Copper Canyon Press
| Company type | Independent, non-profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder | Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, Jim Gautney |
| Headquarters | Port Townsend , United States |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Poetry books, poetry anthologies, translations of poetry, prose related to poetry |
Copper Canyon Press operates as an independent, non-profit small press established in 1972 by founders Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, and Jim Gautney. It is dedicated solely to the publication of poetry. Based in Port Townsend, Washington, the press utilizes Consortium Book Sales & Distribution for its distribution needs.
The press primarily publishes new works by both prominent and emerging American poets, alongside translations of classical and contemporary poetry from around the world. Its offerings also include reprints of rare out-of-print volumes, prose related to poetry, and various anthologies. Copper Canyon Press achieved nationwide prominence when its poets W.S. Merwin and Ted Kooser received significant honors in 2005, such as the National Book Award for Poetry and the Pulitzer Prize. Merwin went on to earn another Pulitzer Prize in 2009 and was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2010.
With a catalog exceeding 400 titles, Copper Canyon Press features publications by Nobel Prize winners including Pablo Neruda, Odysseas Elytis, Octavio Paz, Vicente Aleixandre, and Rabindranath Tagore; Pulitzer recipients like Ted Kooser and Carolyn Kizer; as well as National Book Award winners such as Hayden Carruth. Contemporary distinguished poets published by the press include Jim Harrison, C.D. Wright, Bill Porter (Red Pine), Norman Dubie, Eleanor Wilner, Arthur Sze, James Richardson, Tom Hennen, and Lucia Perillo. In 2003, the press issued Kenneth Rexroth's Complete Poems.
In 2015, Copper Canyon Press released What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford, which was met with widespread critical praise for its thorough compilation. That year also saw the acquisition of U.S. rights to a collection of lost poems by Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, uncovered by archivists from The Pablo Neruda Foundation. This volume, titled Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems, translated by Pulitzer finalist Forrest Gander and including facsimiles of Neruda’s original handwriting, was published in April 2016. Additionally, Copper Canyon secured U.S. rights to publish Neruda’s debut book Crepusulario in English.
The emblem of the press incorporates the Chinese character 诗 (shī), which translates to "poetry."
Major prizes
- Jericho Brown – 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry awarded for The Tradition
- Arthur Sze – 2019 National Book Award for Poetry for Sight Lines
- Ocean Vuong – 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize recognizing Night Sky with Exit Wounds
- Natalie Diaz – 2013 American Book Award for When My Brother Was an Aztec
- Laura Kasischke – 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for Space, In Chains
- C.D. Wright – 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award honored work One With Others
- W.S. Merwin – recipient of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Shadow of Sirius and the 2005 National Book Award for Poetry for Migrations: New and Selected Poems
- Ted Kooser – awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Delights and Shadows
- Ruth Stone – winner of the 2002 National Book Award for Poetry with In the Next Galaxy
- Hayden Carruth – honored with the 1996 National Book Award for Poetry for Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey