Still printed on a 19-century letterpress printing machine in Anamosa, IA, publisher Tim Fay has just released his 23rd issue of "The Wapsipinicon Almanac." It's a homegrown, homemade journal and features essays, stories and articles by Iowa writers. The first issue was published in 1988 and you can't order it or read it online. You'll have to find it in a bookstore or other shop.
Fay doesn't care about reaching a mass audience. The total print run is 1500 copies. While he says he isn't striving for nostalgia, the look and feel of the Almanac is definitely from a long-ago era. Because the paper comes into contact directly with the raised metal type, you can literally feel the words as you run your hand over the pages.
This hour, Charity speaks with Fay, the man behind this unusual collection of great articles by and for Iowans. She also speaks with four other contributors: Bryan Gibbs of Elkader, who wrote "A Return Home--Bear Confessions From a Park Ranger;" David Miller of Lisbon, whose essay is titled "Bob, Ben and Me: A Tribute to Robert Baxa, 1934-2014;" and Leslie Caton of Cedar Rapids and Nancy Wyland of Coralville, who together wrote "Internet Dating After Divorce; The Iowa Angle." We learn again that "The Wapsipinicon Almanac" is an old-fashioned journal with modern sensibilities.
