Graywolf Press, the literary nonprofit publisher in Minnesota, reported last week that it has raised $738,384 in the past two years in an ambitious fund-raising drive. At a public launch celebration held in Minneapolis May 2, publisher Fiona McCrae announced to the crowd of nearly 100 that the press hopes to raise a total of $1 million in its Advance Fund campaign by June 30. Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux and guest of honor, lauded the Twin Cities literary community for its support of Graywolf. FSG distributes Graywolf titles.

Graywolf's Advance Fund campaign began in 2004, as Graywolf marked its 30th anniversary. All the funds raised will go toward marketing and editorial for frontlist titles over the next five years, with $200,000 of the $1 million earmarked specifically for acquisitions.

"It's a good way to infuse our marketing and editorial program, to acquire more and better authors and to market them as well," said Lyndsay LeClair, Graywolf's development manager.

Although the bulk of the money has been raised from private individuals, the Carolyn Foundation in Minneapolis gave $25,000, and another $100,000 has been promised by the Lannan Foundation when Graywolf reaches its goal.

—Claire Kirch

Snow Lion's Kindness

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's first visit to the U.S., Snow Lion Publications in Ithaca, N.Y., which was initially founded to publish the teachings he delivered on his tour, is reissuing Kindness, Clarity, and Insight in an updated edition in May. Originally published in 1984 to coincide with the Dalai Lama's second trip to the West, Kindness, Clarity, and Insight was the Dalai Lama's first book of teachings to be published in English.

"We started with no money and no expectations and sold 70,000 copies of the first edition," says press cofounder Sidney Piburn, who first met the Dalai Lama in India in 1974. During the Dalai Lama's first trip to North America, Piburn sought the Dalai Lama's advice on the publishing company he was about to start. In addition to offering his vision of a house that would serve both general readers and practicing Buddhists, the Dalai Lama said that they could have his teachings from the tour.

In the intervening years, Snow Lion's list has grown to 23 titles a year, with an active backlist of over 200 titles—including more than a dozen by the Dalai Lama—and it has become one of NBN's top 20 accounts.

—Judith Rosen