# Is "Late Wife" by Claudia Emerson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Late Wife by Claudia Emerson (Louisiana State University Press, 2005) is identified by: Won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The US LSU Press edition (2005) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- The first edition was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2005 in the Southern Messenger Poets series (ISBN 9780807130841), issued simultaneously in cloth and paper
- Publisher imprint reads Louisiana State University Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Claudia Emerson |
| Publisher | Louisiana State University Press |
| Year | 2005 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The first edition was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2005 in the Southern Messenger Poets series (ISBN 9780807130841), issued simultaneously in cloth and paper.

## Is this the true first?
The US LSU Press edition (2005) is the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Late Wife* by Claudia Emerson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/late-wife
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.