Founded in 1996, Bear Star is committed to publishing the best writing it can attract from the Mountain and Pacific time zones, as well as Alaska and Hawaii. The west abounds in first-rate writers, and we are proud to be part of the poetry renaissance occurring here now. Each year we award the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize ($1,000 and publication) to a writer from the region.

Eleanor, Eleanor, not your real name by Kathryn Cowles 2008 winner of The Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize. [Full Details]

Coming November 1 The Solipsist, a chapbook by Troy Jollimore, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry for Tom Thomson in Purgatory (MARGIE / IntuiT House). Fifteen new poems, including four Tom Thomson poems.

Bear Stars at the Bowery! (during AWP in NYC, February 2008) Albert Garcia, Molly Tenenbaum, Rick Bursky, and Deborah Woodard Click image to view enlargement

There are many things you can do to help sustain small presses such as Bear Star. For starters, try to avoid shopping the chains, which are far less likely than independent bookstores to champion new writers and small presses. Give books as gifts. Spread word of our annual competition to other poets. Send us a few stamps. It all helps!
Try to avoid shopping the chains