Poetry & Literature

A historic home for vibrant voices in poetry and prose. Since the press’s earliest days at our home in the Ozarks, we’ve served as an outpost of literary excellence both in the area and in the international community of letters. Cofounded by acclaimed poet Miller Williams, the University of Arkansas Press is home to some of the language’s most celebrated writers, including Billy Collins, Frank Stanford, Ellen Gilchrist, and John Williams. We continue our search for poetry, memoirs, novels, essays, and collections that vivify, problematize, and delight, all the while pursuing greater representation and inclusion in our authorship and a heightened connection to traditionally underserved and underappreciated readerships.

Miller Williams

Miller Williams Poetry Series

The University of Arkansas Press annually selects books for the Miller Williams Poetry Series, awarding the $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize each summer. For nearly 25 years, this series has been the cornerstone of the press’s commitment to outstanding new poetry, honoring its cofounder and longtime director, Miller Williams.

Poetry & Literature News

Now Available: Coriolis by A. D. Lauren-Abunassar

Now Available: Coriolis by A. D. Lauren-Abunassar

The University of Arkansas Press is excited to announce that Coriolis, by A. D. Lauren-Abunassar is now available. The collection is the winner of the 2024 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. The Coriolis effect—from which A. D. Lauren-Abunassar’s hyperkinetic debut collection...

Announcing the Forthcoming Publication of Haunted Man’s Report

Announcing the Forthcoming Publication of Haunted Man’s Report

The University of Arkansas Press is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of Haunted Man's Report: Reading Charles Portis by Robert Cochran. Robert Cochran’s Haunted Man’s Report is a pioneering study of the novels and other writings of Arkansas-born Charles...

Poet in the Mirror: Shaina Phenix at Frontier Poetry

Poet in the Mirror: Shaina Phenix at Frontier Poetry

Frontier Poetry shares insights into the lives and hearts of today’s poets with their Poet In The Mirror series. This month, Shaina Phenix—author of To Be Named Something Else and former Frontier contributor—shares insight into lineages/inheritances, poetry as...

Jessica Poli Interviewed at COMP: an interdisciplinary journal

Jessica Poli Interviewed at COMP: an interdisciplinary journal

Jessica Poli, a finalist for the 2023 Miller William Poetry Prize for her collection Red Ocher, was interviewed at COMP: an interdisciplinary journal. COMP: Congratulations on the publication of Red Ocher (The University of Arkansas Press, 2023), finalist for the...

“Poet Shaina Phenix Started Writing to Understand Her Past”

“Poet Shaina Phenix Started Writing to Understand Her Past”

Shaina Phenix, whose collection To Be Named Something Else is the winner of the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, has been interviewed by Arriel Vinson at Shondaland. ARRIEL VINSON: Tell me about your inspiration for To Be Named Something Else. SHAINA PHENIX: I guess...

The Daughter of Man by L. J. Sysko is Now Available!

The Daughter of Man by L. J. Sysko is Now Available!

The Daughter of Man, finalist for the 2023 MIller Williams Poetry Prize, is now available. “L. J. Sysko’s The Daughter of Man is a marvel in so many ways: its chiseled, rambunctious music; its precise and haunting images; its unspooling, rhizomatic similes; its almost...

Now Available! To Be Named Something Else by Shaina Phenix

Now Available! To Be Named Something Else by Shaina Phenix

To Be Named Something Else, winner of the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, is now available! Selected by series editor Patricia Smith, To Be Named Something Else is a high-spirited celebration of Black matriarchy and lineage—both familial and literary. Centering the...

Red Ocher by Jessica Poli is Now Available!

Red Ocher by Jessica Poli is Now Available!

In Jessica Poli’s Red Ocher, the wild mortality of the natural world merges with melancholic expressions of romantic loss: a lamb runt dies in the night, a first-time lover inflicts casual cruelties, brussels sprouts rot in a field, love goes quietly and unbearably...

The Daughter of Man Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

The Daughter of Man Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

The Daughter of Man by L. J. Sysko, a finalist for the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly. “Sysko’s witty debut skewers the patriarchy in poems that explore and upend the various societal roles women are expected to play. In...

Readings