Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Iowa, is launching a small publishing operation in conjunction with the University of Iowa, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Prairie Lights will act as publisher, and the press will produce, design and distribute books.
Prairie Lights will publish a few books a year and likely emphasize fiction, poetry and literary nonfiction. The first books include Sweet Will, a collection of poems by Philip Levine, recent Poet Laureate of the United States and a university alumnus, and Coming Close, a collection of work by Levine's colleagues and students.
Prairie Lights co-owner Jan Weissmiller said that the idea for the publishing operation came during a conversation with University of Iowa Press director Jim McCoy. "We were just talking about challenges to bookstores and we both sort of thought of it simultaneously," Weissmiller told the paper. "What do bookstores do in this era of e-books and online buying?"
