Kelsey Street Press

Kelsey Street Press Kelsey Street Press was founded in 1974 to address the marginalization of women writers by small press and mainstream publishers.

From the beginning, we linked our editorial policy to a poetics of allowance that encouraged women to write directly from their own creative imperatives. Other founding goals were to publish a list that reflected the cultural variety in this country and to publish first books by unvetted writers. In the eighties, we instituted a series of cross-genre collaborative works between poets and visual ar

tists. A decade later, as our list included more established writers, we created the Frances Jaffer Book Award for a first book to assure continued support of emerging poets. Our early books were handset and printed two pages at a time on a basement letterpress. Now we are exploring the interactive capabilities of the electronic media. At the heart of the Press remain the pleasures of the written page, books that can be held and carried, and ongoing participation in a continually changing poetry community.

Such a joy to hear read from IF AN ELSEWHERE (The Burrow)
07/30/2025

Such a joy to hear read from IF AN ELSEWHERE (The Burrow)

Happy publication day for 'Beautiful Outlaw' by Jennifer Perrine, winner of the 2023 Kelsey Street QTBIPOC Book Prize ju...
07/01/2025

Happy publication day for 'Beautiful Outlaw' by Jennifer Perrine, winner of the 2023 Kelsey Street QTBIPOC Book Prize judged by Ching-In Chen. In this series, Kelsey Street Press celebrates feminist, innovative writing by QTBIPOC writers.

In this fierce new collection of poems, Jennifer Perrine reckons with American gun culture’s pervasive presence in our daily lives, from the horrors of mass shootings and the aftermath of war to the specter of violence that haunts our neighborhoods, homes, and intimate relationships. Drawing on language from sources ranging from pop songs to Buddhist teachings, Beautiful Outlaw explores how violence is intertwined with anti-Asian racism, xenophobia, and heteropatriarchy. Alongside these poems of collective mourning and outrage, Perrine weaves in elegies for personal losses, including the end of a fraught relationship and the death of an estranged mother. Through wry humor and the play of formal constraints such as Golden Shovels, acrostics, and the Oulipo technique of the Beautiful Outlaw—in which each stanza of a poem excludes a single letter while including all other letters—this book offers an alchemical spell, transforming accounts of othering and absence into celebrations of community and resistance as salves for our grief. Pick up your copy today at your local bookstore or via our distributor or via our website! [image description in alt text]

Congrats of the
05/21/2025

Congrats of the

05/21/2025
Congratulations 2025 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner!!!!
05/21/2025

Congratulations
2025 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner!!!!

Nautilus Book Awards Winners for All Categories (1-35)

Visit KSP at AWP (Table 649), Fri night offsite & 2025 QTBIPOC Book Prize & Opening Reading Period -
03/27/2025

Visit KSP at AWP (Table 649), Fri night offsite & 2025 QTBIPOC Book Prize & Opening Reading Period -

Visit us at Table #721 at AWP: we'll have great sales, author signings, and a raffle to win a special edition. Join us for an off-site reading with Chax Press on Friday from 3-5pm at Busboys & Poets. Plus, Steffi Drewes to read in Philly this Saturday!

Are you in AWP?? Come get your book signed from our lovely authors! We can’t wait ✨✨
03/27/2025

Are you in AWP?? Come get your book signed from our lovely authors! We can’t wait ✨✨

Kelsey Street Press is here in LA Visit our booth 649! We are here with and so happy to meet you all! Come say Hi! ✨✨
03/27/2025

Kelsey Street Press is here in LA Visit our booth 649! We are here with and so happy to meet you all! Come say Hi! ✨✨

Failures of Mirror Logic Megan Fernandes interviews Bath about “Instructions for Banno.”
03/15/2025

Failures of Mirror Logic

Megan Fernandes interviews Bath about “Instructions for Banno.”

congrats!!!!!
02/09/2025

congrats!!!!!

It has arrived! 𝘐𝘍 𝘈𝘕 𝘌𝘓𝘚𝘌𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌 (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸) with art by Cybele Lyle and poetry by Jocelyn Saidenberg is in our hands an...
02/02/2025

It has arrived! 𝘐𝘍 𝘈𝘕 𝘌𝘓𝘚𝘌𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌 (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸) with art by Cybele Lyle and poetry by Jocelyn Saidenberg is in our hands and in the world.

Join us for a reading and discussion at City Lights Books (virtually!) on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 at 6pm PST. Featuring Cybele Lyle (art), Jocelyn Saidenberg (poetry) and Erin Wilson (editor).

Register at through linktree in our bio or at citylights.com

IF AN ELSEWHERE (The Burrow)
Kelsey Street Press, 2025
$32, ISBN 978-0-932716-95-8
71 pages, full color

Available at kelseystreetpress.org & asterismbooks.com

Kelsey Street Press is delighted to announce the publication of IF AN ELSEWHERE (The Burrow), art by Cybele Lyle and poe...
01/26/2025

Kelsey Street Press is delighted to announce the publication of IF AN ELSEWHERE (The Burrow), art by Cybele Lyle and poetry by Jocelyn Saidenberg. Available for pre-sale now and shipping in early February 2025.

Kelsey Street Press, 2025
$32, ISBN 978-0-932716-95-8
71 pages, full color
Available at kelseystreetpress.org & Asterism Books

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2824 Kelsey Street
Berkeley, CA
94705

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(415) 465-2401

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