About Raven Words Press
Raven Words Press is an independent publisher in Ely, Minnesota. Our mission is to encourage children and grown-ups to explore, enjoy, and protect the natural world and share experiences with one another through story-telling, writing, and art.
Raven Productions was established in 1995 with the production of The Ely Summer Times, a small magazine with articles about the Ely area, its people and history, a calendar of events, and all the information needed for tourists and residents to make the most of their visit or life in Ely. The Times became popular enough to expand to two editions per year in 1997. We added the Boundary Waters & Quetico Calendar in 1999, and published our first book in 2003. In 2018 Legacy Toys took over the Book Publishing division and re-branded it as Curious Cat Books. Legacy Toys continues to publish some incredible Children’s books and other products under their re-branding.
Awards for Raven Productions books (now Curious Cat) include the Independent Publishers (IPPY) Award, Midwest Independent Publishers Association, Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award for Children’s Literature, Midwest Book Awards Honorable Mention for History, Lupine Award and Honorable Mention by the National Outdoor Book Awards in the Classic category.
We support our local economy, keeping our business expenditures as close to northern Minnesota as possible and dealing with other small, independent businesses. Nearly all our printing is done in Minnesota.
Raven Words Press continues to produce the Ely Summer/Winter Times as well as our annual Boundary Waters / Quetico Calendar.