“Now the valley’s all bees and pears and crisp grass.”
— from the poem, “To September,” by Donna Henderson, The Eddy Fence
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Our Mission:
We are a nonprofit publishing collective dedicated to cultivating and sustaining fine contemporary poetry. Our intent is to produce beautiful and compelling books by Willamette Valley poets; our mission is to offer writers
working in our particular habitat a local, shared-work publishing alternative.
Our Members:
Founded in May, 2007, Airlie Press currently consists of nine members, all active poets. Each member shares in the editorial and book production responsibilities of Airlie Press. Chris Anderson and Cecelia Hagen, who joined the press last year, have just published their books this fall (see our titles page). Stephanie Lenox, our seventh member, will be published in 2012. And we have just selected two new members, Annie Lighthart, of Portland,and Dawn Diez Willis, of Salem, their books to be published in 2013.
Donna Henderson’s The Eddy Fence was named a finalist for the 2011 Oregon Book Awards. Read judge Robert Pinsky’s comments at http://www.paperfort.blogspot.com/
Invitation of New Members:
Our process involves the submission of two copies of a full-length manuscript of poetry during an annual open submission period (next period TBA), and an interview with current collective members. Of the submissions we receive, we thoroughly review and select two manuscripts by authors willing to work in our consensus-based collective. Our intention is to publish two new books of poetry a year. Learn more about how to submit a manuscript
Editorial and Production Work:
We meet in Airlie, near Monmouth, once a month on Sunday afternoons to discuss and delegate current tasks pertaining to the preparation of manuscripts for book production. This involves careful editorial discussion of the selected manuscripts as well as a review of our production schedule. Tasks are delegated among all of the collective members.
Editorial communication continues beyond meetings for the purpose of sustaining a clear and inclusive consensus-based process. Our first two books of poetry, The Eddy Fence by Donna Henderson and Last Apples of Late Empires by Jessica Lamb, were published in the spring of 2009. Any books or annual subscriptions may be purchased through our Order Form.
Means of Support
Airlie Press is supported by individual book sales and subscription orders, by contributions to the press from its supporters, and by the donation of time by all the poet-editors of the press.
“The news of Airlie Press is very encouraging. I have been hoping more poetry presses might spring up to serve the many deserving Oregon poets not presently served.”
– Erik Muller, publisher, Traprock Books.