Milkweed Editions is a nonprofit press that sets out to take risks on debut and experimental writers. Founded in 1980, they’ve published over 350 books of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, currently with over four million copies in circulation. They take their name from the common milkweed plant — the site of metamorphosis for monarch butterflies. Similarly, Milkweed Editions seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem.
Milkweed Editions seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem.
In 2014, Milkweed Editions organized more than 200 readings in four countries and 28 states, putting authors in dialogue with an estimated 15,000 individuals. They are increasingly focused on creative partnerships, with one representative example being from December 2014. Alison Hawthorne Deming, author of Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit, conducted a dialogue with a butterfly conservationist specialist, Cale Nordmeyer, at the Minnesota Zoo. Co-hosted by the Minnesota Zoo and Milkweed Editions, the afternoon reading and dialogue brought Zoologies to life off-the-page and explored how our relationships with animals fuel creativity, and how the health of one determines the richness of the other.
