The literary journal grew with the help of Jim Uba, Marilyn Krysl, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alissa Reardon Norton, Heather Grimshaw, Beth Nugent, Debra Bokur, Miho Shida, Susan Becker, Shannon Arancio, Margo McCall, Ken Bloom, David Rozgonyi, Steven Church, and Indira Ganesan, and many others, the literary journal became one of the most prestigious in the country, regularly featuring many of the best poets and writers in the world.
Unfortunately, the beloved and admired Naomi was compelled to step away from the journal and the press to care for her health rather suddenly during 2003-2004. Personally, I felt this was a terrible situation as Naomi had also become one of my best friends since I had moved to Colorado in 2002. Coincidentally, this also placed my first forthcoming poetry book in limbo as Naomi had recently offered to publish it in 2004 since it was a runner up in the first book MMM Press contest. When she asked me to consider taking over the operations of the journal and the press, I did want to help though I was certainly intimidated by the amount of work that it would entail. At the time, I was in a tenure-track creative writing assistant professor job at University of Northern Colorado, sixty miles away from the home base of the journal and the press.
With much help from many more volunteers, including Erik Nilsen, Patrick Lawler, Thaddeus Rutkowski, T. M. DeVos, Joanna Gardner, Deah Paulson, Brian Heston, Martin Balgach, Sarah Heady, Sam Corbo, Brittany Corrigan and Brooke Hoffman, the journal kept going until 2010 with Vol. X., No. 1, its twentieth issue, and the press kept going a few years longer.
Unfortunately, due to family changes, many job changes, and moving across the country etc., I also had to step away from the journal and the press. However, if someday my own circumstances change for the better, I would consider reviving the Many Mountains Moving Press because I found the process of working with every one of the authors to be enlightening, edifying, and a great pleasure.
–Jeffrey Ethan Lee, 2024