Print Town book launch: Brattleboro Words Project

Join us online as we celebrate the official launch of Print Town: Brattleboro’s Legacy of Words on Tuesday, December 9, 2020

“Brattleboro is a book town. I knew it then, and after seventeen years living here I know it still,” radio personality and author Tom Bodett reflects about his first visit to Brattleboro in his foreword to the new book, Print Town: Brattleboro’s Legacy of Words. The book’s publication, a culminating product of the Brattleboro Words Project, will be celebrated and discussed in a public Zoom Launch on December 9, 2020 at 7:00 pm. Registration for the event and specially numbered and signed copies of the book are available for purchase online at http://brattleborowords.org/

Everyone is encouraged to join the Zoom Launch led by members of the Brattleboro Words Project Book Committee. The first half of the launch will be moderated by Print Town Art Editor Stephanie Greene, a local writer whose parents founded and ran Brattleboro’s famed Stephen Greene Press, along with Print Town Editor Michael Fleming, a freelance writer and longtime editor of Norton literary anthologies, and Print Town Designer James F. Brisson, an internationally acclaimed book and graphic designer.

The second half of the launch, hosted by Write Action board member Andy Burrows, will celebrate the contributions of the 32 writers who contributed 26 chapters and multiple, colorful sidebars to the lively and entertaining 285-page book. All writers and members of the Brattleboro Words Project Book Committee directing the work over the past several years are listed below.

“Brattleboro has been renowned as ‘Print Town’ for more than a century. In its publishing heyday, Brattleboro had a reputation for producing a larger volume of printing per capita than any other town in the world,” says Fleming, a Brattleboro resident who knew little about this ‘remarkable’ history before editing the book. “Throughout much of the twentieth century, printing was far and away Brattleboro’s most important industry and largest employer. There are Brattleboro-printed books in every literate household in America. And Brattleboro’s literary legacy lives on today as our little town continues to draw an amazing number of publishers, editors, and writers.”

Greene, Fleming and Brisson will open the Zoom event discussing the excitement and challenges inherent in wrangling authors and gathering hundreds of images to illuminate Brattleboro’s storied past. Following their opening, Burrows will lead a celebration of all authors who helped shape this telling of Brattleboro’s unique story – from Joe Rivers and Rich Holschuh’s reflections on native Abenaki communication to John Hooper’s personal account on the evolution of the Brattleboro Reformer, and each of the 29 other authors and their contributions.

Each of the 450 first-run copies of Print Town that Brattleboro’s Howard Printing is producing at this time will be hand-numbered and personally signed by Print Town designer Brisson. Book launch attendees who purchase a copy of the book online at brattleborowords.org  before December 10 will be entered in a random drawing to have their book be one of the “low numbered” copies:  Lucky #10!  “Having the books numbered and signed by Jim turns something that was already really special into a true collector’s item,” says Jen Austin, Executive and Creative Director of the Brattleboro Words Project, which has overseen the development and production of Print Town.

“Print Town will satisfy historians, print buffs and the general public alike,” says Brisson. “It is a treasure trove of history and hidden creative talent that provides rare, insightful, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the people and businesses that have greatly influenced Brattleboro’s publishing legacy.”

“Print Town is a sumptuously illustrated exploration of local stories encompassing over 300 years of writers, printers, publishers, and wordsmiths,” says Greene.  “In addition to the many contributions from local collectors and history buffs who donated vintage photos and ephemera, local artists Stu Copans, Ezra Distler, John Dimick, and Elizabeth Ungerleider also created original illustrations for Print Town.”

Print Town, a publication of the Vermont Historical Society, is being printed locally by Howard Printing, Inc. “What an honor and a thrill for us… We are proud to be participating in this celebration of Brattleboro’s rich and remarkable heritage in the printing and publishing industry,” says Greg Howard, owner of Howard Printing.

Members of the Brattleboro Words Project Book Committee who oversaw development of the book over the past several years are: Jen Austin, Andy Burrows, Arlene Distler, Stephanie Greene, Mary Ide and Rolf Parker-Houghton. Mary Ide and Stephanie Greene also curated two exhibits at Brooks Memorial Library on Brattleboro’s print and publishing history as part of the Brattleboro Words Project leading up to the book’s publication.

Print Town’s authors are: Robert R. Anderson, Judy Ashkenaz, Jen Austin, Benson Bobrick, Tom Bodett, James F. Brisson, Arthur A, Burrows, Marshall Brooks, Dede Cummings, Arlene Distler, Julia Ferrari, Charles Fish, Michael Fleming, Castle Freeman, Shanta Lee Gander, Christina Gibbons, Stephanie Greene, Chris Grotke, Rich Holschuh, Jacqueline Patterson Hooper, John Rice Hooper, Mary Ide, Lise LePage, Joyce Marcel, Don McLean, Steve Minkin, Nancy A. Olson, Rolf Parker-Houghton, Joe Rivers, Bill Soucy, Lissa Weinmann, and Richard M. Wizansky.

Produced as part of the Brattleboro Words Project, it has taken over three years to develop Print Town thanks to the generous investments of time, energy, and financing from many in our community, including Thompson Trust, the Crosby-Gannett Fund, Dunham-Mason Fund, Chroma Technology and the support of a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Brattleboro Words Project is a collaboration of  multiple local organizations: Brattleboro Historical Society, Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro Literary Festival, Write Action, and Marlboro College. In addition to Print Town, the Project is producing the Brattleboro Words Trail, to be launched on December 15, 2020, and an accompanying exhibit and artwork by local artist Cynthia Parker-Houghton, currently on display at Brattleboro Museum and Art Center until February 14, 2021.

To buy the book online, register for the book launch, and find information on local bookstores and other locations to buy it in-person, visit: brattleborowords.org