A brief history of Bookwrights Design
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Mayapriya Long began her graphic arts career in newspapers as an advertising artist on Cape Cod.
She worked for several newspapers in Maine and designed and helped launch an entertainment weekly for Portland, Maine, while writing a weekly environmental column, "Earth Tones" carried by several Maine newspapers.
After a move to North Carolina, Mayapriya worked as a production manager for a commercial printer while doing freelance work for The Sun Magazine, UNC Press, Algonquin Books, and other North Carolina clients.
In 1984 she became design and production editor for Carolina Academic Press in Durham, NC and in 1988 became managing editor. While managing CAP, she helped bring the press to a 40+ book-per-year company and built a prestigious Law list for them. In 1990, she and Philip Menzies (HBJ, Restin Pub.) started Bookwrights Press as a part-time venture.
After relocating to Charlottesville, VA, she founded Bookwrights Design Studio, turning her freelance business into a full-time enterprise. She also launched Bookwrights Press of Charlottesville.
Bookwrights Studio designs and produces book jackets and interiors for independent and university presses across the country. In addition to Mayapriya, Bookwrights employs two designers and an editorial staff member as regular sub-contractors, as well as an in-house staff member.
Outside of work, Mayapriya and her husband teach Buddhi-yoga weekly at their Bhaktivedanta Center, and she studies and teaches Aikido. They live in the country, near the Appalachian Trail, next to the Shenandoah National Forest. Mayapriya has been active in the Virginia Festival of the Book since its inception, and has presented seminars on self-publishing to the community. |