Jim Harrison: Final Phase of The Heart’s Work
Watch the recording of our March 7th event, Jim Harrison: A Reading, featuring Rebecca Solnit, Jamie Harrison, Todd Goddard, and a special reading from the Jim Harrison archives here.
You are invited to embark with us on the final phase of The Heart’s Work: Jim Harrison’s Poetic Legacy and help republish his collection The Theory and Practice of Rivers as a stand-alone volume. We are honored to have Rebecca Solnit—writer, historian, and activist— contributing an introduction to this new edition.
As a nonprofit publisher dedicated to exclusively publishing poetry, Copper Canyon Press needs to raise the production, promotion, and distribution expenses for each and every title we publish, including The Theory and Practice of Rivers.
Our fundraising goal is to raise $75,000 by June 30, 2024 to publish this new edition of The Theory and Practice of Rivers and to secure and advance Jim’s legacy as a great American poet.
For your donation of $150 or more received by June 30, 2024, your name will be printed in a special acknowledgements section that will be included in all editions of the book, both the forthcoming hardback and future paperback printings. Gifts of any amount are welcome, and you are encouraged to browse through our full list of donor benefits below.
Please support The Heart’s Work and The Theory and Practice of Rivers today!
The Theory and Practice of Rivers
Jim Harrison referred to the reading and writing of poetry as his “heart’s work.” After Jim passed, Copper Canyon Press envisioned a multi-year, multi-book project called “The Heart’s Work: Jim Harrison’s Poetic Legacy,” which you can read more about here. This visionary project began in 2018, and now we enter the final phase of The Heart’s Work, which will focus on the reissue of The Theory and Practice of Rivers as a stand-alone hardback (with an eventual paperback release).
Even though Theory and Practice of Rivers is widely regarded as one of Jim’s most moving volumes, the book has been unavailable as a stand-alone collection since the mid-1990s.
Regarding the title poem, science and travel writer David Quammen wrote in Outside magazine: “The poem cannot justly be summarized; it cannot even simply be read; it needs to be read and reread, sucked on like a lozenge.”
This new edition of The Theory and Practice of Rivers will feature:
- An introduction by Rebecca Solnit
- A gorgeous Russell Chatham oil painting on the front cover
- The iconic photograph by Scott T. Baxter of Jim and his lab Zilpha standing in the Sonoita Creek on the back cover
- Special acknowledgement pages for Heart’s Work donors
Our Gift for You! A Poem for Emergencies Wallet Card
In a New York Times Arts Beat blog a few years ago, Rebecca wrote: “Jim Harrison’s poetry has been hovering pleasantly all summer—one poem is now in my wallet for emergencies.”
Inspired by Rebecca, and to encourage us all to carry poems in our wallets for emergencies, every donor to the final phase of The Heart’s Work will receive an exclusive wallet card printed with a poem from The Theory and Practice of Rivers.
As a Thank You for Your Donation
Your gift of any amount in support of The Heart’s Work is welcomed and appreciated! Please browse our rewards below and make your gift using the form on this page. Rewards are cumulative.
Your Donation of Any Amount
- Wallet Card Emergency Poem featuring a poem selected by Rebecca Solnit
$50
- All of the above, plus a first-edition, hardback copy of The Theory and Practice of Rivers (forthcoming 2025)
$100
- All of the above, plus a letterpress broadside of an excerpt from “Cabin Poem” printed by The North Press
$150
- All of the above, plus your name published in a special acknowledgements section of The Theory and Practice of Rivers
$300
- Bound, uncorrected proof of Jim Harrison’s Complete Poems
(ALL GALLEYS CLAIMED, but all rewards above available and included.)
$500
- All of the above (as quantities last), plus a 7” x 9” black and white photograph of Jim and Zilpha standing in Sonoita Creek, signed by photographer Scott T. Baxter
$1,000
- All of the above (while quantities last), plus:
- A signed, numbered, limited edition Dead Man’s Float (while quantities last)
- A Donor’s Circle Membership: Receive all of Copper Canyon Press’s new publications for one year (books shipped quarterly)
$3,000
- All of the above (while quantities last), plus:
- A signed and slipcased, Winn 1985 edition of Theory and Practice of Rivers (Only two available!)
- A signed, limited edition of Jim Harrison: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1964-2008 published by the University of Nebraska Press (Only one available! Available on a first come, first served basis.)
- A Publisher’s Circle Membership: Receive all of Copper Canyon Press’s new publications for one year (books shipped quarterly), plus additional gifts such as rare signed collections or limited edition broadsides.
$5,000
- All of the above (while quantities last), plus:
- An Editor’s Circle Membership: Have your name published in all of Copper Canyon Press’s new publications for one year, and receive a copy of all new publications for one year (books shipped quarterly).
We expect to fulfill donor rewards in Spring of 2025. Thank you for your support of The Heart’s Work and The Theory and Practice of Rivers!