Free River Press is a nonprofit publishing house founded in Nashville, Tennessee, whose mission is to develop a literary mosaic of Americana as written by people from all walks of life. It pursues this goal by conducting writing workshops in farmhouse dining rooms, homeless shelters, small town libraries, senior centers, urban churches and foundations. Its goal is to amass a collection of writings that will eventually resemble a collective American autobiography.
History
Free River Press was founded in Nashville in 1990 by writer Robert Wolf and Steven Meinbresse, former Coordinator of Tennessee's Department of Homeless Services. The press grew out of a writing workshop Wolf conducted at a Nashville homeless shelter between 1989 and 1991.
For one year during this period, Free River Press ran a Great Books seminar funded by the Tennessee Humanities Council. The seminar mixed homeless and non-homeless participants.
By 1991 Free River Press had published six slim volumes by the homeless, including Five Street Poets and Passing Thru. In 1991, Wolf moved to rural Iowa and began a writing workshop with neighboring farmers. Their writings were issued in three books, Voices From the Land, Simple Times, and More Voices From the Land.