“We would be honored if you would join us in this work as we celebrate this special milestone in CavanKerry’s history: 20 years & 100 books.”

See how you can help us celebrate 20 years of CavanKerry Press. Click on the button to find out how you can support!

Dear Friends—

With the approaching anniversary of our 20th year & 100th book (a dream I couldn’t have imagined two decades ago when I founded the press), we’ve been reflecting on the roads we’ve traveled and those we’ve yet to encounter. We’re proud of our past and anticipate our future.

Since our inception, we have achieved a national reputation as a leading publisher of poetry with widespread critical attention, including awards from ForeWord Magazine, Book & Media, & 6 Citations of Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. CavanKerry was also chosen as a finalist for the Small Press Publisher Award sponsored by the Associated Writing Programs. Our authors have been recipients of the prestigious Witter Bryner Fellowship, selected by the late Donald Hall, former Poet Laureate of the United States, featured in Poets and Writers Best Debut Poets, and Tracy Smith’s, 2018 U.S.Poet Laureate‘s poetry program, The Slowdown, finalists in the Lenore Marshall Academy of American Poets Award & the Paterson Poetry Prize & featured readers at the Library of Congress.

None of these accomplishments would be possible without our amazing group of gifted writers who have entrusted us with the treasure of their work. We are ever grateful for their trust. As you may already know, we publish both emerging & notable writers who join us in our mission to include the general reader in the poetry banquet by demystifying it as an inaccessible art and bringing it to them where they live, work and receive services. This is the bedrock commitment that informs our Community Outreach Programs. In fact, CavanKerry writers contractually commit to offering three free reading, workshop, or other literary events for the first three years that their book is in print in the communities in which they live.

From the very beginning, we have had two entwined missions driving CKP – creating fine & beautiful books of poetry & prose from a wide array of gifted writers – & completing the circle by putting these books in the hands of those who need poetry most – real people leading real lives–through a wide range of community events that connect our writers to their readers across the country.

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We would be honored if you would join us in this work as we celebrate this special milestone in CavanKerry’s history: 20 years & 100 books.

In the summer of 2019, we conducted a feasibility study to investigate ways that CavanKerry can provide for its next 20+ years. It is something we have never done before, but our future depends on broadening support, & we decided to turn to you for counsel. The consensus was that you strongly supported the idea of expanding our categories of support. While we have always & continue to depend on & been grateful for your general support, it was suggested that we expand our appeal to include more long range specific gifts. After much consideration & discussion, we’ve come up with some new, unique ways for you to participate.

We invite you to put your name on our books and community programs.

A prime example of CavanKerry’s efforts to bring fine poetry & prose to people where they live, work & receive services is our GiftBooks program through which we’ve donated over 35,000 books to community institutions including hospitals, shelters, senior centers, shelters, veteran’s groups, libraries, & schools which have supported students by the thousands. Perhaps you will join us in this effort & make a personal gift of books to a community of your choice through our GiftBooks program?

We’re especially proud of our wonderful poets and the effect that their extraordinary writing has on audiences. Poetry is rejuvenating, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the intimate settings of Poetry Heals workshops for medical personnel at hospitals and doctors’ offices, which promote the use of humanities in medicine, and at poetry salons for homebound individuals and their caregivers. It is our great honor to offer these services to improve the quality of life for those in need. Might you join us by sponsoring our Poetry Outreach Programs at a medical facility or place of your choice?

We’d also love to share the glory of creating books with you. CavanKerry is renowned for our artful collections. Committed to birthing books that are art pieces in which the visual and textural art are equal to the literary art they frame, we work hard with our designers, editors and authors to develop unique covers and typefaces to best showcase the excellent writing. Please consider joining us in the joy of making art by memorializing a loved one or dedicating a book to celebrate your own love of poetry.

If there is one special book we’ve produced over our 20 years that embodies both the art & community elements of CavanKerry Press, it is our Waiting Room Reader. Designed for those held captive in hospital waiting rooms be it for routine or critical care or awaiting the results of a test or surgery of a loved one, the WRR is meant to provide company and comfort. To date, we have gifted over 19,000 of the first two volumes to hundreds of hospitals & healthcare providers across the country. It’s our dream to create a third volume in our 20the year, an English, Spanish, & large print version, with an electronic component (an app) that can also be downloaded. We’d be so grateful if you’d join us in giving life to this dream.

That said, it bears repeating how critical general gifts, which so many of you have made over the years, are always a blessing! Hopefully, those new to CavanKerry will join you in supporting our work.

Finally, we want to thank you for your friendship and generosity both for this year & for all the years past. Thank you for being readers & lovers of fine poetry & prose! It has been my pleasure & the pleasure of all who’ve joined me over these past two decades to provide you & the world with beautiful & memorable books created by great writers! It is a great blessing in our lives! You have made that possible.

I wish you all the joy life can hold,