2020 Year-End Appeal Letter
Dear Friends of Perugia Press,
What a tumultuous year it’s been! At Perugia Press, like elsewhere, we’re making adjustments to how we work while still bringing poetry books by women into the world. Regardless of those shifts, this has been a big year for Perugia Press. Here are some highlights:
- Publication of Now in Color, by Jacqueline Balderrama, winner of the 2020 Perugia Press Prize. This amazing book explores the multi-generational immigrant experience of Mexican-Americans, and is already selling well.
- Launch of a beautifully redesigned website. Additions include a bi-weekly blog and free, downloadable classroom guides for our books. The redesign was supported by a grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, and our first-ever intern worked on the classroom guides.
- Regularly featuring work by emerging BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, and women of color) poets on our blog, as part of our ongoing mission to support and promote all new women poets. In September, we featured Kwoya Fagin Maples, in October, we featured Diana Khoi Nguyen, and in November, we featured Donika Kelly. The response has been terrific so far.
- Partnerships with organizations that support the lives and work of BIWOC. This year, we’ve reached out to The Audre Lorde Project, the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation.
The Covid-19 crisis combined with a renewed reckoning about racial injustices means that more than ever we need poets who can articulate the truth with concision and raw beauty. Please make a donation today, to support us in the valuable work of bringing new women poets into print. Recurring monthly donations are now possible through the safe and secure Donorbox on our website. For one-time gifts of $100 and over, or sustaining gifts of any size, we’ll send you a copy of Now in Color with a bookplate signed by the poet.
Our sturdy, tiny enterprise depends on your generosity. We appreciate every book you buy, every reading you attend, every dollar you donate.
Sincerely,
Susan Kan, President of the Board & Jean Blakeman, Board member