Nomadic Press Receives Inaugural $10,000 Constellation Award

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses has announced that Nomadic Press, headquartered in Oakland, Calif., is the winner of the inaugural $10,000 Constellation Award.

The award, which honorts an independent literary press that is led by and/or champions the writing of people of color—including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals—for excellence in publishing, the Constellation Award was launched in 2021 by CLMP with the support of Penguin Random House, which will underwrite the award for its first two years. 

Established in 2011, Nomadic Press publishes 15 to 25 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction each year, including books for children, and aims to build community among artists and across disciplines through open workspaces and events. In 2022, the press will publish Martian: The Saint of Loneliness by James Cagney, which received the 2021 James Laughlin Award, given by the Academy of American Poets, as well as 22 additional books by authors of color.

An advisory panel helped establish the Constellation Award, and consisted of CLMP Board Members Beena Kamlani, author and freelance editor; Clarence Reynolds, director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College CUNY; and Deborah Paredez, author, cofounder of CantoMundo, and associate professor at Columbia University; as well as executive editor at Viking Penguin Ibrahim Ahmad; literary agent and publishing consultant Marie Brown; author, editor, and filmmaker Sandra Guzman; and poet and arts administrator Nicole Sealey.