Hastings College Press

All titles for Hastings College Press are produced by students in classes and internships at Hastings College. Students have the opportunity to learn about all stages of book publishing, from acquisitions to binding and distribution.

Our mission is to encourage regional study in the United States while providing training and professional internship opportunities for Hastings College students who are interested in publishing as a profession.

Student Opportunities

WRIT 234 Book Production

Want to see what this publishing thing is all about? Try the following courses:

WRIT 234 Book Production is a great introduction to publishing. In this course, you’ll learn the fundamental skills of contemporary typesetting, page layout, and proofreading. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with Bertie, our trusty book-binding machine. (Students will need a student subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud.)
WRIT 281 Literary Magazines is a combined creative writing and publishing course. In the first part of the course, you will create creative content for a literary magazine. The second part of the course includes the study of popular literary magazines and the production of our own literary magazines. (Students will need a student subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud.)

Internships

Interested in an internship with HC Press? Students have the opportunity to customize their internship experience and may focus on copy editing, book design, cover design, and marketing. The following titles were all produced by students in internships:

Best Nebraska Teen Writing 2024, vol. 2

Hastings College, an Affiliate Partner of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, invited students age 13 and above from all 93 counties within the state of Nebraska to submit their writing for the 2023 Nebraska Scholastic Writing Awards. The original work featured in Volume 2 showcases the creativity of our Honorable Mention award recipients.

Taylor Beierman • Eve Bishop • Victoria Bogatz • Katie Bough • Erinn Briggs • Ana Brock • Ana Carson • Madalyn Croteau • Rebekah Daily • Claire Davis • Darbie deFreese • Kimmy Findeis • Jocelyn Huang • Ainsley LaHolt • Marcus Luevano • Magnolia Moriarty • Katelyn Omer • Jay Peters • Kenna Pfeifer • Lilly Pfeilsticker • Sam Rogers • Jihye Seo • Lily Thompson • Priscilla Ton • Cassandra Wong

ISBN 978-1-942885-93-1 | paperback | 144 pages | $15.00

Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Ava Brackhan
typesetting and proofreading

The Shining Road (2022)

Carolyn Renfrew

Introduction by

Patricia Oman et al.

Set in the decades immediately before and after WWI, Carolyn Renfrew’s The Shining Road traces the disappointments and triumphs of Nadia Evertson, a young aspiring writer from the fictional town of Marshall, Nebraska. Unappreciated in her hometown and by her selfish siblings, Nadia tries to write literature that will inspire readers to see beyond the material hedonism of the Jazz Age to the more fulfilling promises of the spiritual world. Never before published, this novel, written in the 1920s or 1930s, has been produced from the author’s typescript, which is located in the Adams County Historical Society archives in Hastings, Nebraska.

ISBN 978-1-942885-70-2 | paperback | 356 pages | $19.99

Buy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Leah Smith
archival sourcing
of manuscript

Abbie Shaw
copy editing

Letters to an Aspiring Scholar (2022)

Christopher M. Strickland

Part artistic memoir and part academic memoir, Letters to an Aspiring Scholar is an invaluable source for graduate students and other young scholars. Drawing from his background as an artist-educator and his own experiences writing a PhD dissertation, Dr. Christopher M. Strickland gives young scholars practical advice for creating daily routines and generating ideas for completing a long research project.

Christopher M. Strickland, PhD, is an artist, educator, autoethnographic and arts-based researcher, and creativity and educational consultant. His work encompasses the arts and creativity, visual literacy, interdisciplinary curriculum design, and culturally responsive teaching. Prior to moving to Nebraska and joining the faculty at Hastings College, he lived in New England and taught K–12 visual arts education in New Hampshire.

ISBN 978-1-942885-83-2 | paperback | 168 pages | $23.99

Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Lyette Erin
copy editing, design, and typesetting

Kings Row (1940)

Henry Bellamann

Introduction by

Rachael Price

Insanity. Promiscuity. Incest. Murder. Abuse. The small town of Kings Row has many dark secrets. Parris Mitchell, the sensitive young protagonist of Henry Bellamann’s 1940 novel Kings Row, just wants to survive the gossip and violence of small-town life in America at the turn of the twentieth century.

ISBN 978-1-942885-84-9 | paperback | 528 pages | $24.99

Buy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Taylor Lipinski
typesetting

Jora Jackson-Brown
proofreading

Madge Vertner (1859–1860)

Mattie Griffith

Introduction by Holly Kent

This edition of Madge Vertner was produced with the assistance of Accessible Archives.

Mattie Griffith’s pre–Civil War abolitionist novel Madge Vertner is a fictional portrait of American slavery told from the perspective of the young daughter of a wealthy southern slave owner. Originally serialized from 1859 to 1860 in the National Anti-Slavery Standard, a weekly abolitionist newspaper edited by Lydia Maria Child, it has never been published in novel form until now. Madge Vertner not only reveals the brutality and horror of slavery, but also raises many questions of race, gender, and equality that still resonate in American society today.

ISBN 978-1-942885-14-6 | paperback | 345 pages | $14.99

Buy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Emilie Barnes
typesetting and proofreading

Questions?

For information on the Hastings College Press, contact the director, Dr. Patricia Oman, at hcpress@hastings.edu.

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