History:  Kelsey Street Press was founded in 1974 to address the marginalization of women writers by small press and mainstream publishers. From the beginning, we linked our editorial policy to a poetics of allowance that encouraged women to write directly from their own creative imperatives. Other founding goals were to publish a list that reflected the cultural variety in this country and to publish first books by unvetted writers. In the eighties, we instituted a series of cross-genre collaborative works between poets and visual artists. A decade later, as our list included more established writers, we created the Frances Jaffer Book Award for a first book to assure continued support of emerging poets. Our early books were handset and printed two pages at a time on a basement letterpress. Now we are exploring the interactive capabilities of the electronic media. At the heart of the Press remain the pleasures of the written page, books that can be held and carried, and ongoing participation in a continually changing poetry community.

A non-profit organization, we are supported by private foundations, government agencies, and, most importantly, by you, our readers.