"Everything Tavern does is top shelf."

- The Huffington Post

about tavern books

Tavern Books is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit poetry publisher based in Portland, Oregon. We exist to print, promote, and preserve works of literary vision, to foster a climate of cultural preservation, and to disseminate books in a way that benefits the reading public. We are dedicated to publishing poetry in translation from around the world, republishing poetry collections that have fallen out of print, and championing the work of young female poets.

why we're different

We believe that books are more than words—that’s why all of our titles are issued in a beautifully designed, uniform series in both paperback and hardcover editions. Even though digital short-run printing, e-books, and print-on-demand platforms are markedly inexpensive alternatives to craft printing, we’ve chosen to offset print all of our full-length collections on Heidelberg printing presses here in the United States to create books that are exceptionally beautiful and a joy to hold. 

Poetry from the Welsh, the Arabic, the Swedish, the Hebrew! Poetry from too-long-overlooked masters. Epics! Haiku! All created with an old-fashioned sense of durable, high-quality design... and the promise to carry poetry in all of its glory into the newfangled future.

- albert goldbarth,
two-time national book critics circle award winner