PRESS PROFILES
MWC PRESS Ryan Collins, executive director MWCQC.ORG
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MWC had settled into its home at the library, the center began slowly looking for opportunities to publish the work that was being produced. “Once we got a physical location in 2003, we would do kind of sporadic publications, but there wasn’t necessarily an imprint,” Collins said. “Somebody would have an idea for a program and maybe there would be a publishing aspect to it. Eventually that coalesced into an actual press and trying to have some regular publications.” MWC Press puts out three to five titles a year. One of these titles is an annual literary magazine, The Atlas, which is a part of the summer internship program MWC hosts for 15-17 year olds. “For most of those kids, that’s their first publication,” Collins said. “Whether or not they continue with writing [to be published], we hope they just continue to write.” After all, encouraging people to write just for the sake of it is sort of what MWC does best—and it remains central to their mission. “I think a lot of people are like, ‘I like to write but I’m not a writer,’
508 PRESS Mackie Garrett, founder INSTAGRAM.COM/508PRESS
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ounded in 1979, the Midwest ackie Garrett, founder of Iowa Writing Center (MWC) was City’s 508 Press, started takcreated to provide a “permanent ing classes on the letterpress after home” for writers in the Quad receiving an invitation to an event Cities. MWC, the only literary arts at Public Space One by a colleague. nonprofit in the Quad Cities, boasts “I was at a point with professiona long tradition of uplifting local al changes where I felt a little adrift writers through resources, includin Iowa City and I started going to ing space for book signings, events poetry readings,” Garrett said. He and most recently, the addition of its had long been interested in the letvery own press. terpress and took his first class in “My uncle was one of the hopes of slowing down and getting co-founders of the writing center to know a new creative medium. “I way back when. There are a couple found it was an accessible art form of events that we still do that have as someone who isn’t trained as an been going on since [the beginartist.” ning],” MWC Executive Director Ryan Collins said. “Our annual Writers Conference, the original “I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LIKE, ‘I LIKE TO version of it, started in the mid WRITE BUT I’M NOT A WRITER,’ BECAUSE WHAT 1970s. And then we do a thing THEY ACTUALLY MEAN IS, ‘I’M NOT AN AUTHOR. called the Children’s Literature Festival, but we’ve been doing IT’S JUST SOMETHING THAT I DO,’” COLLINS SAID. that since the late ’70s. They had a “AND THEY SORT OF TREAT IT DISMISSIVELY. BUT group of writers and they just sort of coalesced around this idea of cre- WE THINK EVERYBODY’S A WRITER. AND WE’RE ating a space to support local writ- JUST TRYING TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO MAKE ers, to encourage people to do more WRITING A PART OF THEIR LIFE. writing.” Collins joined the board in 2001 when his uncle unexpectedly died. because what they actually mean is, The environment at Public Space After serving on the board for about ‘I’m not an author. It’s just some- One’s Iowa City Press Co-Op, 10 years, Collins decided to help thing that I do,’” Collins said. “And where he took his first three classes out in a part-time position. But he’s they sort of treat it dismissively. But in letterpress, led him to take more stayed on ever since and has only we think everybody’s a writer. And classes with the Paper and Book gained more responsibility as time we’re just trying to encourage peo- Intensive and, eventually, share his has gone on. ple to make writing a part of their new passion with others through Although the center has moved life. Because whether or not they’re 508 Press. around the Quad Cities throughout writing for publication, we believe 508 Press is an independent press its lifespan, it is currently located that there’s a lot to be gained from out of Iowa City that specializes in in the Rock Island Public Library, it—for mind, body, spirit.” small runs of often event-specific where it hosts consistent programpoetry. Garrett created a reading ming throughout the year. After —Lily DeTaeye series where he prints selections
of the poems and stories shared for the evening’s attendees. Every print is one-of-a-kind and functions as a souvenir. “I want a little roughness to it. I like print work that looks handmade and might have imperfections,” Garrett said. He started his reading series with broadsides in mind, saying he felt lucky that other poets were also “willing to take these opportunities to take poetry out of its traditional spaces.” The reading series usually includes visual and musical art as well. “The overall goal is to bring different—or thought of as different or separate—art forms together,” he said. The long-term goal is to return to the recording studio (the 508 Press house band, Antifahorn, has recorded with poets at Flat Black Studio) and pay artists for their contribution at the events. Everything about Garrett’s work at 508 is personal and based on the community in which he lives. His press is named for his grandmother’s address, where, he said, “I daydreamed of one day putting books in the world.” While he sells 508 Press publications at book and art fairs and social media, what’s most important to him is that the work is in the hands of someone who appreciates it. At many events, the printings are free or available on a sliding scale, and he loves to send work through the mail. “There’s something to doing a limited edition print of a single poem, something special to the archival quality,” Garrett said of preparing for a reading. “I write and I want to publish and print poetry that is accessible to people who might not be interested in it or have maybe had a bad experience with it in the past.” Garrett said he had been taught that one must either self-publish or be published on a large scale. “I wanted to put that aside and subscribe to both camps,” he said,”and I hope that in some way 508 can bring those two together. Those two different camps influence each other. I think you can have both.” —Sarah Elgatian
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