About The Backwaters Press
Founded in 1997, the Backwaters Press has published award-winning books by some of America’s finest writers. The University of Nebraska Press acquired the Backwaters Press in 2018, with its impressive backlist in poetry and prose that contributes to the cultural landscape of our state and region. As a general interest imprint of UNP, the Backwaters Press continues to plant it roots firmly in the Great Plains, delighting readers with literature of enduring value and consequence. Nebraska is proud to announce that titles under the Backwaters Press imprint will be available as ebooks as well.
The Backwaters Prize, an international poetry book competition, was initiated in 1998 and continues under the auspices of UNP. Contest winners are chosen by distinguished American poets; past judges include Hayden Carruth (winner of the National Book Award and the National Book Circle Critics Award), Philip Levine (National Book Award winner and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and Ted Kooser (Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner).
Visit the Backwaters Prize page for more information and a link to make an electronic submission.
Join our mailing list to receive updates about the prize competition and the Backwaters Press.
Support the Backwaters Press by joining Friends of UNP.
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From the UNP Blog
Excerpt: Starring Red Wing!
The following is an excerpt from Starring Red Wing! by Linda M. Waggoner (November 2019). She is also the author of Fire Light: The Life of Angel De Cora, Winnebago Artist. From Chapter 2: Ochsegahonegah at the Lincoln Institute It was a clear and unseasonably warm evening in Philadelphia on March 2, 1889, as the a [...]
From the Desk of Christopher Thornton: The Real Iran
Christopher Thornton is a professor of writing at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. He has worked as a special correspondent to the U.S. State Department’s International Information Program, writing feature stories on Arab and Muslim life in the United States for the department’s website. His essays on Iran [...]