This week, as NDQ 90.1/2 comes into focus, I have also been working on a small book project with students in the University of North Dakota’s practicum in writing, editing, and publishing course. This book is a new anthology of NDQ contributions produced by some of the most clever and thoughtful 20something students I’ve had a chance to work alongside. I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago here . 

The book consists of ninety sentences written in response to ninety poems, essays, stories and other contributions in past issues of the Quarterly. The students included a citation to the original contributions at the bottom of each page, and in the digital version of the book, the citation will include a live hyperlink to the contribution. This unusual format allowed us to produce an anthology without the complicated (and likely impossible) process of getting permission from 90 contributors whose work appeared in the Quarterly over six decades. It also celebrates our recently completed free and largely open digital archive of NDQ  from which a reader can download any issue from volume 1 (1910) to volume 85 (2018). 

The last step in this book is agreeing on a cover and here’s our first stab at it:

Our plan is to have this available as a free download and a low cost paperback this spring!