A Passion for Poetry
Writers and poetry lovers owe a debt of gratitude to Copper Canyon Press, which makes its home in a small building on the Centrum campus at Port Townsend's Fort Worden. The independent, non-profit press started humbly in the winter of 1972 when poet Sam Hamill lugged an old galley press up three flights of stairs to his Denver, Colorado apartment. He bought the press, and two cases of type using the $500 award he received for excellence in literary publishing for his work on Spectrum, the literary magazine at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He had enough type to print two pages of poetry at a timeŃslow going for a literary press. In 1974 Centrum offered to house Copper Canyon at Fort Worden.
Hamill and original partner in poetry, Tree Swenson, moved the press to the Northwest. Swenson kept the press connected and running while Hamill made ends meet by working odd jobs, teaching workshops, and working with prison inmates. Miraculously, he still made time to write poetry and work at the press. Through their incredible devotion, Hamill and Swenson carved a niche in the publishing world for their little press. The two published limited-edition books of poetry, all hand printed and hand sewn. Copper Canyon also helped several other small, independent presses get their starts by teaching the art of bookbinding and printing to the founders. Over the years, Copper Canyon's reputation and resources grew through the assistance of Centrum and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as private contributions and a lot of hard work. Along the way, Hamill and his helpers realized that the press would need to turn to digital printing to make it in the competitive world of publishing. Nevertheless, they continued to focus on the look and craftsmanship of the book as well as the work enclosed between the covers. The move made Copper Canyon an important literary institution as has been proven by ever increasing sales as well as grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.
The growth did not diminish Copper Canyon's dedication to poetry in all its forms. Collections range from the melodious lines of Olga Broumas to the questioning couplets of Pablo Neruda to the porcine tales of David Lee. The press produces books by some of the world's most well-known poets, including Hayden Carruth, Lucille Clifton, W.S. Merwin, Octavio Paz, Denise Levertov, and Carolyn Kizer. Hamill—Zen Buddhist, devotee of Asian Literature, and translator of the Japanese poet Basho—has ensured that Copper Canyon maintains a commitment to publishing Asian poetry. That dedication has led to the recent creation of the Kage-an imprint for translated poetry. And since listening to poetry is such an important part of enjoying it, Copper Canyon also produces CDs of select poets reading their poems.
Just in the last decade, the press has grown from publishing 10 books a year to the point that it now publishes between 18 and 20 books each year. Each of the books it publishes is as important to Copper Canyon as the first book. It's as if each poem becomes a gift in the hands of the publisher. As a result, when you buy a book from Copper Canyon Press, you buy a work of art in all senses of the word, from poetry to type to paper to book design. Beautiful, limited edition broadsides are still printed on the manual pressŃCopper Canyon has not abandoned the time-honored art that launched it on its way to brilliance.
You can visit Copper Canyon Press Monday through Friday. After you enter the main gates to Fort Worden, follow the signs to the press by going straight on the entrance road rather than turning right towards the beach. You can buy the books published by the press and take a quick look around. If you are lucky, you may even get to see the old press in operation. If you can't make it to the press, you can still buy its books at The Imprint Bookstore (820 Water St.). To receive a free catalog, write to Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, Washington 98368; call (360) 385-2925; or visit the Website at www.coppercanyonpress.org.