BRATTLEBORO — Print Town, Brattleboro's Legacy of Words, a product of the Brattleboro Words Project, has won the Indie Next Generation Award for Best Overall Design-Nonfiction and is also a finalist in the Historical Nonfiction Award category, given by the Independent Book Publishers Association, the largest publishing trade organization in the United States.
The book was designed by James F. Brisson, edited by Michael Fleming, with Stephanie Greene serving as Art Editor. It was printed by Howard Printing, Inc. in Brattleboro. More than 30 local writers and artists contributed work to this lively celebration of local printing, publishing, and literary history. The prize will be awarded at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 24.
“Print Town has been a labor of love for all who participated. It was well written, well edited, and offered a sumptuous assortment of pertinent and exciting images. Print Town was a book designer's dream come true to work on,” Brisson said.
“For more than two centuries, Brattleboro, Vermont, has been an important center for papermaking, printing, and publishing,” Fleming said. “Print Town, a collaborative project of dozens of local writers, editors, and book designers, is the embodiment of Brattleboro's historical role, and we're thrilled that our effort to continue Brattleboro's treasured legacy of words has been recognized with this award.”
Print Town can be ordered through its current publisher, the Vermont Historical Society at bit.ly/665-print, or can be purchased for $40 at Everyone's Books in Brattleboro. Copies are also available at Brooks Memorial Library and other libraries around the state.
Print Town was produced over a three-year period by the Brattleboro Words Project (aka People, Places and History of Words in Brattleboro, Vermont) which was supported by a four-year National Endowment for the Humanities matching grant with help from the Thomas Thompson Trust, Crosby-Gannett Fund, Dunham-Mason Fund, and many individual donations.
The project was led by the Brattleboro Historical Society, the Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brooks Memorial Library, Write Action, and Marlboro College. The Brattleboro Words Project also produced the Brattleboro Words Trail, a free app featuring audio stories linked to places in and around Brattleboro, which won the Hathaway Award for best history project in Vermont in 2021.
The trail continues to grow, led by a five-person advisory team under the auspices of the Vermont Folklife Center. The trail will be featured on the outside wall of the new Brattleboro Amtrak station in 2023. For more information, or to learn how to help create audio stories for the trail, contact brattleborowords@gmail.com.