Fifty years ago, the independent, nonprofit literary press Boa Editions made its auspicious debut in Brockport, New York. The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet W. D. Snodgrass was looking for a home for what would become his fifth poetry book, The Fuehrer Bunker: A Cycle of Poems in Progress, a collection that was thematically controversial and formally inventive, in part because it was proposed as a work-in-progress. Alfred A. Poulin Jr., Boa’s founder and first publisher, identified a need for publishers who could emphasize art and aesthetic, embrace risk, and make decisions with fewer commercial considerations. Poulin saw merit in Snodgrass’s manuscript and wanted to introduce the literary world to Boa through this unconventional title.
Reflecting on Boa’s launch, Peter Conners, the current executive director and publisher of the press, says “[Poulin] saw the value of what Snodgrass was doing and, quite honestly, saw the value of having a Pulitzer Prize winner as the very first writer on the press. [Poulin] had a keen knack for knowing how to draw attention.”
Boa would go on to publish canonical American poets such as Li-Young Lee, Naomi Shihab Nye, and, perhaps most notably, Lucille Clifton, whose Boa books were twice selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, winning the latter in the year 2000 for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000.
Those legendary writers established Boa’s status as a significant press. They also inspired and attracted the next generation of writers. Aracelis Girmay, author of four poetry collections, three of them with Boa, says, “I was reading Boa books long before I paid attention to presses or even imagined I would ever write a book.”
As Boa grew, it expanded its offerings to include poetry in translation and short fiction, beginning with a 2007 fiction collection by Anthony Tognazzini. It continued its significant contributions to American letters by publishing celebrated authors such as Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Charles Simic. Today Boa boasts a prominent roster of contemporary writers, among them Geffrey Davis, Girmay, and Keetje Kuipers.
Davis, the author of three Boa books, describes his relationship with the Boa team as a useful “blend of feeling supported to create the books I want to make and trusting that editors will share ideas and opportunities that help make my books better.” He also notes that Boa takes the long view, keeping future possibilities in mind. “In my conversations with him, [Conners] often shares his vision and his thinking about what’s next,” Davis says.
Although anniversaries remind us to look forward while marking significant milestones in the past, they also offer inspiration to take stock of the here and now, both the exciting things under way at the press and the challenges complicating the world of independent publishing. As he marks this anniversary, Conners regards the present moment with joy but also with a mix of concern and resolve.
“Nonprofit publishing is facing some real hurdles, and I think we’re in jeopardy if we don’t address those,” Conners says. “Specifically I’m talking about the NEA cuts, which have hit us all mightily. I want to use our anniversary to promote not just Boa, but nonprofit publishing in general.”
Included among Boa’s commitments is platforming the voices of marginalized writers. In 2020, Boa launched Blessing the Boats Selections, in honor of Clifton, to publish poetry collections by women of color, as chosen by an editor-at-large, who is also a woman of color. Girmay, who served as the first editor-at-large for the series before passing the torch to Evie Shockley last year, says that “for Peter and the Boa board to establish the series, and for Clifton’s family to support its vision, was immensely meaningful.” Her work as editor was likewise meaningful. “There is so much absolutely essential work being made across a vast range of strategies, modes, concerns,” Girmay says. “To read for the series was thrilling and impossible and humbling.”
Boa’s meaningful work will carry on. The press will continue to launch debut poets through its A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize, celebrate midcareer poets through its Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, publish short fiction focused on artful writing through the Boa Short Fiction Prize, and support a new audiobook series. It will also commemorate five decades of independent publishing with At the Gate: Uncollected Poems 1987–2010, a book of previously unpublished poems by Lucille Clifton.
An untitled poem from that collection speaks to the strength and success of the past, the opportunities and obligations of the present, and the beautiful possibilities of the future. Clifton writes of seeking “a poetry / that will save us.” For a half century, Boa has contributed to that quest.
Michael Kleber-Diggs is the author of the poetry collection Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions, 2021). He lives and writes in Saint Paul.
