Founded in 1997, the Backwaters Press has worked to produce award-winning books by some of America’s finest authors. UNP acquired Backwaters in 2018, adding an impressive backlist in poetry and prose that contributes to the cultural landscape of our state and region. As a general interest imprint of the Press, Backwaters continues to build on roots planted firmly in the Great Plains, delighting readers with literature of enduring value and consequence. The following are updates from our newest imprint! 

Not Your Mama’s Melting Pot (2018) by Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley has been selected as a finalist in the following book award competitions:

International Latino Book Award Finalist
International Book Award Finalist
Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Finalist
Eric Hoffer Poetry Prize Finalist
New Horizon First Book Award Finalist
Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award Finalist
National Indie Excellence Award Finalist

Congrats, Ben!

If you are in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area tomorrow July 10, stop by Next Chapter Booksellers for a poetry reading featuring Marjorie Saiser (The Woman in the Moon, 2018) and Connie Wanek (Rival Gardens, Nebraska, 2016).

And 2018 prize-winner, John Sibley Williams, was recently interviewed on the New Books Network. Williams’ forthcoming collection, Skin Memory, will be available in November.

Speaking of prize winners, UNP received 244 entries to this year’s Backwaters Prize in Poetry! The head judge, Grace Bauer, will select a winner and runner-up by September 15. Below are the previous winners. Good luck to the poets who submitted their work!

2018 – John Sibley Williams, Skin Memory
2017 – Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley, Not Your Mama’s Melting Pot
2016 – Mary Jo Thompson, Stunt Heart
2015 – Kim Garcia, DRONE
2014 – Katharine Whitcomb, The Daughter’s Almanac
2013 – Zeina Hashem Beck, To Live in Autumn
2012 – Susan Elbe, The Map of What Happened
2005-2011 – No prize given
2004 – Aaron Anstett, No Accident
2003 – Michelle Gillett, Blinding the Goldfinches
2002 – Ginny MacKenzie, Skipstone
2001 – Susan Firer, The Laugh We Make When We Fall
2000 – David Staudt, The Gifts and the Thefts
1999 – Sally Allen McNall, Rescue
1998 – Kevin Griffith, Paradise Refunded