Mason Jar Press Brings Independent Literary Publishing to the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair

Mason Jar Press is a Baltimore-based independent publisher with a specific mission: amplify writers whose work pushes the boundaries of literary norms, with a particular focus on BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and globally underrepresented voices. Founded in 2014 by Ian Anderson with modest beginnings in handmade, limited-run chapbooks, Mason Jar Press has grown into one of the Mid-Atlantic's most active small literary presses — and in 2025, it reincorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

At the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair, visitors can browse and buy from Mason Jar's catalog of poetry collections, fiction, nonfiction, novellas, and hybrid works, as well as recent issues of Jarnal, their semiannual literary journal publishing poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and cross-genre work. The press publishes three to six titles a year and has released well over twenty books, including translated work and debut collections from writers who might not find a home elsewhere. The handmade chapbook tradition that started the press is still present in its DNA — Mason Jar treats the book as a made object, not just a container for words.

Find Mason Jar Press at the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair on May 9, 11am–4pm, on the 200 block of N. Washington Street in Havre de Grace, MD. Admission is free — learn more at chesapeakeprintersfair.com.