It’s a big day for Ooligan Press: The Ghosts Who Travel With Me, written by Allison Green, is going to press. It’s also the day of the Lambda Award Ceremony. Often referred to as the Lammys, they are arguably one of the most important book awards in the industry. It is a great honor to be nominated, and Ooligan is immensely proud to count two of our authors among this year’s finalists. Karelia Stetz-Waters’ Forgive Me If I Told You This Before is a finalist in the Children’s and Young Adult category, and Ghosts author Allison Green was one of 16 contributors to Outer Voices Inner Lives, a finalist in the Anthology category.

I’ve been on the project team for The Ghosts Who Travel With Me since Allison’s proposal came through acquisitions, and it has been an incredible experience to grow with this project since its very beginning at Ooligan Press. I was one of two students who initially evaluated the proposal, and I have been with the book through every phase since. There’s still quite a bit to be done prior to our launch, however. The project team for Ghosts is just starting the final proofread of the manuscript, and we were able to give Allison her first bound copy of the book during the AWP Conference and Bookfair. She says of the experience:

At AWP, Abbey gave me a copy of the bound galleys; there’s nothing quite like holding an actual bound book in your hands. I carried it around with me at the conference and showed it off to my friends when I ran into them. The bound galley reminded me, again, of how much time and careful attention you all have put into this project. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. It also makes me reflect on the journey I took writing it – how I started writing with no idea where the work would take me, how I struggled at times to define and organize it, and how it eventually began to cohere into something that, I hope, will be meaningful to readers.

I have learned so much from this book, and it seems fitting that quite a few members of our project team (myself included) will be graduating from the publishing program the day before the launch party. That week will mark the high point of two long but rewarding journeys.

The Ghosts Who Travel With Me releases today. The launch party will be on June 15th at The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle.