Graywolf Press

Graywolf Press was founded by Scott Walker and Kathleen Foster in 1974, in a space provided by Copper Canyon Press in Port Townsend, Washington. The press was named for the nearby Graywolf Ridge and Graywolf River, and for the canid. The press had early successes publishing poetry heavyweights such as Denis Johnson and Tess Gallagher.{{cite web|url=http://www.citypages.com/2008-10-29/news/graywolf-press-is-lone-wolf-in-book-publishing/|title=CityPages (Minneapolis, MN) > News: Graywolf Press is lone wolf in book publishing > By Ben Westhoff > October 28, 2008|access-date=June 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107173033/http://www.citypages.com/2008-10-29/news/graywolf-press-is-lone-wolf-in-book-publishing/|archive-date=January 7, 2009|url-status=dead}} In 1984, Graywolf Press was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1985 with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts. Fiona McCrae, formerly of Faber and Faber, became the director of Graywolf Press in 1994, following the departure of Scott Walker. In 2009, Graywolf Press moved its publishing operations to the historic Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Graywolf publication list includes novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and poetry by writers such as Maggie Nelson, Deb Olin Unferth, Eula Biss, Elizabeth Alexander, Kevin Barry, Charles Baxter, Sven Birkerts, Ron Carlson, Maile Chapman, Mark Doten, Percival Everett, James Franco, Dana Gioia, Albert Goldbarth, Linda Gregg, Eamon Grennan, Matthea Harvey, Tony Hoagland, Jane Kenyon, William Kittredge, J. Robert Lennon, Ander Monson, Per Petterson, Benjamin Percy, Carl Phillips, Catie Rosemurgy, Tracy K. Smith, A. Igoni Barrett, Nuruddin Farah, William Stafford, David Treuer, Brenda Ueland, and Binyavanga Wainaina.{{cite web|url=https://www.graywolfpress.org/books|title=Graywolf Press > Books}}

Graywolf Press won the 2015 AWP Small Press Publisher Award given by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs that "acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation" of small presses and "their contributions to the literary landscape" of the US.{{cite web |title=AWP Small Press Publisher Award Winners |url=https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/small_press_publisher_award_previous_winners |website=www.awpwriter.org |publisher=Association of Writers & Writing Programs |access-date=14 October 2020}}

The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, founded in 2005, "seeks to acknowledge – and honor – the great traditions of literary nonfiction” by publishing “the boldest and most innovative books from emerging nonfiction writers" (Robert Polito). Submissions of finished books to the Nonfiction Prize are welcomed from previously unpublished U.S. authors. The winner is announced in April of each year.{{cite web|url=http://www.crimsonfeet.org/2004/blog/blog-graywolf-press-nonfiction-prize-submission-guidelines.html|title=Crimson Feet Magazine, March 3, 2005 > Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize Submission Guidelines}}{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Graywolf also oversees publication of winners of the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award,{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=Walt Whitman Award {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/walt-whitman-award|access-date=2020-08-19|website=poets.org}} as well as every third winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.{{Cite web|title=Cave Canem » Cave Canem Poetry Prize|url=https://cavecanempoets.org/prizes/cave-canem-poetry-prize/|access-date=2020-08-19|language=en}}

• 2020: Voice of the Fish by Lars Horn
• 2018: Zat Lun by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint
• 2017: The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
• 2014: Riverine by Angela Palm
• 2013: Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean
• 2011: The Empathy Exams: Essays by Leslie Jamison
• 2010: The Grey Album by Kevin Young
• 2008: Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
• 2007: Black Glasses Like Clark Kent by Terese Svoboda
• 2006: Neck Deep and Other Predicaments by Ander Monson
• 2005: Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles by Kate Braverman

Since 2018, Graywolf Press has also awarded a prize for "a first novel manuscript by an African author primarily residing in Africa."{{Cite web|title=Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is the first winner of the Graywolf Press Africa Prize {{!}} Graywolf Press|url=https://www.graywolfpress.org/news/khadija-abdalla-bajaber-first-winner-graywolf-press-africa-prize|access-date=2020-08-19|website=www.graywolfpress.org}} The winners include:

• 2019: American Girl and Boy from Shobrakheit by Noor Naga
• 2018: The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official|http://www.graywolfpress.org/}}
• [http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/12/29/graywolffunding/ Graywolf is turning readers into donors > by Marianne Combs > Minnesota Public Radio December 29, 2006]
• [http://www.lannan.org/lf/lit/detail/graywolf-press/ Lannon Foundation Profile of Graywolf Press]
• [http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/10/08_combsm_smallpresses/ Minnesota: land of long-lasting small presses] by Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio October 8, 2004
• [http://www.poets.org/state.php/varState/MN/ Profile of Graywolf Press], Poets.Org
• [http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=113229 mnartists.org > Thinking Souls: An Interview with Mary Matze] by Shannon Gibney > August 17, 2006

Category:Book publishing companies based in Minnesota

Category:Companies based in Minneapolis

Category:Culture of Minneapolis

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota

Category:Publishing companies established in 1974

Category:1974 establishments in Minnesota