Tag / Thom Tammaro

by ndsupress

“the best thing I’ve done here!”

from NDSU Press Publisher, Suzzanne Kelley

Lexie Karst, who has earned her Certificate in Publishing while working with NDSU Press, pronounced her experience here as project manager as “the best thing I’ve done here!” Well, she’s accomplished a lot here at NDSU in her studies as a Music major with a minor in Creative Writing, so we’re glad her publishing experience is right up there at the top!

In addition to many other tasks, Lexie served as project manager for Aurora, poetry by Thom Tammaro, which we released on April 1. She was tasked with copyediting; developing marketing, publicity, & distribution plans; producing metadata and a creative brief for the designer; and liaising with her author. Pictured here is Lexie opening the first box of Aurora from the printer . . . you can see she truly is excited about having shepherded the manuscript through all the production stages, and now she’s seeing the final product for the first time.

Firsts. When someone is learning the history, business and practice of small press and university press publishing, there are a lot of “firsts.” The “firsts” of our enterprise include responsibility. Lexie took to heart the seriousness of checking for edits and industry standards throughout the whole process. And now she reaps the reward of her labor. We’re going to miss having her steady hand and cheerful outlook around here.

by ndsupress

New Author Signing!

Please join us in welcoming Thom Tammaro to our author lineup! The NDSU Press is proud to be publishing his poetry collection, Aurora, in 2026.

Thom has produced a variety of work, from authoring poetry collections including Italian Days & Hours and Holding on for Dear Life, to co-editing anthologies such as Invisible World: Fifty Tiny Poems of Walt Whitman (with Sheila Coghill) and To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (with Joyce Sutphen and Connie Wanek). He has also co-edited several poetry collections inspired by the work of creatives such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Bob Dylan.

Thom’s extensive body of work has won a variety of awards, including Minnesota Book Awards, the Midwest Booksellers’s Honor Award for Poetry, and a WILLA Award for Poetry from the Women Writing the West Association. His work has also been featured in publications including American Poetry Review, Chicago Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In addition to his career as author and editor, Thom served as an English professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead for thirty-four years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2017. During his time there, he co-founded and directed the MFA in Creative Writing program.