Carmen Gimenez is the new Executive Director/Publisher of Greywolf Press. The announcement was made Thursday by the Minneapolis-based literary press, one of the nation’s most high-profile.
Gimenez replaces Fiona McCray, who retired in June after handling the press for 28 years. The new director is a gay Latinx poet and editor, founder and current publisher of Noemi Press, a non-profit literary arts organization and publisher based in Blacksburg, Va., and has been Professor of English in Virginia Tech’s MFA program in creative writing since 2017 . ,
Greywolf Board Member and Search Committee Chair Kathleen Bow said in a statement: “We are honored that Carmen Jimenez will be Greywolf’s next Executive Director and Publisher. I, whose experience and passion for publishing will expand Greywolf’s strong reputation in new and exciting directions. As we got to know her, we felt like Carmen was preparing for this role all her life.”
In 2019 Greywolf published Gimenez’s most recent poetry collection, “Be Recorder,” a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry, the Penn Open Book Award, the Audrey Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She is the author of five other poetry collections as well as the lyric memoir “Bring Down the Little Birds”, winner of the American Book Award.
Announcing his appointment, Gimenez said Greywolf has been an important force in literature and as a mission-driven organization under the leadership of the transformational MacRae: “I hope we continue to build on that legacy, while taking risks. Keeping up, connecting directly with the present moment, and serving our local, national and international community of readers and writers.”
Gimenez will join Greywolf on August 8.
