Persea Books

Persea Books Independent publishers since 1975

Founded in 1975 by Karen Braziller and Michael Braziller, Persea Books is an independent literary publisher of fiction and nonfiction, contemporary American poetry, poetry in translation, books for young adults, literary anthologies for the classroom, and rediscovered classics.

Thanks to Stephanie Burt and ARC for this lovely, deeply considered review of AN OPTIMISM by Cameron Awkward-Rich, avail...
10/08/2025

Thanks to Stephanie Burt and ARC for this lovely, deeply considered review of AN OPTIMISM by Cameron Awkward-Rich, available from booksellers everywhere and, until Friday, at a 40% discount from Persea’s website using the discount code GIVEMEOPTIMISM. Read the complete review here: https://arcmag.org/ahead-of-their-time/

Happy pub day to An Optimism by Cameron Awkward-Rich, a collection that is potent and poignant, skeptical and hopeful, w...
10/07/2025

Happy pub day to An Optimism by Cameron Awkward-Rich, a collection that is potent and poignant, skeptical and hopeful, wise and humble. In poems of Black and trans life, the poet communes with Lucille Clifton, Pauli Murray, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, and others in his search for how to *be* in his body. In this book, says Alexis Pauline Gumbs, “Cameron Awkward-Rich offers us something more generous than possibility: he offers us the reckoning of our own wonder, care, and incommensurability.”

For limited time, An Optimism can be ordered at a 40% discount from Persea’s web site using the discount code GIVEMEOPTIMISM. Or, buy the book from your favorite independent bookseller.

Cover art:
Cover design: l

Happy pub day to ALL THE WORDS I CAN REMEMBER ARE POEMS by Michelle Peñaloza, winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choi...
09/16/2025

Happy pub day to ALL THE WORDS I CAN REMEMBER ARE POEMS by Michelle Peñaloza, winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award and the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets! This joyous, fierce collection—a testament to art’s power to subvert and overcome oppressive forces—includes gorgeous color collages by the poet.

Available from booksellers everywhere and at www.perseabooks.com

“Michelle Peñaloza’s world—overflowing with flowers, languages, ancestors, abundant dinners, laughter, longing, and endless questions—is a delight. This book is a perfectly crafted home for all of us living in diaspora. Peñaloza’s singular voice recasts both personal and global history:
our losses are no longer just sites of grief, but totems of power and resilience. Colonialism never precludes indigenous triumph, reality never precludes hope. These poems make me feel whole.”—Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor

“To me, this poem is about the power of community, and the necessity of friendship for our collective survival, collecti...
09/04/2025

“To me, this poem is about the power of community, and the necessity of friendship for our collective survival, collective freedom, and collective joy. It’s about the ways we can make the world more habitable, and more HOSPITABLE, for one another. In times that feel divisive and fragmented, this poem is a reminder of what we can do and BE together. It’s a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.” shares Maggie Smith in today’s episode.
Read Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich and our full episode transcript at the link in our bio.

Persea Books is now accepting entries via Submittable to the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry, open to self-ide...
09/01/2025

Persea Books is now accepting entries via Submittable to the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry, open to self-identified women who have yet to publish a full-length collection. The winner receives publication, $1,000.00, and the option of an expenses-paid, six week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy.

This contest is a collaboration with the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project. All entry fees go towards the LRPP’s mission to put poetry in NYC public schools and prisons. Fee waivers are available on a limited basis. For complete entry guidelines, visit www.perseabooks.com.

SOFAR by Elizabeth Bradfield comes out one week from today! Use discount code SUMMERSALE to order it from our website at...
08/19/2025

SOFAR by Elizabeth Bradfield comes out one week from today! Use discount code SUMMERSALE to order it from our website at a 20% discount.

“Elizabeth Bradfield’s SOFAR is a sounding—both call and measurement. In this deeply felt collection, Bradfield charts a history of love, longing, and a life lived aboard boats and alongside whales, sharks, seals, birds, and even coyotes. These are poems of place, poems of the heart, and they ring with such tenderness, such longing, they raise in this reader an echoing ache.”
—Donika Kelly, author of Bestiary and The Renunciations

Happy pub date to Lost Cities by Valenica Robin! Use the discount code SUMMERSALE on Persea’s website for a 20% discount...
08/05/2025

Happy pub date to Lost Cities by Valenica Robin!

Use the discount code SUMMERSALE on Persea’s website for a 20% discount or purchase the book from your favorite independent bookseller!

A poem from Lost Cities by is featured in books editor Ron Charles’ newsletter today. Lost Cities is out next week! O...
08/01/2025

A poem from Lost Cities by is featured in books editor Ron Charles’ newsletter today.

Lost Cities is out next week! Order from our website using discount code SUMMERSALE for a 20% discount.

New ARCs of fall poetry books by Carey Salerno and Michelle Peñaloza, featuring our marketing intern Howie Wanda Busines...
07/10/2025

New ARCs of fall poetry books by Carey Salerno and Michelle Peñaloza, featuring our marketing intern Howie Wanda Business, age 4.5. Interested in considering one of these mind-blowing collections for review? Email Howie at [email protected] to request an ARC!

Fall ARCs of new poetry by Carey Salerno and Michelle Peñaloza, featuring marketing intern extraordinaire Howie Wanda Bu...
07/10/2025

Fall ARCs of new poetry by Carey Salerno and Michelle Peñaloza, featuring marketing intern extraordinaire Howie Wanda Business (age 4.5). Interested in reviewing either book? Email us at [email protected]. They are both stunners!

Cover reveals are even more exciting when the author is also the cover artist! ALL THE WORDS I REMEMBER ARE POEMS by Mic...
05/27/2025

Cover reveals are even more exciting when the author is also the cover artist! ALL THE WORDS I REMEMBER ARE POEMS by Michelle Peñaloza comes out in September with the poet’s gorgeous collage on the front cover and seven additional color collages within the book. Winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, this extraordinary collection challenges colonial narratives while reveling in what’s passed from mother to daughter across generations.

Advance reading copies of some of the amazing poetry collections coming out in Summer & Fall 2025! Dynamic, iconoclastic...
05/23/2025

Advance reading copies of some of the amazing poetry collections coming out in Summer & Fall 2025! Dynamic, iconoclastic new books by Cameron Awkward-Rich, Elizabeth Bradfield, and Valencia Robin!

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