Publishing local writers is in the blood of the Jackpine Writers' Bloc. We were made, named, and born of local writers. It's not easy to forget - all of our productions leave that unique taste of north woods folks. From the mentions of "lefsa" or "Lund" like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving - the writing we publish is distinct and every year gets better.

We make it very clear around here that we are proud of where we are, what we publish and what we have accomplished with our literary journal. The Talking Stick came into our lives years and years ago, the beginning of a few local writers in northern Minnesota wanting a little place to get themselves published. The first volume was 32 pages long and was published by the local newspaper the Park Rapids Enterprise. Nowadays our little journal is a two hundred page fourteen year old accomplishment. We're on to volume 16 and our largest book yet. We are now able to afford to hire (and pay...) a layout designer and a printing company (Morris Publishing out of Nebraska) - both of whom we have been so happy with. They have designed the last four books and are hired to design the next.

Of course we're still publishing ourselves...

But the Jackpine Writers' Bloc is growing more and more interested in expanding our horizons into publishing individual authors as well as our own literary journal. The first book we published for an individual came out in 2007 by Jerry Mevissen (Broken Hart). If you're interested in having a selection of your own work published (and like our style...), as well as being a local Minnesota writer, e-mail or call us and we can discuss it further.