Founded in Minnesota in 1979 by Emilie Buchwald and R.W. Scholes, Milkweed Editions is one of the nation's leading independent, nonprofit literary publishers, releasing twelve to twenty new books each year in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In addition, we are one of two nonprofit presses that publish children’s literature. We also have a special focus for much of our nonfiction: books in The World As Home program explore our relationship to the natural world.

MISSION

Milkweed Editions publishes with the intention of making a humane impact on society, in the belief that literature is a transformative art uniquely able to convey the essential experiences of the human heart and spirit. To that end, Milkweed publishes distinctive voices of literary merit in handsomely designed, visually dynamic books, exploring the ethical, cultural, and esthetic issues that free societies need continually to address.

ORGANIZATION GOALS

• To offer readers books that enlarge their view of the world.
• To provide a wealth of cultural perspectives as well as a necessary place for independent thinking, reflection, and engagement in an increasingly consolidated culture.
• To publish new literary work by emerging and established writers, work that gives readers access to the richness, vitality, and possibilities for expression afforded by the written word.
• To build and engage a community of readers.    
  
• To seek neglected audiences through outreach activities.
• To maintain standards of editing, production, and promotion that are becoming increasingly rare in the trade publishing world. The press devotes individual attention to each book it publishes.
• To keep worthy books in print, giving readers time to discover authors and their ideas.

PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Publishing Program
Milkweed publishes books its editors believe have the potential to become a part of our cultural legacy, books that matter enough to survive over time. Milkweed’s strategic vision is to make quality literary publishing integral to the vitality of our regional and national cultural lives, reader by reader.

Fiction and Poetry
Milkweed is committed to the highest editorial and production standards and to publishing the best novels, short stories, and poetry being written today by emerging and established writers.

The World As Home
The nonfiction publishing initiative of Milkweed Editions, the World As Home, includes a wide variety of books that share a focus on the ethical, cultural, and esthetic dimensions of our relationship to the natural world.

Fiction for Young Readers
In 1993 Milkweed launched its young readers program to bring the very best writing to children in the middle grades, with the goal of nurturing lifelong readers.

Nonfiction
Over the course of twenty-five years, Milkweed has published a variety of nonfiction, including books by such writers as Bill Holm, Carol Bly, and Miroslav Holub, as well as anthologies or single-author works on such topics as education, sexuality and women’s issues, and the environment. Much of Milkweed’s recent nonfiction has been within The World As Home publishing program.

Milkweed in the Community
Milkweed plays an important role in the area’s cultural life, providing programs for readers of many ages and helping establish the Twin Cities as one of the nation’s foremost centers for the literary arts.

Open Book
Milkweed Editions is one of three founding tenants of Open Book, a center for book and literary arts unique in the country that opened in 2000. In addition to housing the offices of the founding tenants (Milkweed Editions, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, The Loft Literary Center), Open Book is a gathering place and programming center for literary arts.

Alliance for Reading
For nearly ten years, Milkweed Editions has worked with a core group of Twin Cities schools on activities that promote reading and the literary arts, particularly in schools in which a majority of students receive subsidized breakfasts or lunches.

Reaching Readers
With this program, supported through a percentage of revenues from book sales at select events and through other funding, we provide books to readers who otherwise would not have access to them, including readers in prisons, at shelters, in underprivileged schools, to rural libraries, and other places where good books are badly needed.

Intern Program
Milkweed’s comprehensive publishing internship program draws students from colleges and universities throughout Minnesota as well as experienced professionals exploring a change in career. The highly competitive three-month program has developed a local and regional reputation as the best place for those considering a publishing career to get hands-on experience in all aspects of literary publishing—editorial, production, marketing, development, and administration.

Milkweed’s authors come from Minnesota and around the world. Today more than one million Milkweed books are in circulation. Our books have received more than 190 awards and special designations, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry, two American Book Awards, the Liberatur Prize for Fiction, seven New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, and ten Minnesota Book Awards. Milkweed’s mission, which combines an emphasis on the literary arts with a concern for the fabric of society, has led us to be active in our community in ways that demonstrate the social relevance of literary writing.