Peter Conners | The Deadhead Running the Poetry Press That Put Rochester on the Map

Before Peter Conners ran one of America's most respected poetry presses, he was following the Grateful Dead across the country in a van.Conners is the Publisher and Executive Director of BOA Editions — a Rochester-based nonprofit that has quietly won Pulitzer Prizes, national awards, and the respect of the entire literary world for 50 years, while most Rochesterians have no idea it exists. He joins Fitz at ROC Vox to talk about how a self-described troublemaker from Sutherland High School ended up running an institution — and why, at its 50th anniversary, losing its federal funding isn't going to stop it.In this episode: BOA's controversial first book by a Pulitzer Prize winner no one else would publish, why nonprofit publishers are the only thing standing between the world and the end of new poetry, the brutal economics of audiobooks (sell 1,000 copies, make $100), and what a decade of sobriety taught Peter about what publishing is really for.CHAPTERS00:00 Welcome to Positive Blatherings00:56 Meet Peter Conners and BOA Editions02:18 The Founding Story: First Book to First Pulitzer07:44 Why Poetry Needs Nonprofit Publishers09:09 20 Years of Publishing's Digital Revolution13:28 The Hard Truth About Audiobook Economics18:28 From Troublemaker to Writer: Peter's Origin Story22:00 A Family Defined by Service25:20 How Peter Became BOA's Publisher31:49 Going Public: Writing His Own Story36:38 Sobriety, Recovery, and Giving Back42:05 BOA's Future: Surviving the NEA CutCONNECTBOA Editions → https://www.boaeditions.orgPeter Conners → https://www.peterconners.netGrowing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead → https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Dead-Hallucinated-Confessions/dp/0306817330Merch Table Blues → https://www.amazon.com/Merch-Table-Blues-Peter-Conners/dp/1945665319Box of Rain documentary → https://www.amazon.com/Grateful-Dead-Box-Rain/dp/B0D19TCPPMWriters & Books Rochester → https://wab.orgROC Vox → https://rocvox.comNew episodes every Tuesday.#BOAEditions #Poetry #IndependentPublishing #Rochester #RochesterNY #LiteraryPublishing #PoetryBooks #NonprofitArts #GratefulDead #PeterConners #PositiveBlatherings #ROCVox #Memoir #BookPublishing #IndependentPress #ArtsAdvocacy #SmallPress #WritingLife #AuthorInterview #BookCommunity #LiteraryWorld #ReadMorePoetry #RochesterArts #Deadhead #GratefulDeadCommunity #NEAFunding #PoetryLovers #WritersAndBooks #Sobriety #PublishingIndustry