About Us

A Midsummer Night’s Press was founded in New Haven, CT in 1991. Hand-printing on a letterpress, it published broadsides of poems by Nancy Willard, Joe Haldeman, and Jane Yolen, among others, in signed, limited editions of 126 copies, numbered 1-100 and lettered A-Z. One of the broadsides–“Will” by Jane Yolen–won a Rhysling Award.  In 1993, the publisher moved to New York and the press went on hiatus until 2007, when it began publishing perfect-bound, commercially-printed volumes. The press currently publishes new books primarily under four imprints:

Fabula Rasa: devoted to works inspired by mythology, folklore, and fairy tales: Fairy Tales for Writers by Lawrence Schimel, Fortune's Lover: A Book of Tarot Poems by Rachel Pollack, Fairy Tales in Electri-city by Francesca Lia Block, The Last Selchie Child by Jane Yolen, What If What's Imagined Were All True by Roz Kaveney, and Lilith's Demons by Julie R. Enszer.

Body Language: devoted to texts exploring questions of gender and sexual identity: This is What Happened in Our Other Life by Achy Obejas; Banalities by Brane Mozetic (translated by Elizabeta Zargi with Timothy Liu); Handmade Love by Julie R. Esnzer; Mute by Raymond Luczak; Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry edited by Julie R. Enszer; Dialectic of the Flesh by Roz Kaveney; Fortunate Light by David Bergman; Deleted Names by Lawrence Schimel, This Life Now by Michael Broder; Our Lady of the Crossword by Rigoberto González; Same-Sexy Marriage by Julie Marie Wade; and The Sexy Storm by Edward van de Vendel (translated by David Colmer).

Sapphic Classics: Published in partnership with Sinister Wisdom, this series reprints important works of feminist lesbian poetry in new editions. Begun in 2013, titles in this series include Crime Against Nature by Minnie Bruce Pratt, Living as a Lesbian by Cheryl Clarke, What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems by elana dykewomon and The Collected Works of Pat Parker, edited by Julie R. Enszer. Also in this series we have published Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker, edited by Julie R. Enszer.

Periscope: devoted to works of poetry in translation by women writers: One is None by Estonian poet Kätlin Kaldmaa (translated by Miriam McIlfatrick), Anything Could Happen by Slovenian poet Jana Putrle (translated by Barbara Jursa), Dissection by Spanish poet Care Santos (translated by Lawrence Schimel), Caravan Lullabies by Lithuanian poet Ilze Butkute (translated by Rimas Uzgiris) and Having Never Met by Latvian poet Inga Pizane (translated by Jayde Will).