Short Takes: Prescient, Timely Genius

In a starred review, Library Journal called JACK LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHER "an unanticipated landmark, for London's groundbreaking work as a photojournalist has remained hidden until now... London was a prescient, timely genius; his work helped define the photojournalistic form, a new idea, now seen as the window into contemporary life. The book's visual bounty seems endless." A photo from the book appeared in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. This Sunday, co-author Jeanne Campbell Reesman will be at the Texas Book Festival for a panel on "The Lives of Jack London" with Jim Haley, author of the recent London biography Wolf.

THE SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE COMMUNITY COOKBOOK in Atlanta Magazine, and in a very scrumptious forthcoming food centerpiece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (fried pickles, anyone?)The Fall issue of Edible Memphis celebrates the book's instructions for building a bacon forest: "Think Willy Wonka meets Benton's bacon."

Jeff Klinkenberg of the St. Petersburg Times on Tom Hallock's preoccupation with Bartram that led to WILLIAM BARTRAM, THE SEARCH FOR NATURE'S DESIGN. With video. Hallock will appear at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading October 23.

Shots on the NEA blog of Natasha Trethewey at the 2010 National Book Festival; video of her remarks at the opening night gala on the Library of Congress site.

Boston Globe review of Jessica Treadway's PLEASE COME BACK TO ME -- "clear and searingly direct". A story by Lori Ostlund (THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD)appears in the new Best American Short Stories 2010; "Imaginary Tuscon" by co-winner Geoffrey Becker (BLACK ELVIS) is listed as a "notable story" in the volume.

The Journal of Human Security on NONPROLIFERATION NORMS: "That so many questions readily spring forth after reading this book is a sign of its strength rather than weakness. Despite a century of available data on norms against the use of WMDs, Rublee is breaking a good deal of new ground."

CROSSROADS OF CONFLICT in the Augusta Chronicle. This and other Civil War titles now on sale on our web site.

Upcoming events:
Check out our sleeker, better author events page for additional events.

Wednesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 14
Georgia Review Tribute to Raymond Andrews in Athens, GA
Details in this Flagpole feature.

Thursday, October 14
2-4 pm
T.R.R. Cobb House, Athens, GA
Barry Brown and Rich Elwell sign copies of their new guide to Civil War sites in Georgia, CROSSROADS OF CONFLICT.

Inscoe named Saye Professor of History

John Inscoe, noted for his work in Southern history, has been named Albert B. Saye Professor of History at the University of Georgia.

“I am very honored to hold a chair named for Dr. Saye, who made such a significant mark on the study of Georgia history and politics during his long, distinguished career here at UGA,” said Inscoe.

Inscoe is the author of numerous books including Race, War, and Remembrance in the Appalachian South and Mountain Masters: Slavery and the Sectional Crisis in Western North Carolina. He is editor of Enemies of the Country: New Perspectives on Unionists in the Civil War South and Georgia in Black and White: Explorations in Race Relations of a Southern State, 1865-1950. UGA Press will publish Inscoe’s Writing the South through the Self: Explorations in Southern Autobiography in spring 2011. In addition, Inscoe has served as the editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia since its founding in 1999.

Albert Saye was widely known as a leading authority on state and federal constitutional law. The Press recently reissued two of his books, A Constitutional History of Georgia, 1732–1968 and A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia. Both titles are available as print editions or as free ebooks through the Georgia History Ebook Project.

Iain Haley Pollock wins Cave Canem Poetry Prize

Cave Canem Foundation, Inc., North America’s premier “home for black poetry,” is pleased to announce that Iain Haley Pollock has received the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for his manuscript, Spit Back a Boy, selected by Elizabeth Alexander. The University of Georgia Press will publish the collection in spring 2011. Additionally, Mr. Pollock will receive $1,000 and a feature reading. Pollock lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and teaches English at Chestnut Hill Academy. A Cave Canem fellow and an alumnus of the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University, his poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Boston Review and Callaloo; poems are available online at The Drunken Boat and AGNI Online.

Established in 1999 with Rita Dove’s selection of Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work (Graywolf Press, 2000), the Cave Canem Poetry Prize is an annual first-book award dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by African American poets. Cave Canem itself is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.

The University of Georgia Press has published several prior winners of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize: A GATHERING OF MATTER/A MATTER OF GATHERING by Dawn Lundy Martin(2006), THE LISTENING by Kyle Dargan(2003), and LEAVING SATURN by Major Jackson(2000).

Amphibian Conservation

NPR’s “Living on Earth” recently aired a show on the global crisis of fish and amphibian conservation. If you want to learn more about this important ecological topic, UGA professor of ecology emeritus Whit Gibbons’s KEEPING ALL THE PIECES: PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL HISTORY AND THE ENVIRONMENT is an engaging look at the beauty of biodiversity and the tragedy of “ecovoids.” The book features a foreword by pioneer of ecosystem ecology Eugene P. Odum and was praised by the Los Angeles Times Book Review for offering “a palatable introduction to ecology for people who don’t understand all the ‘fuss’ over the threat to endangered species.”

For a more focused look at species native to the Southeast, check out our Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book Series. These books, give clear descriptions of dozens of species and hundred of color photos and distribution maps, all with a conservation-oriented approach.

FROGS AND TOADS OF THE SOUTHEAST by Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons

SALAMANDERS OF THE SOUTHEAST by Joseph Calvin Mitchell and Whit Gibbons

SNAKES OF THE SOUTHEAST by Whit Gibbons and Mike Dorcas

LIZARDS AND CROCODILIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST by Whit Gibbons, Judy Greene, and Tony Mills

TURTLES OF THE SOUTHEAST by Kurt Buhlmann, Tracey Tuberville, and Whit Gibbons

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF GEORGIA, edited by John B. Jensen, Carlos D. Camp, Whit Gibbons, and Matt J. Elliott, is more specialized and offers detailed species accounts and nearly 200 range maps showing county-by-county distribution in the state.