Contact: Kathleen M. Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, LLC; 719-540-6022; kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com

DENVER, Dec. 8, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ -- Republicans vs. Democrats; liberals vs. conservatives; OWS vs. the Tea Party -- with all the news showing us how divided our society has become, is there anything we can do to reclaim our sense of community?

Caleb Seeling, Executive Publisher and founder of The Samizdat Group says the answer is a resounding "yes" and is leading the way. He has implemented a model of corporate philanthropy where authors and readers support partner organizations that are dedicated to promoting literacy and the arts.

"The Samizdat Group is a publishing company rooted in building community by fostering relationships -- publisher with authors, authors with each other, authors with their readers, and all of us with the communities we call home," says Seeling.

"The Samizdat Group will donate 10% of all book sales from its two divisions, Samizdat Creative and Conundrum Press, to organizations with which we've developed a working relationship, and our customers will be able to indicate which organization receives the donation from their purchase."

Some of the organizations currently working with The Samizdat Group are Lighthouse Writers Workshop and their Young Writers Program, Urban Peak, Ballet Nouveau Colorado's Elementary School Partnerships, and Flobots.org.  Mr. Seeling says they are seeking others to add to this list.

"What a wonderful publishing model. It is a true intermingling of art and community where both are enriched," says Robert McBrearty, one of the participating authors. "I'm delighted to support such a program." Robert McBrearty is the award-winning author of the new release from Conundrum Press, Let the Birds Drink in Peace, a collection of delightful short stories.

Ballet Nouveau Colorado, a Denver based arts education and community outreach organization, is one of the literacy and arts partners benefiting from the Samizdat Group program. (bncdance.com/about/mission)

"This is the kind of exciting project that can change the world," says Ballet Nouveau Colorado's School Director, Julia Wilkinson Manley. "Collaboration is one of BNC's primary tenets and we are so excited to have an outlet through which to work with more of Denver's incredible organizations dedicated to literacy and the arts."

The Denver hip-hop collective, Flobots, is another partner with The Samizdat Group.  This organization connects underserved youth across Metro Denver with music and empowerment education. Some of the Flobots partners include Denver Public Schools, the Mayor's Office of Education and Children, Denver Children's Home, and a network of residential treatment centers for youth. (www.flobots.org)

"In this economy, it will take a community of businesses, individuals, and non-profits to connect young people to all the gifts the arts can bring," says Laura Bond, Flobots Director of Programs. "We applaud The Samzidat Group on this creative and collaborative campaign to support a wide range of artistic experiences for youth."

"Great periods of creativity in the arts have always come about because of exactly the kinds of partnerships Caleb Seeling is building between Samizdat and other groups," adds David Rothman, original founder and publisher of Conundrum Press, a division recently acquired by The Samizdat Group.

"It's exciting to work with Caleb as we seek to inject as many beautiful words as possible directly into the collective brain of the great people residing in the Rocky Mountain region," he continues. "Caleb Seeling has extensive experience in the publishing business and has excellent taste. He understands how to build an audience, which is crucial to the success of every great artistic endeavor."

Rothman is the co-founder of the Crested Butte Music Festival, the current Director of the Poetry Concentration in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.  Rothman is also a Colorado Book Award finalist in poetry.

"'Samizdat' is a Russian word for the illegal, subversive literature published in the Soviet Union that got you sent to the Gulag for writing, reading, and distributing," Seeling remarks. "It perfectly captures what we are up to, breaking all the publishing rules established decades ago, to bring about a more organic and vibrant way of publishing books and doing business."

For more information and to find out how your organization can become a partner-beneficiary, please contact Caleb Seeling at caleb@samizdatgroup.com.

To have your purchase benefit one of our partner organizations, go to store.samizdatgroup.com and simply choose which organization you would like to receive your donation and it will be sent automatically when you pay for your order.  

The Samizdat Group is an independent publishing company with two divisions, Samizdat Creative and Conundrum Press. Samizdat Creative combines the control and profit margin of self-publishing with the editorial, design, distribution, and marketing strategy of "traditional" publishing. Conundrum Press publishes poetry, literature, and creative non-fiction using a more traditional publishing model, deliberate in the quest to serve our authors and their communities. Our focus is to encourage artistic collaboration in the nine-state Rocky Mountain region. The goal is to contribute to the emergence of Denver and the Rocky Mountain region as a major cultural hub, like New York or Los Angeles, while protecting the unique flavor of the West by celebrating what makes the Rocky Mountain region so distinctive and appealing.

ATTN MEDIA: To schedule an interview with Caleb Seeling contact Kathleen M. Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, LLC; 719-540-6022; kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com