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The Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award was started back in 2003 as part of The Somerville News Writers Festival that Timothy Gager and I founded (it ended in 2010).

Steve Glines.

Since the award’s inception, we have awarded such literary figures as Robert Pinsky, Afaa Michael Weaver, Louisa Solano, Jack Powers, Robert K. Johnson, Sam Cornish, Gloria Mindock and Harris Gardner for their writing, but more importantly for their lifetime of contributions to the literary community.

Steve Glines, a founding member of Somerville’s Bagel Bards, publisher, editor and designer, fits perfectly in this template. Steve has designed countless magazines and books for the Ibbetson Street Press, the Bagel Bards, and the Wilderness House Press, often donating his time for free – though he now gets a small stipend twice a year because of the Ibbetson Street’s affiliation with Endicott College.

He has been instrumental in publishing books for Ibbetson Street, the Endicott College Young Poet Series, and has birthed many books for the fledgling and established author. In the 70s Steve had a print shop in Harvard Square. He worked for Sail magazine for a while, and later in the high tech industry – both writing columns and consulting – and wrote a highly touted text on Unix, an ancient computer operating system.

He also founded the Wilderness House Literary retreat in Littleton, Mass, which during its short life hosted poets and writers such as Robert Creeley, Lois Ames, Afaa Michael Weaver, Kathleen Spivack , Hallie Ephron and others.

Steve’s participation in the poetry scene dates back to his friendship with Gordon Carnie (the original owner of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Harvard Square) that has since passed hands from Louisa Solano to Ifeanyi Menkiti. Steve has been a regular at Stone Soup Poets, and befriended the founder the late Jack Powers for many years.

For myself, I couldn’t have done all that I do without the steady hand of Steve Glines. His encouragement, his skills as a writer and a graphic designer, his friendship, have given me the confidence to keep on keeping on. And I think many people in our community of small press writers and poets can say the same thing.

Glines will be presented with the award July 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at the Ibbetson Street Press Issue 39 reading at the Somerville Public Library, Central Branch.