In the last 45 years, BOA has published more than 300 books of literature, and is proud to cultivate and uplift new and established poets and authors, bringing high quality literature to the public.
BOA Editions, Ltd., was founded in Brockport, NY on July 4, 1976 and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization on May 9, 1983. Today, BOA makes its home in downtown Rochester, NY! We are proud of our city and are active members of the local arts community, including the Anderson Alley Artists group and the Neighborhood of the Arts Business Association.
The late Brockport professor, editor, translator, and poet A. Poulin Jr., founded BOA to provide a vehicle for new and established poets to publish and market high quality contemporary literature. As an independent publisher, BOA emphasizes works outside the mainstream, concentrating on talented, marginalized, experimental, foreign, and minority writers. The organization and its authors have received numerous accolades and awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and others. BOA has published more than thirty translations, bringing acclaimed international poets to English-speaking audiences.
In addition to publishing all its books in print and digital formats, BOA launched its first audiobook in April 2021, I Am Not Trying to Hide My Hunger From the World by Kendra DeColo. Given this success, Naomi Shihab Nye’s BOA titles are currently in audio production for release in 2022, and the press is working towards simultaneously publishing each forthcoming title in audiobook format by 2023.
Releasing ten to twelve new works of literature each year, BOA focuses on giving voice to those who have previously been unheard. Our newest initiative, the Blessing the Boats Selections, was named in honor of Lucille Clifton and features the work of outstanding women poets of color in the U.S., including poets who identify as cis, trans, or nonbinary people comfortable in a space that centers on women’s experiences. The next title within the Blessing of the Boats Selections, Casual Conversation by Renia White, will be published in September 2022. She will join two previously published books in the Selections: Letters to a Young Brown Girl by Barbara Jane Reyes and Year of the Dog by Deborah Paredez.
The press also publishes new and emerging poets each year through the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. This year, BOA’s annual Dine & Rhyme Gala in October will commemorate 20 years of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, and will feature three Poulin Prize poets and a celebratory video. The BOA Short Fiction Prize, now in its 11th year, centers on short story collections that focus on the artfulness of writing, as short stories are often an undervalued literary form.
Looking to the fall, BOA has five new titles forthcoming: Diamonds by Camille Guthrie, Among Elms, In Ambush by Bruce Weigl, Ceive by B.K. Fischer, Tenderness by Derrick Austin, and A Cluster of Noisy Planets by Charles Rafferty. All five of these titles are available for preorder through BOA’s website.
BOA is so honored to have served the literary community for 45 years, and we look forward to publishing more wonderful books and authors for many years to come!
Written by Em DeVincentis, summer 2021 intern at BOA and senior at the New School, studying literature and creative writing in Manhattan, New York.
