A small publishing firm that was founded by two siblings in Cedar Falls is devoted to promoting authors and artists with strong connections to Iowa.
Nick Narigon says he and his brother, Aaron, established Hayseed Press in 2024 in order to help current and former Iowans advance in their publishing journeys.
“Anybody who is trying to become a writer, looking to publish that first novel, our whole thing is that we want to help people reach that next level in their writing career,” Narigon says. “So while we might not publish your book, we at least want to plug you into our network, hopefully introduce writers to the right people and just support people, support each other along our way.”
Aaron Narigon is an English professor at Hawkeye Community College while Nick Narigon is a New York-based journalist.
One of the showcases of Hayseed Press is its “Iowa Weird” collections of short stories, which started with tales focused around true crime, horror and Halloween. The latest edition in the series is called “A Very Special Iowa Weird Christmas,” and Narigon explains how it came about.
“Using all of our friends in the business, journalists and creative writers, collect them all together and say, hey, why don’t you write a fun story, more of a Hallmark Christmas story with a twist to it, sometimes a morbid twist, sometimes somewhat existential,” Narigon says. “The writers themselves really stepped up and we have a fun collection of short stories for the holiday season.”
Calling someone from the rural Midwest a “hayseed” is not usually seen as a complement, but Narigon says they named their business Hayseed Press deliberately.
“Well, that’s kind of a nickname I’ve had myself throughout my travels, this kind of a self-depreciating term I use for myself as kind of a hayseed blowing in the wind here and there,” Narigon says. “So when it came time to name our company, that always kind of stuck with me and it just kind of sounds like a cool name.”
The new book, “A Very Special Iowa Weird Christmas,” is being launched Tuesday in an event at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, featuring several of the 14 writers. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Blood Cancer United, as the son of one of the authors was diagnosed with leukemia this fall.
