Coffee House Press Announces Conversion of 80+ Titles Formatted for Visually Impaired Readers

Inspired by a long-time reader, endowed with a grant administered by VSA Minnesota, Coffee House Press has converted more than 80 of their titles for use with screen readers that make text accessible to readers who are blind or visually impaired.

Coffee House Press sought to understand how the blind and visually impaired community accessed reading materials, to add substantially to the materials available, and to overcome current limitations, such as membership and other fees required by existing organizations. Starting the practice of having a text file with an easily navigable internal structure, along with print and electronic versions of Coffee House books, provides greater access to their work and establishes this practice as a responsibility of publishers today.

“Access has long been a core value of Coffee House Press,&rdquo publisher Chris Fischbach said, “and we have been looking for more and more ways to make our books accessible to readers. This initiative is another way we can do that.”

Special attention was given to poetry titles and prose with innovative forms and, in addition to the most recent titles, backlist titles going back to 1990 have been converted.

Among the titles converted are Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones, winner of the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award and a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as Dark. Sweet. by Linda Hogan, which offers readers the sweep of Hogan’s work—environmental and spiritual concerns, her Chickasaw heritage—in spare, elemental, visionary language. Coffee House Press books formatted for screen readers can be purchased by contacting the press at (612) 338-0125 or info@coffeehousepress.org.

For more information, please contact Kathy Daneman, Kathy Daneman Public Relations, at kathy@kathydaneman.com or by phone at (718) 778-0285.