Expedition Press is a poetry-focused letterpress shop in Seattle, run by artist Myrna Keliher.
Our mission is to deepen regard for language and connect people with poetry.
We make art with words on paper and share it.
Damn fine words
Our work begins and ends with reading. We select words to print that make us shout out loud, think real hard, and feel big feelings.
We always get permission to print others' words. All our prints have a credit line with bibliographic information including copyright. We deeply value our relationships with poets and publishers. Our work doesn't happen without them.
Poetry grants access to our deepest interiors and invites us to imagine beyond. Imagination is crucial to freedom and so we work to make poetry seen and felt by more human hearts.
Exacting type
We support precision of language with precision of form. As poetry distills language to its most essential, our typography aims to create a singular, striking reading experience.
We design with handset type and print with antique presses. Not because we feel especially romantic about the equipment, but because they are powerful tools we know how to use.
Our commitment to the craft of letterpress printing is rooted in its capacity to propagate important words in an immediate, tangible, beautiful way.
Working in community
While Myrna wears most hats, a lot of other people are involved with Expedition Press. Our work is supported by a lively cadre of artists, authors, binders, clients, engineers, family, friends, interns, local businesses, and printers for whom we are deeply grateful.
About Myrna
Myrna Keliher is the artist and owner of Expedition Press. She studied literature and printing at the Evergreen State College and later apprenticed with Stern & Faye, Printers. Myrna is passionate about language, spacing, letters, teaching, and getting people to read poetry.
Myrna lives in south Seattle with her family. Off press, she loves to hike, knit, garden, and learn new things endlessly.
About Mabel
Mabel sleeps a lot and knows to stay in her bed when the presses are running. She is in charge of breaks: be it lunch, time for a walk, or 5pm, Mabel knows when it's time to stop working. She is also really excited to greet everyone at the shop door every time.
Mabel loves sticks, poop, and the orange ball when thrown by a blue stick. She's darn good with a frisbee too.
Making poetry public
We print poetry on paper of various sizes, from excerpts on small cards to full broadsides. We also produce other kinds of original artwork across many media. These activities often correspond and interrelate.
Our projects are typically solicited and often self-initiated. Expedition Press is not open for submissions. We don’t have the resources to responsibly attend to unsolicited manuscripts and we’re not focused on publishing. At odds with this reality is our desire to discover new work and to support working writers.
There’s no easy answer here. If you’re an author who wants to work with us, we welcome a hello email with a note about what you see in our work and why you’re interested. We may be slow to respond and the answer is often no. Regardless. Please keep writing and we will keep reading.
We do collaborative projects that call attention to a given text, as well as straight-across commissions (design and print for hire). We love to take an active role in helping promote authors whose work we admire and independent publishers and nonprofits whose values align with ours. Cross-pollination is good for the literary ecosystem!
Typical projects include broadsides, inserts, bookmarks, postcards, keepsakes, etc. We offer editorial support (selecting, content and copyediting, proofreading) and help with digital assets as well (process photos, product copy, social sharing, storytelling, etc). If you want words on a wall, we’re happy to talk about that too. Direct inquiries to myrna (at) expedition.press.
We offer a line of small prints wholesale to independent bookstores and other lovely shops with damn fine taste. See our linesheet here and our stockists here.
In short: we won't publish your book and don't call if you're getting married. But please do write us if someone you love died.
We don’t offer self-publishing services; we don’t make books for hire; we don’t do wedding invitations (unless we love you tons); we rarely do digital design-only work. We don’t do much jobwork (business cards, announcements, invites, etc) but we do enjoy it, especially for memorials. We make time to support local folks doing good work in our community whenever possible. We can also recommend a number of great designers and printers with different specialties, please ask.
On Coast Salish land
Expedition Press is in south Seattle on the land of Coast Salish people including the Suquamish, Duwamish, and Muckleshoot. The shop is tucked away on a dead end street through a beautiful garden in the South Park neighborhood.
The library, the river, many murals, Loretta's, and fabulous tacos are all blocks away. We're open by appointment; email myrna@expedition.press if you'd like to visit.
What we believe
Poetry creates irrevocable connection. It provides direct access to our deepest interiors and invites us to imagine beyond. Imagination is crucial to freedom and so we work to make poetry seen and felt by more human hearts. To this end we produce art on paper with letters and distribute it as widely as possible. We fight to make space for the imagination in our everyday visual environment.
Black lives matter. We are working to embed antiracist practices in every aspect of our own (white) lives. This is ongoing work. We prioritize words by Black people, indigenous people, people of color, queer people, and women+ people in the interest of expanding all people’s capacity to imagine. We seek out authors of different backgrounds and experiences from our own in order to bridge gaps, draw communities together, and illuminate the dark places we all hurt from.
We believe that change happens one human heart at a time. What happens small will happen big. We want people to gain a deeper understanding of their own hearts so that they can learn to allow and do the same for others. We believe poetry is essential to this process. We want to live in a world every day more awake, more alive, more equitable, and more just. Poetry aids self-knowledge with sharp blows to the head and speaks from the edge of all that can’t be said.
We conduct business on the basis of warm, real, and respectful human relationships. Our marketing strategy is threefold: to be genuine, generous, and grateful. We live and work in community. Our shop is a home for writers, readers, thinkers, and poets. For authors, editors, publishers, booksellers, and overcommitted literary types of every stripe. For kids after school. For grandparents and neighbors and teachers and artists and engineers. For all who have something to say and struggle with how to say it. We help distill and distribute deeply felt words.
We source our materials as close to home as possible. We shop at the local hardware store and walk across the parking lot to hand packages to our neighborhood mail carrier. We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and so we make things that last. We buy quality materials and we allow the time for quality craftsmanship. We reuse and recycle and rethink our practices regularly. We work toward sustainable systems for our earth and our bodies. We are committed to education and mentorship and we say yes to people who show up wanting to learn, especially young people. We operate within, and seek to expand, a culture of service and gratitude.
Thank you, dear reader, thank you. We love what we do.
