Collaboration and community are of primary importance to UDP. Below are a number of ways that we collaborate with, donate to, and otherwise support other organizations in and outside the literary field.
Public Programming
Our collaborators for public programming have included the following: Brooklyn Public Library, The Kitchen, CUNY Center for the Humanities, NYU Center for Experimental Humanities, Sunview Luncheonette, New York Public Library, The Poetry Project, Make Magazine, The Poetry Foundation, Woodland Pattern, Pierogi Gallery, Bureau Gallery, Wendy’s Subway, n+1, MoMA PS1, Printed Matter, San Francisco Poetry Center (SFSU), Wonder, Small Press Traffic, Coach House Books, Brown University, Wesleyan University, MIT Press Bookstore, Sector 2337, PEN America, Colta.ru.
Publishing Partners
We have co-published books with several presses and arts organizations, including: Primary Information, Siglio Press, Soberscove Press, The Bronx Museum of Art, and Stellar Projects.
Distribution Partnerships
UDP is proudly distributed by Asterism Books, an online bookstore and wholesale portal designed, built, and run by independent publishers.
In an effort to help members of its community, UDP has co-distributed some literary small presses, art gallery publications, and foreign publishers lacking distribution channels in the States, including:
53rd State Press, American Books, Bronx Museum, Ceratonia Siliqua Press, Cicada Press, Content, kookbooks, Koshka Press, Lightful Press, OEI, Sodear Press, Studioradia, Supermachine, There Press, Unbelievable Alligator, Vinea Press, Wasteland Press, Words Like Kudzu Press, Letra Muerte, Circadian, Trafficker, Racketeer Press.
In the same spirit, we took on the backlist of Trafficker Press when they closed up shop, to keep their productions available; in addition, we have been binding and assembly their uncompleted editions. Their beautiful chapbooks of contemporary poetry can be browsed and purchased through UDP’s online store by clicking here. Trafficker published chapbooks between 2007 and 2014, focusing on the work of emerging writers with few previous publications. Each book was designed by Andrew Kenower and edited and hand-bound with letterpressed covers by Erin Morrill. Nearly all of Trafficker Press’s chapbooks include interviews with the author conducted by the writer of the previous chapbook, creating dialogue among readers and writers.
Fiscal Sponsorships
UDP has acted as a fiscal sponsor to literary organizations in our community, including the following:
Young Artists Language & Devotion Alliance (YALDA) is a NYC-based summer literary intensive and publishing platform for young women authors ages 12-19. For one week each year, authors come to NYC to receive a letterpress apprenticeship with Ugly Duckling Presse, where they learn to design, print and bind their own chapbooks. Authors also participate in workshops and community-building events, culminating in a chapbook launch reading, all hosted by Poets House. YALDA is committed to keeping its summer program tuition-free; students are responsible for travel, room and board only, and one fellowship to cover these costs is offered to a student in need. YALDA is a one-woman labor of love, founded by poet Farnoosh Fathi, who works with students individually to develop their manuscripts for nine months each academic year. To donate to YALDA, click here.
Wonder Based in New York City and Oakland, Wonder is a small press that publishes innovative poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Its editors are Andrew Durbin, Ben Fama, and Trisha Low. View Wonder’s catalog here.
Wendy’s Subway Wendy’s Subway is a non-profit library and workspace located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. WS hosts a range of public programs, including interdisciplinary readings and screenings, talks and lectures, discussion and reading groups, writing workshops, and free courses. Its non-circulating library holds a collection of books and documents with a special focus on poetry, art, theory, and philosophy, as well as the Laurin Raiken Archive, an extensive resource for the study of art history and criticism. WS is operated by its membership of 30+ poets, curators, novelists, artists, and critics with an interest in hybrid forms and cross-disciplinary discourse. For more information about Wendy’s Subway, click here.
Book Donations
UDP has donated books to the following community libraries and nonprofit organizations: Aeromoto, The African Poetry Libraries Initiative, Bard Prison Initiative, The Baltimore Poetry Library, The Bay Area Public School, The Dragonfly: Poetry and Performance Ritual Space, The Free Black Women’s Library, Kunci Cultural Studies Center, The Loft Literary Center, Parachute Literary Arts, Poets House, The Poulin Project, Press Press, Sonoma County Library, and Wendy’s Subway.
UDP regularly gives donations of books and subscriptions to important causes, often to support literary non-profits. These have included: Belladonna*, The Poetry Project, Futurepoem, and Archipelago Books.
If you have a suggestion for an organization—a school, community library, reading room, or prison reading program—that would be interested in receiving donations of UDP books, please write to Daniel Owen: daniel@uglyducklingpresse.org.
Library Partnerships
UDP is proud to partner with the New York Public Library to collect and archive chapbooks, small-print periodicals, avant-garde zines, and hand-bound books from readings, book fairs, and shops worldwide. As of 2019, the collection spans more than a thousand items, documenting small press activity from the end of the 20th century to the present. Other Presses, Other Places, an exhibit in the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, showcases selected items from the collection. UDP continues to work with NYPL to grow the collection.