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Megan Ritchie ’09
Plymouth, Minnesota
Creative Writing
As an intern, I worked with
Consortium Book Sales &
Distribution, a distributor
responsible for getting the
books of about 100 independent
publishers across the U.S., U.K.,
and Canada from printing press
to bookshelf.
Because
Macalester is
located right in
St. Paul, I was
able to get to
Consortium’s
office in northeast
Minneapolis
with ease.
Through Macalester’s Internship
Program, I was able to take my
internship for academic credit,
and even apply it to my major.
So, I took a break from papers
and tests, and went from the
classroom into the city. Because
Macalester is located right in
St. Paul, I was able to get to
Consortium’s office in northeast
Minneapolis with ease.
My primary responsibility as a
Consortium intern was helping
compose a newsletter called “Library Express.” This newsletter, which
features books from Consortium’s publishers,
is distributed twice a month to nearly
a thousand librarians across the country.
I employed skills I had gained through
Macalester’s Literary Publishing class to
evaluate which books would be suitable to
highlight for librarians.
The Twin Cities have a vibrant small press
publishing community. Three of the most
prominent small presses in the country are
located within our city limits, and often
Macalester students will work with one of
these presses as interns. The exciting thing
for me about working with a book distributor,
instead of a small press, is that I got to
become familiar with hundreds of books.
Oftentimes, with small presses, they specialize
in one theme—say, sustainability, or
poetry—and print only a handful of books
per year. At Consortium, however, I got
to browse hundreds of books, which for a
lifelong bookworm was pure bliss.
My internship experience was invaluable
to me. Ultimately, what I gained over the
course of the semester was a significant
boost in confidence. I got to find out for
myself that my Macalester education is
applicable in “the real world.” Wherever
that may be, I hope it includes a whole lot
of books.
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