Faculty Profile: Stephanie G’Schwind

Before joining the Center for Literary Publishing, Stephanie G’Schwind worked as a copyeditor at Group Publishing and then as senior production assistant and freelance copyeditor at Indiana University Press. As director of the Center, she is editor of Colorado Review and the Colorado Prize for Poetry Series, and directs an internship that trains graduate-student interns in basic publishing skills.

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Describe a typical day at Colorado Review. I answer a LOT of email: from current authors, previous authors, printers, advertisers, subscribers, interns, former interns, colleagues. Every day is different, but the one thing I can count on is answering email. Otherwise, I might read a few submissions, maybe discuss some of them with interns. I might edit a manuscript. I might teach someone how to copyedit or typeset. I might design a book cover or an ad, or teach an intern how to do that. I might send out some contracts.  I might send out fundraising letters (or thank you notes for funds raised). I might write a grant. Generally, my time is divided between publishing and teaching publishing. I love it.

What was the last really great book you read? The Lost Daughter, by Elena Ferrante.

What advice would you give a student who is interested in pursuing literary publishing? How did you become interested in publishing? Do an internship! Then do another internship. And do some research: If you know someone who works in publishing, ask to sit down with them and have a conversation about their experience and see if they have any advice. If you don’t know anyone who works in publishing, ask your parents, aunts/uncles, friends, neighbors, professors if they know someone who might be willing to talk with you.

I was always interested in publishing, but did not, unfortunately, take the advice above. I stumbled into it after graduate school when I took a temp position at Group Publishing in Loveland. My first job was to keyboard manuscripts into a tiny little Mac—manuscripts that had been typed on typewriters. I was so excited—I was working in publishing! After a few weeks, the head of the books department invited me to apply for a position as a copyeditor, and I was hired a couple of weeks later. And that’s how I got into publishing.

What is the best part about your job? Letting an author know I’d like to publish her story/essay/book. I have to say no way too often in this job (and I’m not very good at that), so saying yes feels really great. It also makes me super happy when former interns find jobs they love using some of the skills they’ve learned at the Center.

Who was the last great voice in literature you discovered through your work at Colorado Review? In the most recent issue, Summer 2014, we published a beautiful essay, “Natural Forces,” by Liza Cochran, who writes about depression, addiction, and finding one’s higher power in the natural world. You can read it here.

What would you like to see happen in the next few years in your work?  In May, we published our first nonfiction anthology, Man in the Moon: Essays on Fathers & Fatherhood. Depending on how that sells, I’d like to put together another nonfiction anthology. Maybe one on names and naming? Maybe one on photos and photography? But I’m still catching my breath after the first one!

Center for Literary Publishing Update

The Center for Literary Publishing (CLP) is home of Colorado Review (CR), the Colorado Prize for Poetry, the Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction, The Mountain West Poetry Series, the Series in Contemporary Fiction, and Bonfire Press. The CLP’s mission is two-fold: to publish contemporary short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction and to offer graduate students opportunities to learn about and participate in literary publishing through a professional internship.

At the English department meeting the Friday before classes started, Stephanie G’Schwind gave an update on what’s been happening at the CLP. G’Schwind is the Director of the Center for Literary Publishing and Editor of Colorado Review. The CLP had an exciting and productive 2013-2014 academic year.

• The CLP had 23 interns, graduate students from the English department — 18 from the M.F.A. program, four from Creative Nonfiction, and one from Literature. (Read more about the internship here).

• Published three issues of Colorado Review.

• Published a Colorado Prize for Poetry winner.

• Published two new books in the Mountain West Poetry Series.

• Published a Nonfiction Anthology of essays about fathers and fatherhood.

• Received an NEA grant of $10,000 which supported publication of two Mountain West Poetry titles: The Logan Notebooks and Songs (forthcoming November 2014) and author payments for Colorado Review Spring 2014.

• CLP books (but not Colorado Review) are marketed and distributed by the University Press of Colorado. They are available through UPC, Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, and others.

• Colorado Review is entering its second year with Project MUSE. Through MUSE, CR is available in 2,518 libraries: 1121 in US & Canada, 1,397 international. Total subscriptions: 3,553.

Looking ahead to the 2014-2015 academic year, the CLP has 24 interns — 18 from the M.F.A. program, four from Creative Nonfiction, and two from Literature. The CLP is very pleased to have hired third-year M.F.A. (poetry) student Drew Webster as its managing editor for 2014-15. The CLP plans to publish three issues of Colorado Review and two Mountain West Poetry Series books, the winning Colorado Prize for Poetry book, as well as award and publish the winning story from the Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction. They await word on NEA funding for 2015.

Center for Literary Publishing Awarded $10,000 Grant

Stephanie G’Schwind, director of CLP and editor of Colorado Review, is happy to report that the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a $10,000 grant to the Center for Literary Publishing.

The grant will support the publication of two more titles in the Mountain West Poetry Series (Rebecca Lindenberg’s Logan Notebooks, forthcoming June 2014, and Derek Henderson’s Songs, forthcoming November 2014), as well as payments to Colorado Review authors.

Ms. G’Schwind says, “As a teaching press — the only one of its kind in Colorado — we are passionate about providing students an environment in which to learn about and participate in small press publishing. By doing this, we are feeding the literary ecosystem, training the next generation of editors.”