little Free Library grants no-cost book-sharing boxes where needed most on tribal lands and in Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. They work with Indigenous community leaders and members to place book exchanges in locations where book access is important to improving literacy. Learn more here.

Intended to help sustain the library selections for these granted libraries…

Because reading is life-changing, and books make the best gifts! In addition to our perennial favorite gift book, the hardcover special edition of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, our hand-selected recommendations are here to help you work through your holiday list.

Join our membership program to support the publication of life-changing literature like this and receive a 20% discount on all Milkweed books! Learn more here.

For the romantic adventurer:
North American Odyssey by Amy & Dave Freeman

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Imagine taking a 12,000 mile journey from the Pacific Northwest, through Canada, and all the way down the…

Please join us in honoring and celebrating […] by Fady Joudah, 2024 National Book Award Finalist for Poetry.

“Fady Joudah’s […] scribes the elliptical seam between heritage and history into a sustained meditation on war, displacement, and love. Punctuated with the music of maqam in the marrow of its mission, this timeless collection illuminates an existential Palestinian struggle that rises to the universal through Joudah’s deft, querying verse.”—National Book Award judges citation

From the 2024 Jackson Poetry Prize winner and one of our most acclaimed contemporary writers, this urgent and essential collection combats the erasure of Palestinian resistance and…

By Melissa Kwasny

One of the first things I learned as a hospice volunteer is to think of death not as a medical emergency but rather as a spiritual event. After attending many deaths, including that of both my parents, I have learned something else: dying is a spiritual process, not a moment. It is a process not only for the person experiencing it but also for their loved ones who are left with grief.

Grief is universal. All peoples, and most animals, experience it. It is, paradoxically, also individual. We each suffer grief uniquely. It is perhaps our…