Rootstock Publishing

“Conversations with My Mother: A Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast” is on the 2026 short list for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize! Less than 5% of the nominees become grand prize award finalists. Congratulations to author Ronald Stéphane Gilbert @ronaldsgilbert ! We’re so excited his book joins this illustrious list, which includes books from some amazing small presses like @redhenpress , @diodeeditions , @greenwriterspress (another Vermont publisher!), @salmonpoetry , @dzancbooks (with congrats to Vermont author @yahmsarah ), and @boaeditions , to name a few. This is such an honor 🥰. . #erichofferaward #indiebookawards #shortlist #rootstockpublishing #conversationswithmymother

Congratulations to Don Lesser on his successful book launch for CRYSTAL SPRINGS! Here he is reading and signing books for a packed audience at the North Amherst Library @joneslibamherst . Don emailed to tell us: “It was well attended. People asked good questions. I sold a bunch of books. And everyone seemed to have a good time…Thank you for your help in making this a reality.” 🥰 We love an author success story. If you’re ready to make your dream of being an author a reality, check out our submission guidelines on our website and submit today! . #authorevent #authorsuccess #crystalspringsnovel #pioneervalley #donlesser

With cover art by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec titled “Red-haired woman,” © akg-images/André Held, and designed by Eddie Vincent @eddievincent9751 of ENC Graphic Services, this historical fiction by Maureen Brady @maureenbradygetaway releases August 25th! The main character, Tessa, is a redhead with a fiery temper; as the oldest of six children, she’s solid in body and mind, though heartbroken and lonely to be sent away on a famine ship for a marriage of convenience in America. This book is a triumph of her Irish immigrant experience with all its sorrow, curiosity, searching, and joy in found family. . #coverreveal #bookdesign #tessaslanding #maureenbrady #rootstockpublishing

Welcome Maureen Brady @maureenbradygetaway to Rootstock Publishing! Maureen has published the novels Ginger’s Fire (Harrington Park, 2003); Getaway (Bacon Press, 2018); Folly (Feminist Press @feministpress at CUNY, 2016); and Give Me Your Good Ear (Spinsters Book Co., 1979). Folly was nominated by Adrienne Rich for the American Library Association’s Gay Book Award and reissued as a classic by the Feminist Press. Give Me Your Good Ear was published both in the US and by the UK’s Women’s Press and Alice Walker said of it, “The writing was so good, I heard it all.” Daybreak has remained in print since 1991 and sold over 51,000 copies, and Midlife was translated into German and Dutch. She has also published a collection of short stories, The Question She Put to Herself; and the nonfiction books Daybreak: Meditations for Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse; Midlife: Meditations for Women; and Beyond Survival. She lives with her partner of thirty years, Martha, and their joy dog, Georgie, between New York City and Woodstock, New York. She also frequents a charming town on the Kentish Coast of England. We’re excited to publish her new novel, Tessa’s Landing, a historical fiction set in 1846 about the triumphs of the Irish immigrant experience and based on Maureen’s great-grandmother’s life, this summer! Look for the cover reveal coming soon. . 📸 photo by Robin Martin. . #maureenbrady #feministauthors #indieauthor #ingramsparkauthor #authorcommunity

Happy Publication Day to Don Lesser and his fiction debut, “Crystal Springs!” Dori Ostermiller, @doriostermillerwriter , founding director of @writersinprogress and author of “Outside the Ordinary World,” calls it “a poignant exploration of belonging and betrayal, of the secrets we keep and the families we choose.” Available now everywhere books are sold and at our website (link in bio). Meet the author and get your book signed at Don’s book launch on May 13th at the North Amherst Library @joneslibamherst ! . #newbookalert #pubdaytuesday #donlesser #rootstockpublishing #ingramsparkbooks

Publisher Samantha Kolber and marketing admin & editor Jennifer Gennari had a blast at the Vermont Book Awards this weekend! It’s so fun to celebrate books and writers and readers at this stellar annual event. The keynote by VT Poet Laureate Bianca Stone @biancastone (pictured in second slide) was brilliant, about the body as the word and poetry as the body and how readers are the final step in the making of a book. The whole evening truly felt like a community, and this is what we need right now. Congrats to all the finalists and winners (pictured at last slide). Rootstock aspires to have a book honored here one day 🥰. . #vermontbookaward #celebratingbooks #vtbookaward #awardgala #vermontbyvermonters

We’re excited to share that Betsy Vereckey’s @betsyvereckey MOVING TO MY DOG’S HOMETOWN has been named a Quarterfinalist for the 2025 BookLife Prize Nonfiction Contest! Thank you to @BookLife for this incredible honor and for supporting indie authors. If you haven’t yet read this “feel-good story with some bite” (@sevendaysvt ), pick up a copy at your local bookstore or library or online book retailer! #BookLifePrize #IndieAuthor #WritingCommunity #RootstockPublishing #BookAward

Erika Nichols-Frazer @enicfrazer read poems at a wonderful and packed “Poems by Heart” event at the @waterburypubliclibraryvt tonight to celebrate #NationalPoetryMonth! Erika has a new chapbook of poetry, “Can you see her, the moon?” Coming out from @flpbooks this June and a collection of short stories coming out with us on September 1. We can’t wait for more readings from in celebration of all her amazing writing! Thank to the Waterbury Library for this great event with (not pictured, sorry!) poets Colleen Ovelman and Alison Prine @alisonprine , and essayist and Vermont Book Award Finalist @helen_whybrow . What an evening! . #poetryreading #erikanicholsfrazer #waterburyvt

Yay! “All Who Believed: A Memoir of Life in the Twelve Tribes” by @tamaramathieu4 is a da Vinci Eye finalist for superior book cover design! Judged on both content and style, the honor is a special distinction within the Eric Hoffer Award. The Eric Hoffer Book Award was founded to honor freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit from small, academic, and micro presses, including hybrid-published offerings. The Hoffer is a platform for and the champion of the independent voice. Congratulations to author Tamara Mathieu and cover designer Eddie Vincent @eddievincent9751 ! If you are local (Vermont), catch Tamara this Saturday, May 2nd at St. Albans City Hall for a conversation about cults and her award-winning memoir, hosted by @theeloquentpagebookstore . . #rootstockpublishing #bookawardfinalist #allwhobelieved #cultbook #cults

Another successful poetry reading for THE COUNTRY IN THE MIRROR at @bearpondbooks yesterday! We heard from many that it was moving and inspirational. As editor Sharon Darrow said as she quoted Nietzsche, “we have art in order not to die of reality.” Thanks to all who helped make this anthology of protest poems a reality. Be sure to get your copy at Bear Pond Books or your local bookstore today! #countryinthemirror #rootstockpublishing #poetryanthology

Two Rootstock books on the poetry display at @kellogghubbardlibrary ! MOUNTAIN SPELLS by Toussaint St. Negritude @toussaintstnegritude and THE LOST GRIP by Eva Zimet @tango_bent . Check them out and remember to read more #Poetry for #nationalpoetrymonth! . #kellogghubbardlibrary #vermontpoets #poetrycommunity

What a fantastic afternoon of protest poems in celebration of our new anthology THE COUNTRY IN THE MIRROR, a collaboration with editor Sharon Darrow and nearly 90 poets from across the U.S. and Canada, with some of our Canadian friends joining us yesterday in St. Johnsbury! Thank you for all your support and thanks to Tunnel Books and @catamountarts for hosting. If you’re in the Montpelier area, join us this afternoon at 4:30 at @bearpondbooks for a dozen poets reading these powerful testaments of dissent. . #booklaunch #thecountryinthemirror #poets #poetryreading #vermont