Open Book

laboratory for experimentation, creation, presentation and exhibition;
•a catalyst to develop audiences for the book and literary arts;
•a launching pad for regional book and literary artists;
•a model of how the book and literary arts can assume their rightful place alongside the visual and performing arts in the public’s imagination;
•a learning institution for America’s book and literary arts fields. The three partner organizations are the national leaders in their fields, combining the principles of artistic excellence, education, youth development and public access into their award-winning programs. Targeted outreach to communities historically under-represented in the book and literary arts – people of color and residents of rural communities – is an important component of each organization’s operations. Open Book is fully accessible to artists and audiences with disabilities. The Loft Literary Center reaches over 600,000 Minnesotans annually. Each year the Loft enrolls writers and readers of all ages and at all levels of development in classes and workshops on poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, audience development, and the business of writing. Loft “alumni” have gone on to win fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Jerome, Bush, MacArthur and Lannan foundations. The Loft brings writers of international acclaim to Minnesota to educate, entertain and inspire, and has presented such renowned writers as John Irving, Rita Dove, Michael Ondaatje, Li-Young Lee, Margaret Atwood and Gordon Parks. Milkweed Editions releases up to 30 books each year that consistently garner excellent reviews in such publications as the New York Times Book Review, USA Today, Bloomsbury Review and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Milkweed authors have won the American Book Award and the Minnesota Book Award. Milkweed publishes fiction, memoir, nonfiction, juvenile fiction, and poetry. Minnesota Center for Book Arts reaches over 21,000 people annually through classes, workshops, and lectures for adults and children, exhibitions, public events, and Artists-in-Residence program, publications, and extensive youth programs. Courses and workshops annually enroll over 1,400 artists at all levels of development on topics ranging from Eastern and Western papermaking and binding, paper marbling, and Japanese paste printing, to relief and letterpress printing and lithography.