Each year, our staff looks forward to attending the annual AWP Conference. For those who aren’t familiar, AWP is a 3-day gathering of 12,000 writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers from all around the country. Along with roughly 550 readings, panels, and craft lectures, there is also a bookfair that hosts 800 presses, journals, and literary organizations. That is where you would find us—at our booth, selling hundreds of books, hosting book signings, and chatting with authors, friends, and fans of BOA.
However, after careful consideration, we have decided not to attend this year’s AWP conference in San Antonio. Out of an abundance of caution following the City of San Antonio's declaration yesterday of a local state of disaster and public health emergency regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus, which extends until March 9th, our staff will be practicing social distancing to assist with containment efforts. As sad as we are to miss seeing so many wonderful people, our primary concern must always be the health and well-being of our staff, family members, authors, and larger community. This was a difficult decision, but we feel it is the right one.
While nothing is better than being together in person, we would like to mitigate some of the disappointment around AWP by offering a Virtual Book Fair. Today through Sunday, all BOA books, including our new spring 2020 titles, will be offered at a 30% discount through our online bookstore. No coupon code is required.
New and recent books that were scheduled to make their AWP debut include:
- Improvisation Without Accompaniment by Matt Morton (April 2020)
- Rue by Kathryn Nuernberger (April 2020)
- Let's Become a Ghost Story by Rick Bursky (April 2020)
- Year of the Dog by Deborah Paredez (April 2020)
- Brand New Spacesuit by John Gallaher (April 2020)
- The OK End of Funny Town by Mark Polanzak (May 2020)
- Cyborg Detective by Jillian Weise (Fall 2019)
- Tracing the Horse by Diana Marie Delgado (Fall 2019)
- On the Shores of Welcome Home by Bruce Weigl (Fall 2019)
- Joytime Killbox by Brian Wood (Fall 2019)
- Further Up the Path by Daniel Oz, transl. Jessica Cohen (Fall 2019)
As always, we greatly appreciate the support and understanding of our BOA family. We stand together as a community to bring vital voices to a world of readers. We look forward to seeing everyone at AWP in Kansas City next year.
Sincerely,
Peter Conners, Publisher, BOA Editions
This post has been updated and expanded for clarity.
