Welcome to Kore Press

Kore Press is one of 76 non-profit organizations receiving a grant to host The Big Read project this fall. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and in cooperation with Arts Midwest, The Big Read is an initiative to restore reading to the center of American culture. Tucson's Big Read will involve creative and educational community programming and events taking place between Sept. 22 and Nov. 13, 2011. Kore has chosen to celebrate the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and bring her prolific work to our community in active and meaningful ways.

: : :

Kore Press wins a 2011 Innovations in Reading Prize

Kore is one of four organizations in the country (selected out of 120) to be honored by the National Book Foundation with a 2011 Innovations in Reading Prize! The National Book Foundation awards prizes to individuals and institutions that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading.

For eighteen years, Kore Press has been defined by innovation. Whether it's publishing the highest quality women's literature, educating youth, or doing creative community programming, they have been on the edge of using literature to advance progressive social change. As a community of literary activists, Kore is dedicated to engaging the public through several visionary, creative writing projects.

: : :

Four ways to support Kore:

(1.)

Join

the Annual Tumamoc Hill-a-thon

March 15-April 15

walker, sponsor, cheerleader

we need you

Support Kore with your feet: walk the historic hills west of downtown Tucson with a great community of hillers. Form a team, climb solo or sponsor a walker!
Visit the 2010 blog for Tumamoc

photos & to get an idea of the terrain.

info: kore@korepress.org

(2.)

Give

a tax deductible donation to Kore's ongoing support of women & grrls in literary activism.

(3.)

Designate

your AZ tax credit to the Grrls program through our partnership with City High School.

(4.)

Collect

Kore publications by becoming a standing order patron. Receive shipments twice a year of all new titles, with a friends discount of 10%.

contact: kore@korepress.org

: : :

June 9, 2011: Kore Press wins the 2011 LUMIE Award for an Established Arts Organization

Kore received the award for an Established Arts Organization at this year's Tucson Pima Arts Council LUMIES Awards. This prize is awarded to an organization functioning for over ten years, in recognition of their innovation, creativity and sustained excellence in their field.

"Championing women writers and those underrepresented in the cultural mainstream, Kore Press has thrived as an independent press against difficult economic environments that easily favor corporations. Kore Press remains as one of only six feminist literary publishers in the country and is a leading voice for advancing progressive social change in Southern Arizona. As a platform for emerging writers, Kore renders personal attention to each writer’s work and always gives detailed feedback to enhance the writings of local writers. This organization has furthered the discussion of Tucson’s cultural and artistic future through activism projects and presentations in schools. Engaging local citizens, Kore Press will continue to make literary activism and social justice

a priority in the years to come."

: : :

And the hits keep coming for Kore. We love our editorial readers... good to know the feeling's mutual. Thanks, Anna Clark!

: : :

Grrls Literary Activism Workshops

Empowering the next generation of leaders

Workshop participant Zamzam Hirsi talks with Dr Cornel West

at a special reception, Spring '11, UA Centennial Hall

Visit the Grrls website, blog, and Facebook.

: : :

Shirts to benefit Grrls Literary Activists

now for sale, designed and printed by Grrls themselves! $14.50

Kore Press T-Shirts

: : :

Coming in Hot opens dialogue across cultures with the voices of female veterans.

Up Next:

female veteran & activist

The Oral History Project

Adapted for the stage from the groundbreaking 2008 title Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq, Coming in Hot ignites theater with civic action and truthfully contributes to the discussion on women in the military.

Want to produce this play? contact lisa@korepress.org for details.

Coming in Hot garners a glowing review on the Huffington Post! See more reviews here.

Visit the Coming in Hot: Civil Discourse website, blog, and Facebook.

: : :

THANK YOU

2011 Big Read business partners:

Feast

Gallery of Food

UA College of Humanities

Hotel Congress & Maynard's

The Shanty

AZ Party Rental

kore program partners:

and funding partners:

The archive in progress of the

BIG READ Tucson

bigreadtucson.com

Attention Tucson EDUCATORS:

Kore Press is still providing

free Emily Dickinson teaching & reader's guides

Click here for information on how to get guides & books

: : :

snazzy Big Read bling still available

T-shirts, stickers, trucker hats, postcards

T-shirts & hats just $10

This text reads: "The brain is wider than the sky..."

Email kore@korepress.org to order!

Women or Unisex sizes available - M & L

: : :

Delight--becomes pictorial

A visual lexicon of Emily Dickinson's first lines

"After all the birds have been investigated and laid aside" by Bill Mackey

Click here to view the artwork online

Dec. 8, 2011: Tucson Weekly spreads the word about "Delight--becomes pictorial" and our Emily D Bday Bash

"We grow accustomed to the dark--" by Beata Wehr

Click here to read "Pictorial Pleasures"

by Margaret Regan

: : :

Thank you all for supporting

Big Read Tucson!

Sincere thanks to all 70 pledgers who made our Kickstarter campaign a success!

: : :

Dec. 2, 2011: Eat, Be Merry, and Support the Arts! Local restaurants that made Emily D into tasty treats

Click here for a full menu of participating restaurant locations

: : :

Links to Kore Press' Big Read events

in the media

Click here for the Daily Star's article about our Second Saturday Birthday Bash!

Click here for the Tucson Weekly's article about our Second Saturday Birthday Bash!

Click here for the Daily Wildcat's article about our Second Saturday Birthday Bash!

Click here for our press release about Emily Dickinson tasty treats

Click here for CS Monitor's article about our Emily D Birthday Bash

Click here for NPR's Morning Edition about the Big Read and our Emily D Birthday Bash

Click here for the Daily Star's article about "If My Verse is Alive..."

Click here for AZPM's video and article about "If My Verse is Alive..."

Click here for Zocalo Magazine's blurb about "If My Verse is Alive..."

Click here for Tucson Weekly's feature about "If My Verse is Alive..."

Click here for Tucson Weekly's article about Kore Press' role in the Big Read programming

Click here for Tucson Poetry Examiner's blog entry about our "Writing Woman" lecture with Dr. Aiken

Click here to listen to KXCI's 30-minute radio broadcast about Emily Dickinson, featuring Lisa Bowden and Jane Miller

Click here for the Daily Wildcat's article about Barbara Penn's slide show and art talk

Click here for the NEA's feature about "If My Verse is Alive..." in their Big Read blog

Click here for Zocalo Magazine's article about the Big Read programming

: : :

Nov. 18, 2011: Listen to a recording of Eva Heisler's original work "It Sounds Like a Poem"

Eva Heisler is an art critic, poet, and scholar from Heidelberg, Germany. She visited Tucson this October to contribute to our Big Read celebration of Emily Dickinson. Kore Press will publish Heisler's forthcoming book of poems in Spring, 2012, called "Reading Emily Dickinson in Icelandic."

: : :

Nov. 6, 2011: KXCI community radio interviews Jane Miller and Lisa Bowden about Dickinson, the Big Read, and Miller's latest poems...

Did you miss the excitement? No problem! Click here to listen to the entire 30-minute radio broadcast online.

: : :

Click here for a table of contents for Big Read Tucson and handy guide to programs, events & resources

: : :

Oct. 1, 2011: Kore's Grrls Literary Activists screened their new short film at the Loft

in conjunction with AZ List's film "Miss Representation"

The Grrls' film explored media, sex, sexuality & self image

Thanks to Pam Grissom & the Crossroads Collaborative with funding from the Ford Foundation!

Grrls' mentor Jamie Lee with Aida Villareal-Licona

& Marigold Hall. photo by Kimi Eisele

Grrls Literary Activism Workshops helps get the voices of young women and trans youth heard.

: : :

Aug. 2, 2011: Arizona Public Media interviews Kore Press Publisher Lisa Bowden about our 2011 LUMIE Award

image courtesy of azpm.org

Click here to watch the interview with AZPM, and hear some exciting updates about up-and-coming Kore Press programs!

: : :

We love and appreciate our generous artists, sponsors and donors to the annual auction & garden party.

See the benefits of giving to Kore and

Read our thank you list here

: : :

Persephone Speaks

a Kore Press blog

An Interview with author Kelcey Parker and editor Shannon Cain of For Sale By Owner, Kore's first short fiction collection

: : :

Kore Press mission:

As a community of literary activists devoted to bringing forth a diversity of voices through works that meet the highest artistic standards, Kore Press publishes women's writing to deepen awareness and advance progressive social change.

Why we publish women?

Kore Press is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts organization made possible by grants, book sales, and donations from individuals like yourself.

New Release

now available!

That Place Where by Barbara Cully

“Here is a consummate poet, at the height of her interrogation

of language, philosophy, and philology. Barbara Cully is a

poet’s poet. She works passionately, without ambition,

fanfare, or guile.” — Jane Miller

$11, 7 x 8.5," 32 pgs, hand-stitched
call 327-2127 or email: kore@korepress.org to order

: : :

For Sale By Owner named Short Fiction winner in Next Generation Indie Book Awards

$16, 5.5 x 8.5," 144 pgs, trade paper
Order your copy here.

: : :

Territories of Folding

by TC Tolbert

A double-bound chapbook of poetry by our first gender-queer author. $13. available now, here!

TC Tolbert signing his recently released double-bound chapbook of poetry, Territories of Folding, at the Tucson Festival of Books

: : :

Yasuko Claremont's

Award winning translation of Tada Chimako's poem "Concealment" is now available here!

2-color, silk screen broadside $15

edition of 100, 16x20"

Jeremy Ingalls' Translation Award Judge

Sawako Nakayasu (left) and winner Yasuko Claremont (who traveled from Tokyo) read together at the AWP in DC, February 2011.

: : :

2010 Short Fiction winner

All Sorts of Hunger

by Heather Brittain Bergstrom,

selected by Leslie Marmon Silko,

now available here for $10

5.5 x 8.5", 28 pgs, single story, staple bound

with twine knot looped through the two "o"s

on the cover

Readers will return to her words again and again for their sheer profound humanity.

--Carole Simmons Oles

: : :

2010 First Book Award for Poetry

Laura Newbern's

Love and the Eye,

selected by Claudia Rankine,

now available

$14.95, 6 x 9," 64 pgs, trade paper

"a transformative vision in which beauty is evident everywhere" --- Natasha Tretheway

: : :

Poet & Asian scholar Jeremy Ingalls website here

: : :

Kore CDs available as

digitally downloadable MP3s

Got spoken word?

: : :

Stay tuned to literary & activist

news and events with the

Kore monthly e-newsletter

Drop a line with the subject "add me" to kore@korepress.org

Back issues are available as PDFs:

2010:

Other back issues are available here.

: : :

Kore has been publishing the creative genius of women writers since 1993, in part to maintain equitable public discourse and an accurate historic record. Greek for "daughter," Kore (kor-ay) recalls the myth of Persephone in which a daughter is taken into the underworld and re-emerges half the year because of a bargain struck by her mother and the nasty fellow down below. The daughter's emergence from the dark depths each year, like the creative process itself, marks a time of change!

: : :

webmaster: Miranda Butler