Hailing Rain Taxi

You might not remember it as such, but 1996 was a great year for books. Not for any individual titles in particular, but certainly for the notion of book culture—excitement over books, conversation about books, the evolution of particularly virulent strains of the bookworm—it all started to swell in ’96. Sure, that happens to be the year Oprah started her book club. But more importantly, more risk-takingly, more odds-beatingly, it was the year a little Minneapolis nonprofit published the first issue of Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Twelve years and fifty issues later, Rain Taxi has spread like a creeper vine, slowly increasing its scope to include a book fair, author readings, a poet exchange program, and an online edition with unique material—all the while maintaining a quarterly print run. Domestic partners Eric Lorberer and Kelly Everding—he’s the editor, she’s the art director/business manager—have raised Rain Taxi in their home since its founders left it in Lorberer’s stewardship some years back. Lorberer, an early collaborator on the project, hides his zeal beneath an easygoing demeanor, but his passionate belief in the Rain Taxi mission is evident.

“A lot of books, they’re not for everyone, and that’s OK,” he explains. “They shouldn’t be penalized because 6 million people wouldn’t be interested in that book. Maybe 6,000 people would be interested, or maybe 600 people, and that’s essentially what we’re trying to do.”

Stretching far beyond the best-seller rack at Barnes & Noble, the magazine brings that obscure volume of Icelandic poetry or that quirky biography of an overlooked Surrealist to the attention of its ideal audience. With a print run of 18,000 copies, Rain Taxi manages to distribute its mix of reviews, author interviews, and poetry to 250 bookstores around the country and to subscribers all over the globe.

If the Internet now provides a forum for a legion of amateur opinions, their proliferation hasn’t slowed Rain Taxi’s growth, a fact that gives Lorberer both solace and inspiration.

“We have two kinds of responses to art,” he muses. “An immediate response—definitely valuable and worth expressing, and things like blogs do that really well—but, especially for books, we also have a response that’s based on reflection and analysis and taking your time to try to fit it into a context. That’s not only valuable, but for civilization, it’s necessary.” The organization extends its civilizing influence through the annual Twin Cities Book Festival, a day of readings, panels, and commerce coming October 11 to the Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to encourage people to be interested in reading interesting books,” says Lorberer, making it sound much simpler than it really is, “and to educate them as to the sheer abundance of great writing being produced.”