Our Blog

This month, Celia recommends three books that discuss our pasts and how we memorialize them, and how we deal with places we’ve left behind.

This month, Daley offers three bold and incisive books that confront the ominous portents of hurricane season in the Gulf South, family, and the whole big, messy project of America in equal measure.

I saw the opiate epidemic start to swallow up my home. It worked quickly and indiscriminately. Each trip back was met with news of a different friend using, or in rehab, or dealing, or in jail, or worse. But it was only after a very specific moment that I became committed to writing this book, a moment of initial frustration within myself.

We are so excited to share that we got to see the first copies of A Year in the Wilderness today! Check out this timelapse of us signing over 600 copies, which will be sent to everyone who preorders to book before its publication date on September 23. For everyone who’s already ordered a copy: stay tuned! Books will ship after Labor Day.

A year ago today, Max Ritvo passed away after a long battle with cancer. Here are just a few of the most wonderful interviews, reviews, and remembrances of Max available on the internet.

Carissa Hansen, the Project Archivist at the Upper Midwest Literary Archives (UMLA), has spent hours sifting through and organizing the years of history contained in Milkweed’s archives. As part of the Prairie Poets and Press project, Carissa writes about the Widwestern literary legends that live in these files, illuminating Milkweed’s history and the vast legacy of Minnesota writers.

When Amy and Dave Freeman learned of toxic mining proposed along the edge of the Boundary Waters, they decided they needed to take action—by spending an entire year in the Wilderness, sharing their experience through video, photos, and a blog that reached hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. A Year in the Wilderness is their story.

During our Kickstarter campaign, one of the promises we made was to support emerging writers—those with just a debut or second book to their name. Emerging writers often struggle to reach readers in the marketplace because it favors guaranteed sales from proven authors, so we pledged to read, stock, and celebrate their books in part by devoting an entire section of Milkweed Books to their work. Our front display (the first thing you see when you walk in the door!) is dedicated to these important books, but that’s not the only place you can find them. Shelf talkers noting “Debut Author!” punctuate…

Dalia Rosenfeld, author of the debut story collection The Worlds We Think We Know, joined Milkweed editor Joey McGarvey in a discussion about place, humor, and literary influences. From the meaning of symbolism to the catalysts for character creation, Rosenfeld recounts how her book came into being.

Milkweed Editions, in partnership with Riva Ariella Ritvo-Slifka and the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, is pleased to announce the inaugural Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. The winning poet will receive publication by Milkweed Editions in April 2018 and $10,000, making the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize the most lucrative first-book prize.