From classroom to press, CMU students bring first book to life

Not many writing contest winners get published by student-led publishers. However, Brenna Dean, a graduate student in the CMU creative writing program, is proud to have recently helped publish the first novel from the CMU Press Summit Series. An ambitious endeavor by CMU English Professor Matthew Roberson, Ph.D., the Central Michigan University Press Summit Series, is a new, non-profit publisher of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction books.  Each year the Summit Series conducts a contest open to current and previous Michigan residents that is centered around a changing theme and concludes with CMICH Press publishing the winner’s book.  

CMU students have a unique opportunity to participate in the Summit Series by taking the ENG 513K class, The Book Publishing Process.  The contest winner is selected through a process involving students, an editorial board, and a finalist judge.  Once a winner is chosen, members of the Summit Series in the class spend time copyediting and formatting the book chapters for InDesign. 

The 2024 winner, Moral Treatment, was written by Stephanie Carpenter.  The novel describes the experiences of a girl diagnosed with “pubescent insanity” in 1889, and sent to a psychiatric hospital in northern Michigan. Dean’s job was to create a sell-sheet for the novel, which is a short blurb that is distributed to bookstores around the globe so the stores can promote the book which will be available soon. 

Dean says that the Summit Series is important because it provides both undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to get involved with book publishing before entering the workforce. Dean shared, “A lot of writers and English students are interested in careers in publishing, and taking the Summit Series course allows us to see if we enjoy the work before applying for any jobs.” Dean is also grateful to be a part of the Summit Series as it has helped her become more involved in the English Department and creative writing program at CMU.