CLMP Hires New Membership Manager

The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), America's leading service organization for independent literary book and magazine publishers, has hired Robert N. Casper as Membership Manager. Casper's role will be to administer and expand core member programs and services, including on-line and print resources.

Casper, a poet, has worked at a variety of journals, presses, and literary organizations over the past 10 years. He is the Publisher and a founding Editor of the poetry journal jubilat as well as a co-founder of the jubilat reading series in Somerville, Massachusetts. He holds a M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he helped start the Pioneer Valley segment of the Poetry Society of America's Poetry in Motion program. He has also worked as the Small Press Librarian at the Loft Writing Center, and at the University of Wisconsin and University of Pittsburgh Presses.

Susan Kenny, CLMP's Interim Director, is delighted to have Casper join the staff. "As the Publisher and Editor of jubilat, Rob is acutely aware of the unique needs and circumstances of independent literary publishers," she says. "He'll be a terrific asset to the membership." Casper says, "I'm thrilled to be a part of CLMP, which has been so important to jubilat. I look forward to working closely with its members."

CLMP was founded in 1967 as the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, adding presses to its constituency in 1991. For over 30 years CLMP has supported the country's diverse literary culture by promoting and advocating on behalf of its publishers and nurturing their business and organizational capacity. CLMP strengthens its membership by offering marketing and organizational workshops, hosting a national membership meeting for the field, sponsoring technical assistance programs, representing the voice of its publishers in the media, maintaining a comprehensive website (www.clmp.org), and providing basic information services and publications. In addition, CLMP informs funders and other arts groups about the role of literary publishing in American culture, conducts research about the field, and ensures that literature has a voice in the politics of cultural policy.

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