Purple Paw Press

Purple Paw Press is the publishing imprint of the Department of Languages & Literatures. Designed to provide a means to recognize student work and to give L&L students direct publishing experience, PPP allows departmental programming, student-led initiatives, and class projects to be published and nationally distributed.

Currently, PPP has published three collections of the University of Northern Iowa Writing Competition (2023-24, 2022-23 and 2021-22) celebrating the best of writing by Iowa high school students. This publication is also part of the scholarship competition that provides UNI scholarship to the authors of winning selections in English (Creative Writing and Critical Writing), French and Spanish. The creation of the books has been integrated into Professional Writing classes taught by Professor Adrienne Lamberti. 

PPP is also part of Amazon Advantage, a program that allows the Press to distribute publications nationally. This program also gives the Press access to Kindle Direct Publishing, which can allow for “digital first” publications that can simultaneously be made available for the Kindle platform and in print.

During the Spring 2024 semester, students in Professor Jim O'Loughlin's Craft of Fiction class conceived, designed, and wrote three separate anthologies of original fiction:
• Monsters Declassified, a speculative compilation on otherworldly (and all too worldly) creatures 
• Nexus Six, a thriller written as a collective novel
• Some Context Required, an experimental collection based on the surrealist concept of the "exquisite corpse"
These projects are available in both digital and print formats from Amazon.com. Production assistance was provided by students in Professor  Lamberti's Introduction to Professional Writing class.

As Dr. Lamberti notes, “Our department connects students with a wonderful variety of writing and publishing opportunities, and Purple Paw Press offers publishing experience that's both customizable and scalable. For instance, students in one class might design content for an upcoming title throughout the semester, while in another class, students might spend one concentrated lesson unit on writing publicity content. The press also vertically integrates authors across the department. One publication project might largely be written by a faculty member but its layout designed by students, while another title might be entirely student-composed with contributions from a couple of faculty."

Keep an eye on this page for announcements about future publications from Purple Paw Press!