In brief, our mission statement:

Quillsedge is a non-profit press dedicated to promoting the work of women poets over the age of fifty through the publication of high quality chapbooks and through building connections and community among older women writers.

And for a bigger picture, our vision statement

The vision of Quillsedge Press is to fight the social invisibility of women poets as we age. We know that these women poets are producing some of the best, most vibrant, and most important contemporary poetry, and we know how often our work is dismissed by editors and editorial committees. To counter this invisibility we plan to publish beautiful chapbooks of highest quality poetry, and to take action to educate the poetry community about why this writing is indispensable.

As a press we take a broad view of what “woman” means and respect gender self-definition. Our goal is to publish great poetry that grows out of the rich variety of living as female: living coupled, partnered, single; having children or not; defining as straight, dyke, queer, trans, butch, femme; understanding that race and gender are often inseparable in the lives of  women of color, and particularly welcoming women whose first language is other than English.

Our goal is to publish poetry that astounds, delights, explodes, makes startling connections, and both expands and empowers what it is to be a woman writer. We seek poets with a deep commitment to craft, and clear engagement with the world of contemporary poetry. Rather than poems that stay in the realm of memoir or autobiography, we seek poems that launch from the personal, that are resonant with life here and now, that display tenacity, vibrancy, innovation and that explore the timeless and the timely.

Deep respect for women and for the art and craft of poetry are our guiding principles. We intend to grow connections between poets, and so expect the poets we publish to engage with each other’s work through reviews, blogs, tweets, readings, and other publicity. Because we embrace poetry as deeply personal and deeply political we expect our work, and yours, to change the world.

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