Loft Director to Step Down

by Claire Kirch, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 3/12/2007

Linda Myers announced Friday that she will retire as executive director of the Loft, the Minneapolis-based literary center, in October. In 2005, PW named Myers as the single most influential person in the Twin Cities in determining which books become regional bestsellers.

Since Myers took over the 33-year-old nonprofit in 1994, it has become one of the country's preeminent literary centers, serving more than 6,000 writers this past year, and attracting more than 10,000 people to Loft-sponsored events. During her 13-year tenure, the Loft's annual operating budget grew from $500,000 per year to $2 million, and writing course offerings tripled, from 100 classes and seminars to more than 300 per year, held throughout the Twin Cities and beyond. Myers was instrumental in launching the $5.5-million fund-raising campaign that financed the renovation of two adjacent buildings near downtown Minneapolis known as Open Book, which opened its doors in 2000, cementing the Twin Cities' reputation as a hub for the literary arts. Besides the Loft, Open Book houses Milkweed Editions and the Minnesota Center for the Book, as well as several small local organizations that support literary pursuits.

There will be a national search for Myers's replacement.