“It’s a hard time to be human. We know too much and too little.”
—Ellen Bass, from “The World Has Need of You”
Dear Friends,
After much deliberation, the team at Copper Canyon Press has decided not to attend the 2020 AWP conference in San Antonio. We made this difficult call out of an abundance of caution after consulting with each staff member who was scheduled to attend the conference, as well as numerous Copper Canyon poets and fellow exhibitors.
We have attended every AWP conference since 1996, and consider it to be a major highlight of the publishing year. AWP is where we see our favorite people—poetry readers, authors, educators, booksellers, and publishers. This year, we were looking forward to paying tribute to the great W.S. Merwin in a mainstage event, and ten brilliant new books were set to launch at the conference, including:
- Monica Sok, A Nail The Evening Hangs On
- Mark Bibbins, 13th Balloon
- Sarah Ruhl, 44 Poems For You
- Traci Brimhall, Come The Slumberless to the Land of Nod
- Victoria Chang, Obit
- Ellen Bass, Indigo
- Leila Chatti, Deluge
- Philip Metres, Shrapnel Maps
- John Freeman, The Park
- Ed Skoog, Travelers Leaving for The City
But here we are, not in San Antonio, and missing all our friends. We’re wishing safety and health, and tons of great poetry, for each of you.
With love,
Copper Canyon Press