Northern Nevada never may be a
threat to New York's hegemony in the
world of publishing, yet the region has
an interesting enclave of publishers.
The local scene comprises a handful
of eclectic publishers, from children
book and newspaper publisher Juniper
Creek Publishing to Black Rock Press,
part of the state university system and
publisher of fine art limited editions and
other commercial books.
Most of the region's publishers will be
exhibiting at the sixth annual Great
Basin Book Festival this week at various
locations in Reno, including an all-day
event at Wingfield Park on Saturday.
University of Nevada Press, in Reno,
will be there with several new titles,
including "Playa Works: The Myth of
the Empty," a non-fiction book on dry
lake beds by William L. Fox, and
"Between Grass and Sky:Where I Live
and Work," a book of personal essays on
ranching by Linda M. Hasselstrom. It
also will be sponsoring an event on western
women writers, featuring
Hasselstrom and other local authors, on
Wednesday at the McKinley Arts and
Culture Center.
The press was founded in 1961 by
popular Nevada author Robert Laxalt.
(The press has available about 10 Laxalt
books, including a paperback version of
his second book, "A Man in the Wheat
Field," that it will publish this fall.) The
press is a not-for-profit and reports to
the chancellor of the university system.
Its mission, said Ron Latimer, director,
"is to publish scholarly works of merit
and regional books on Nevada, the Great
Basin and the west."
The press publishes about 25 books a
year, according to Latimer, under several
series, including ones on Basque fiction
forprofit
and part of the state university
system. "We are not that different than
the university press but our focus is more
expanded," said Bob Blesse, director. By
that Blesse means Black Rock, established
in 1965, publishes all types of
books, not only ones of regional interest.
But it only releases two to three books
a year. That's because it publishes limited
editions that are difficult and time-consuming
to produce. At the
festival it will feature a new commercial
book, "Blood Sister, I Am to These
Fields," a book of poetry by Linda Hussa.
Black Rock also teaches a UNR class
on book arts, which covers typography,
bookbinding, paper decoration and
other aspects of old-style book printing.
It also has three 19th century hand
presses that use handset type and several
rare books, including one on the history
of Roman popes and kings printed
in 1478. Both the books and the presses
are open to the public.
In the for-profit world - albeit small
profit, if they're lucky - are a handful of
local publishers that produce everything
from a childrens' newspaper to
greeting cards.
Juniper Creek was founded by Ellen
Hopkins and Virginia Castleman, two
children's books authors, as a way to
publish books on regional topics that
other publishers passed on. But before
they knew it, the pair was producing
Three Leaping Frogs, a semimonthly
newspaper geared to kids in third
through sixth grades. Its sponsored by
Greater Nevada Credit Union, Sundance
Books, Mogul Mouse ski shop and others,
which pays for its $2,500 printing
and design costs. Still, "it's a labor of
love," said Hopkins.
The newspaper is distributed for free
to schools in most northern Nevada
counties. Since its inception, the
newspaper has doubled in size and distribution.
"We started sending it to Ely
and hope to push into rural counties,"
said Hopkins.
Juniper Creek also hopes to take the
newspaper monthly and to follow up its
success with a second newspaper -
Tadpole Tales - targeted at kindergarten
through second grade.
In the meantime, Juniper Creek will
be showing at the festival its first book,
the upcoming "All For Our Country,
Check Out Nevada," a 48-page non-fiction
book on Nevada for children aged
eight to 12. From that, the publisher
plans to spin out separate books based
on each of the book's chapters, such as a
book on women in Nevada. Then
Juniper Creek hopes to print a book
featuring the photography of Laura Read
that it plans to market to schools,
libraries and museums, and another
book on Nevada prehistory for middlegrade
students.
PJW Publishing will be at the festival
with a line of greeting cards created from
family photographs and writings of the
press' owner, Pat West. "When my sister
battled cancer 13 years ago I needed to
develop something else, a line of cards
when 'get well' isn't enough," said West.
Her line of cards are called "In other
words" and are direct marketed to hospital
gift shops and boutique stores, as well
as featured at the American Cancer
Society's biggest local fundraising event,
Relay for Life. Next,West plans to market
the cards at an industry trade show
in January and into airport gift stores.
West, who says product sales have so
far covered her publishing costs, also
produces a series of five real estate
brochures for Century 21 Clark
Properties in Minden.
Another project closer to her heart is
a series of so-called chap books - small
chapter books consisting of about 38
pages - that she hopes to start publishing
in a year. The books will be based on
memoirs written by Carson Valley residents
through a writing course at
Western Nevada Community College.
The Great Basin Book Festival runs
Wednesday through Saturday and features
a keynote speech by Ernest
Gaines, author of "A Lesson Before
Dying," the book chosen by Read
Washoe Read program and the subject
of reading group events all over the city
this month.
