New Rivers Press Serves Students, Campus and Literary World
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estled in a comfortable, slightly cramped den in Weld Hall is one of MSUM’s best-kept secrets. It goes about its work quietly, but draws national attention each fall when its work emerges into the world, often winning awards. One of just two teaching presses in the country, New Rivers Press (NRP) selects imaginatively written novels, short story collections, literary nonfiction and poetry by emerging and established authors, packages that prose into beautifully designed books, and at the same time grooms English and mass communications graduates for careers in publishing.
oversees the screening of manuscripts, and Suzzanne Kelley, managing editor, assists students with editing. The press is a model of interdepartmental cooperation, collaboration and integration. The activities of the press and its related curriculum dovetail with the school’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, and integrate accounting, art and graphic design, English, marketing, mass communications, promotions and website development classes. The Art & Design Department has an especially close relationship with the press. Every summer, Allen Sheets,
> MSUM graphic design students and sisters Amber (L) and Alyssa (R) Nelson created the cover and interior for The Muse of Ocean Parkway, published this fall by NRP. This semester, these talented designers are working as interns at Food Network Magazine and Redbook Magazine in New York. They credit the real-world experience they gained at NRP for these coveted internships.
> The 2011 releases from New Rivers Press.
Founded in 1968 by C. W. “Bill” Truesdale, the not-for-profit press has published more than 330 books, first from New York, later from Minneapolis and since 2001, from its home on the MSUM campus. Each year, graduate and undergraduate students interested in the business of publishing enroll in the Introduction to Publishing and the Practicum in Publishing courses. When successfully completed, they earn a certificate in publishing. The coursework covers every aspect of small-press publishing, including editing, marketing, public relations and sales. Professor of English and NRP senior editor Al Davis
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Alumnews Spring 2012
NRP art director and graphic design professor, selects several senior art and design students to design the books chosen for publication, including the covers and interior pages. In 2009, three MSUM graphic design students won American Inhouse Design Awards for Excellence, garnering national attention for the press. A year later, two students received the same award for the cover and interior designs they produced. New Rivers Press titles have been reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. > REBECCA SUNDET-SCHOENWALD
Davis and Kelley hope to produce a hardcover edition of author Clint McCown’s book, Haints, next fall, who twice won the American Fiction Prize and received three nominations for the Pulitzer Prize, sought out NRP after learning that last year’s novel, Girl Held In Home by Elizabeth Searle, is a product of NRP. To publish Haints as a hardcover (most NRP books are high-quality soft-covers), Davis and Kelley must raise $4,000. Interested donors should contact Davis at 218.477.4681, or Kelley at 218.477.5870. Donors who make a tax-deductible contribution of $1,000 or more to the project become members of the Publisher’s Circle, and receive benefits and recognition as primary donors on the copyright page.