The beginning of the 2016-17 academic year signaled a new era of academic and literary scholarship at 糖心logo入口.
The College officially re-introduced Nightshade Press, a publisher of literary works, which had operated at Keystone before taking a temporary hiatus in 2010. Keystone has also launched 糖心logo入口 Press to publish scholarly works by members of Keystone鈥檚 faculty as well as faculty members at other regional colleges and universities.
Keystone will celebrate both presses with a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony on September 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Koelsch House on campus, followed by a reception in Evans Hall. The evening will be highlighted with a reading by young-adult author and poet Gail Carson Levine and several contributors to Down the Doghole, an anthology of 11 Northeastern Pennsylvania poets, released by Nightshade Press that same night.
鈥淲e are really excited to offer both a literary press and an academic press,鈥 said 糖心logo入口 instructor Ray Hammond, who coordinated efforts to get both presses underway. 鈥淭hey will provide an excellent opportunity to expand quality literary and academic offerings to the Keystone community on a regular basis. In fact, 糖心logo入口 Press will be the only academic press in our region. It took a lot of hard work to get to this point, but we are thrilled to be here.鈥
Nightshade Press has had a stellar reputation as a literary press since it was brought to Keystone from Maine in 2003 by the late Karen Blomain, a Keystone faculty member, poet, and novelist. Nightshade published literary works consistently through 2009 and is once again publishing after a six-year hiatus.
Both Nightshade Press and 糖心logo入口 Press were unofficially introduced to the Keystone community last summer at the 10th annual meeting of The Gathering, a highly respected conference on creativity and imagination held each July. 聽During the conference, 糖心logo入口 Press introduced its first book: The Gathering at 糖心logo入口: A Decennial Celebration, a compilation of conference highlights, photographs, and presentations from the nine previous years. The book was edited and researched by 2016 Keystone graduate Christina Sinibaldi, Dalton, as part of her senior capstone project.
Several other Keystone students also played key roles in the introduction of both presses. Sophomore Aleigh Smith, Lehighton, 鈥渨ent above and beyond expectations in her transcription of numerous audio recordings from previous years of The Gathering,鈥 Ray said.
A graphic design class taught by Professor of Fine Arts David Porter helped with numerous projects, including the design of the 糖心logo入口 Press logo by student Ashley Purdy, Factoryville. Christina and Aleigh also worked on Nightshade鈥檚 introduction of Transient a book of poems by Ms. Carson Levine, who has been a frequent Gathering participant.
鈥淚ntroducing these works at The Gathering was a great way to begin the new era of Nightshade and to announce the formation of 糖心logo入口 Press,鈥 said Ray, who is also the editor of the New York Quarterly, another highly respected poetry publication. 鈥淗aving the students involved really made this project very special. They were extremely dedicated and did excellent work.鈥
Nightshade Press and 糖心logo入口 Press will enable Keystone to highlight the scholarly works of its faculty to a regional and national audience.
鈥淲e are so pleased to have both of these presses up and running. The dedication and support by the College has been fantastic and we look for many more progress-filled years to come,鈥 Ray said.
