Ugly Duckling Presse is a nonprofit publisher for poetry, translation, experimental nonfiction, performance texts, and books by artists. Through the efforts of a volunteer editorial collective, UDP was transformed from a 1990s zine into a mission-driven small press that has published more than 400 titles to date, and produced countless prints and ephemera.
Our publications have been recipients of the Lambda Literary Award, the Whiting Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Big Other Book Award, the Bisexual Book Award, the Firecracker Award, the Anna Rabinowitz Award, the Best Translated Book Award, and the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.
UDP favors emerging, international, and “forgotten” writers, and its books, chapbooks, artist’s books, broadsides, and periodicals often contain handmade elements, calling attention to the labor and history of bookmaking. As a press, we are committed to keeping publications in circulation with our online archive of out-of-print chapbooks and our digital proofs program.
In all of our activities, UDP endeavors to create an experience of art free of expectation, coercion, and utility.
The UDP studio—located at The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus, Brooklyn) since 2006 — serves as nonprofit headquarters, editorial office, and letterpress workshop. We also offer and host seminars, writing workshops, site tours, poetry readings, class visits, and specially-tailored book arts classes for high school, college, and graduate students. To enquire about arranging classes and site visits, please email [email protected]
Apprenticeships, internships, and other volunteer opportunities are available by application. For more information please visit our opportunities page.
To browse our publications online, click here. For a PDF of our print catalog, see below. To request a print catalog, email [email protected].