Welcome to High Plains Press

High Plains Press has been publishing a few books a year on Wyoming and the West for over thirty-five years. Their respected Old West histories have become classics and are their best sellers. Volumes in the High Plains Press Poetry of the American West series have won multiple awards competing against publishers of all sizes, among them five Wrangler Awards from the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center. Their goal is to find readers who are enthusiastic about the west and to produce books that make those readers want to come back for more.

Book Publisher Nancy Curtis says that when she founded the company, located on a cattle ranch, there were few other book publishing companies in Wyoming. “I knew people who were writing books that were definitely good enough to be in print, but there were no publishers willing to take a chance on them. Other publishers didn't understand the devotion of western readers to their subjects or the importance of western subjects.”

Her involvement in the operation of the ranch was hands-on for many years. A typical winter day consisted of feeding cattle in the morning and editing books in the afternoon. Now she spends less time outside, but still loves “the cowboy way.” “It’s a perfect combination, she says. “We try to raise a few good cattle and publish a few great books.”

High Plains Press books have won five Wrangler awards for poetry, two Willa awards, and several Willa finalist awards, as well as several finalist awards in the Spur, High Plains Book Awards, ForeWord Magazine, and Ben Franklin Award competitions. Their poetry books were named Best Poetry Series of the West by True West magazine. In 2012 High Plains Press was the winner of the prestigious Lariat Award from Western Writers of America for supporting western books and authors

Curtis is also the co-editor, with Linda Hasselstrom and Gaydell Collier, of three collections of writing by plainswomen published by Houghton Mifflin: Leaning into the Wind, Woven on the Wind, and Crazy Woman Creek. In 2011, Curtis was presented with the Governor's Arts Award by Governor Matt Mead for her work with literature and the arts.

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