BOA Blog

Boa mourns the recent passing of James Long "Kip" Hale. A writer and longtime Boa supporter, Kip served as a founding member of Boa's National Advisory Committee and served in that capacity for many years. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Kip's family and friends.

BOA is proud to present our roundup of book reviews from the month of May. Linked below are reviews featuring our Spring 2026 titles. Check them out to see what people are saying about BOA’s talented authors!     This Elegance by Derrick Austin “Get back to the word,” by Michael Colbert From the article: “This Elegance is a collection that’s full of life. With attention to dreams, tarot, and the places the mind travels, these poems contemplate divinity, eroticism, and a life lived through art across time.”   “’Common as the Blues’: Queer Futurity and Pastoral Optimism in Derrick...

Coming into my internship experience at Boa Editions as a business student with no prior experience in publishing, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But over the course of my time here, I learned not only about the industry, but about the work and care that goes into running a non-profit arts organization. Every day brought something new to learn; whether it was helping log prize submissions for upcoming collections or understanding the behind-the-scenes operations that keep this independent press moving forward. The office itself quickly became one of my favorite places, with the sound of the heat clinking...

I spent most of the first day reading Lucille Clifton’s At the Gate, a collection I would write about for this blog in one of my favorite intern tasks. As I sat there reading, scribbling notes in a little tan notebook, I felt a kind of thawing: I was reinvigorated by Clifton’s work, and reminded how much I really want, and might actually need, to read poetry to feel alive and immersed in the world.

Positive Blatherings host Scott Fitzgerald interviews Boa Publisher and Executive Director, Peter Conners, in an episode entitled "The Deadhead Running the Poetry Press That Put Rochester on the Map". Peter discusses Boa's origins, his personal writing journey, 22 years working at Boa, digital poetry formats, and the future of independent literature. Watch Positive Blatherings on ROC Vox's YouTube here!