Short Takes

CORNBREAD NATION 5 in the Durham Herald Sun, Asheville Citizen-Times, the Winston-Salem Journal (mmm...soft-shell crab), the Johnson City Press, and the Raleigh News and Observer (also an excellent piece on the culinary legacy of chef Ben Barker, who has an essay in the book.)

The new American Historical Review on CHRISTIAN RITUAL AND THE CREATION OF BRITISH SLAVE SOCIETIES, 1650-1740: "Beasley's work is an interesting and important contribution to the study of the religious cultures of the Atlantic World."

The Newnan Times-Herald on the Bell Award given to WHAT VIRTUE THERE IS IN FIRE by Edwin T. Arnold.

THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD is longlisted for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. (Also a finalist for the Triangle Awards, announced tonight.)

Press authors John Inscoe and Charles Hudson appear in the four-part series Appalachia, which airs Thursdays 4/29-5/20 on PBS. The film explores the environmental history of the region.

Living on Earth features poet Ross Gay with his poem "Thank You" from BLACK NATURE.

MOTORING was reviewed by the Book Woman on Talk of the Town, a talk show on Nashville's CBS affiliate WTVF.

The Journal of Historical Geography calls WILLIAM FAULKNER AND THE SOUTHERN LANDSCAPE "simultaneously an excellent cultural-historical geography of Mississippi and the South and perhaps the most grounded literary analysis of the work of Faulkner yet published."

Our fall 2010 catalog now available online -- highlights include:

- Natasha Trethewey's BEYOND KATRINA, a personal take on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi both before and in the wake of the hurricane

- JACK LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHER, which showcases for the first time the novelist's extensive photographic career, from Russo-Japanese war to the San Francisco earthquake to the Mexican revolution

- new titles on Treme in New Orleans, whiteness and urban planning in the San Fernando Valley, and Bloomberg's impact on New York City, all in our Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series

Short Takes

Maria Rost Rublee's NONPROLIFERATION NORMS wins the Alexander L. George Book Award from the International Society for Political Psychology. The award recognizes the best book published in political psychology in the previous year, one that "demonstrates the highest quality of thought and makes a major substantive book-length contribution to the field."

This Sunday (4/25) at 10 am and 10 pm, the Sirius/XM radio show Danger Zone will air an interview with author Charles Horner, whose book RISING CHINA is also in our Studies in Security and International Affairs series.

Lori Ostlund's THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD wins the California Book Award for First Fiction; poets Barbara Hamby (SERIOUSLY FUNNY) and Patrick Phillips (BOY) named Guggenheim Fellows in poetry, Ted Genoways (ANNA, WASHING) in American literature.

"We may take for granted the vast geographical inequalities of wealth in our world, but we shouldn't": Neil Smith (UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT) on KPFA's Against the Grain.

An interview with Camille Dungy on BLACK NATURE will air on KQED (San Francisco) today (4/22) at 5:30 pm PST (online streaming available). Her recent interview for NPR's Morning Edition, along with some of the poems she discusses, can be found here.

CORNBREAD NATION 5 in the Athens Banner-Herald and New Orleans Times-Picayune.

In the Huffington Post: Steve Courtney (JOSEPH HOPKINS TWICHELL) on celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain's death this week with "the combination of carny hucksterism, entertainment and education for which we are becoming noted here in Hartford."

Poet Harryette Mullen wins the Jackson Poetry Prize; her work appears in BLACK NATURE and THE RINGING EAR, and she is one of eight poets interviewed in our forthcoming title INTO A LIGHT BOTH BRILLIANT AND UNSEEN: CONVERSATIONS WITH CONTEMPORARY BLACK POETS, edited by Malin Pereira.

Donors Amanda and Greg Gregory endow a chair in Civil War era studies at the University of Georgia.

Now available:

WILLIAM BARTRAM, THE SEARCH FOR NATURE'S DESIGN
Edited by Thomas Hallock and Nancy E. Hoffmann

This edited collection of letters, unpublished manuscripts and twenty-four previously unpublished drawings adds depth to our understanding of the early American naturalist William Bartram and provides a fuller picture of his life and thought than can be glimpsed in his famous Travels.

WILDERNESS INTO CIVILIZED SHAPES: READING THE POSTCOLONIAL ENVIRONMENT
Laura Wright

Wright combines the strengths of ecocriticism and postcolonial theory to analyze fictional treatments of environmental issues and postcolonial landscapes. Using an international array of modern novels as texts, including writers from Nigeria, New Zealand, India and the United States,  four chapters examine themes of development and deforestation, water politics, the relationship of women to land they have lost, and the use of animals to metaphorically represent subjugated people.

Barrow family recognized by UGA Alumni Association

UGA Press congratulates the UGA Alumni Association's 2010 Family of the Year, the family of Craig Barrow III of Savannah. Craig is Chairman of the UGA Press Advisory Council, and we would like to express our appreciation to Craig and Diana for their wonderful support of the Press and UGA at large.

Arnold's book on Hose lynching wins Bell Award

Edwin T. Arnold's WHAT VIRTUE THERE IS IN FIRE was named the winner of this year's Malcolm Bell Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award at the Georgia Historical Society's annual meeting Thursday.

The award recognizes the best book in Georgia history published in the preceding year. A list of previous winners can be found here.

In his book, Arnold approaches the study of the 1899 lynching of Sam Hose in Newnan, Georgia through close analysis of newspaper accounts, letters and speeches at the time of the incident and in the decades thereafter. Arnold's work seeks to more fully understand how different versions of this history were used to serve different interests.

As noted by ForeWord Reviews, the case is thought to be the inspiration for the Newnan-born writer Erskine Caldwell's TROUBLE IN JULY, and also provoked the interest of Margaret Mitchell and William Faulkner. The reviewer concludes: "Depending upon whom you believe, Sam Hose was either a family-destroying killer or the innocent victim of a skewed and Southern brand of bad justice. That he was tracked, captured, hung, and dismembered is not in dispute. Author Arnold compiles prodigious research from both sides and chooses to let the reader decide, while still not letting history off the hook."

Short Takes

NPR's Morning Edition on Monday, 4/19, will include an interview with Camille Dungy about BLACK NATURE, part of a series by Renee Montagne for National Poetry Month. Catch the interview on air at 6:50 or 8:50 am (Eastern). The segment will be available at npr.org after it airs.

Dyana Furmansky's biography ROSALIE EDGE, HAWK OF MERCY is a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. Winners will be announced at the Aspen Literary Festival in late June.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles John Burrison and his new book FROM MUD TO JUG. Burrison will be at the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia this weekend and at the Macon Arts Fired Works Expo next weekend.

The San Francisco Chronicle reviews Robin Ekiss's poetry collection THE MANSION OF HAPPINESS: "...unlike so many other poets of her generation who earnestly aim for poetic emphasis through poetic shock, Ekiss knows how to play." Her book is a finalist for both the Northern California Book Awards and the California Book Awards, which will be announced Sunday and Monday, respectively.

The April issue of the journal The Americas calls LATINO IMMIGRANTS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE U.S. SOUTH "an excellent and timely overview of the U.S. south's most recent demographic transformation," praising the book's geographic range, topical focus, temporal contextualization, and muted optimism for a more practical and humane response to immigration in the region.

The Miami New Times announced the launch for MARION MANLEY: MIAMI'S FIRST WOMAN ARCHITECT; the book was also featured in the University of Miami alumni magazine and the spring issue of the Ringling Quarterly.

Now available:
RABBLE ROUSERS
Clive Webb

Webb examines the beliefs and actions of white extremists in the civil rights era who sought to prevent social change, using terrorism if necessary. His study, which focuses on five far-right activists who led their communities in militant opposition to racial reform, provides a fuller picture of the real challenges faced by the movement. As reviewer Michael Honey notes, "Be prepared to be greatly disturbed by this chronicle of a continuing problem in American history."

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF PHILIP QUAQUE, THE FIRST ANGLICAN MISSIONARY
Edited by Vincent Carretta and Ty M. Reese

This first edition of the correspondence of Philip Quaque (born ca. 1740) illuminates his remarkable position within the transatlantic slave trade and the development of a movement for abolition. Born in Ghana, Quaque was ordained in England and then served many years as missionary and chaplain at Cape Coast Castle, a significant (and now notorious) slave trading site. His letters reveal his evolving opposition to the slave trade.

Documentary on Julia Peterkin to Debut

CHEATING THE STILLNESS: THE WORLD OF JULIA PETERKIN is a documentary produced, directed and written by Gayla Jamison that will debut on South Carolina ETV Thursday, April 15, at 9:00 p.m. An encore broadcast is scheduled for Sunday, April 18, at 6:00 p.m.

The documentary chronicles the fascinating life of author Julia Peterkin, the white wife of a plantation owner who wrote sensitive portrayals of the lives of rural African Americans in the early twentieth century. UGA Press has published four Peterkin books: a collection of stories, GREEN THURSDAY, and three novels, BLACK APRIL, BRIGHT SKIN, and winner of the 1929 Pulitzer Prize, SCARLET SISTER MARY.

Susan Millar Williams, author of the biography A DEVIL AND A GOOD WOMAN, TOO: THE LIVES OF JULIA PETERKIN, is featured in the documentary. Williams will appear on a panel following a special screening on Wednesday, April 28, at the Charleston County Public Library. Also featured in the documentary is Harlan Greene, coeditor of RENAISSANCE IN CHARLESTON: ART AND LIFE IN THE CAROLINA LOW COUNTRY, 1900–1940.






For more information on the documentary and the public events visit:
http://www.scetv.org/index.php/press/release/cheating_the_stillness_premieres_on_public_television_in_spring_2010/

Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Inductees

Each year two living and two deceased writers are chosen by the University of Georgia Libraries and a board of judges for induction into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. The 2011 honorees have just been selected--they will be Melissa Faye Greene and Natasha Trethewey, along with posthumous honorees James Kilgo and Johnny Mercer. The induction ceremony will be held in spring 2011.


James Kilgo published most of his work with UGA Press. He was known for his observant and lyrical nature writing in such works as DEEP ENOUGH FOR IVORYBILLS, INHERITANCE OF HORSES, and COLORS OF AFRICA. Kilgo was a lifelong outdoor sportsman, and critics praised him for his unique insight into hunting that was informed by a deep commitment to environmental conservation. Kilgo was also the author of DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE, a novel that won the Townsend Prize and was a finalist for the Lillian Smith Award.


The Press is pleased to be publishing Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey’s first book of nonfiction in September 2010. BEYOND KATRINA is Trethewey’s very personal profile of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and of the people there whose lives were forever changed by hurricane Katrina. Trethewey’s attempt to understand and document the damage to her hometown of Gulfport started as a series of lectures at the University of Virginia that were subsequently published as essays in the Virginia Quarterly Review. For BEYOND KATRINA, Trethewey has expanded this work into a narrative that incorporates personal letters, poems, and photographs, offering a moving meditation on the love she holds for her childhood home.

Also coming out in the fall is JOHNNY MERCER: SOUTHERN SONGWRITER FOR THE WORLD by historian Glenn Eskew, a biography that improves upon earlier popular treatments of the songwriter to produce a sophisticated, insightful, evenhanded examination of one of America’s most popular and successful chart-toppers.

Technorati Tags: Melissa Faye Greene   Natasha Trethewey   James Kilgo   Johnny Mercer   Georgia Writers Hall of Fame

Short Takes

THE BREEDING BIRD ATLAS OF GEORGIA reviewed at The Birder's Library: "A wealth of information that’s a pleasure to immerse yourself in, the Atlas will be an indispensable tool for anyone who birds in Georgia regularly."

Fred Sauceman talks CORNBREAD NATION on WJHL/CBS 11 (Johnson City, TN) during the noon show today (4/1).

Camille Dungy, Sean Hill, Yusef Komunyakaa and Evie Shockley read and discuss BLACK NATURE at Poets House in Manhattan this Saturday (4/3); the New Yorker features the event.

Sean Hill (BLOOD TIES AND BROWN LIQUOR) will be a featured poet at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery April 17, and will present a workshop for Alabama secondary school teachers on Friday, April 16.

Rex Nelson's Southern Fried gives an overview of an article in the new Southern Cultures by Hardy Jackson relating to his book THE RISE AND FALL OF THE REDNECK RIVIERA, under contract with the press.

Michael Martone (RACING IN PLACE) Q and A on Chapter 16.

Georgia Magazine features two recent titles by alums in their New Books section: THE ART OF MANAGING LONGLEAF (Leon Neel is a distinguished alum of the Forestry School, and Albert Way received his PhD from UGA) and MARCHING IN STEP (Alexander Macaulay also received his PhD from UGA).

Now available:

FROM MUD TO JUG

John A. Burrison

A full color companion and sequel to Burrison's landmark volume Brothers in Clay. The new book explores the roots and historical development of northeast Georgia's remarkable folk pottery tradition with close examination of the Meaders and Hewell families and over a hundred photographs.

Catch John Burrison talking about FROM MUD TO JUG and the story of folk pottery in Georgia at any of the following upcoming events:

Tuesday, April 13 @ 7:15 pm - Decatur, GA

Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur Public Library

Saturday, April 17 @ 5:30 pm - Sautee Nacoochee, GA

Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia

Saturday, April 24 @ 11 am - Macon, GA

Macon Arts Fired Works Pottery Expo

Additional upcoming area events:

Friday, April 2 @ 7 pm

Academy of Medicine, Atlanta

Poet Barbara Hamby (SERIOUSLY FUNNY) reads with Robert Fanning in Georgia Tech's Poetry@Tech reading series.

Wednesday, April 14 @ 8 pm

Fiction writer Antonya Nelson (winner of the Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award for The Expendables) reads and signs, with a colloquium the following day.
Emory University's Creative Writing Program award night

Cannon Chapel sanctuary, 2nd floor