Closed for the Holidays!

Our offices will be closed December 22, 2012 - January 1, 2013. We'll be back at work Wednesday, January 2, 2013. Happy Holidays!

Spring 2013 titles announced

The Spring 2013 seasonal catalog is now available on our website featuring titles that will be published from March through August 2013. We have an exciting range of new books in the categories of history, geography, international relations, literary & cultural studies, environmental studies, and creative writing, as well as plenty regional interest titles.

Highlights include:

THE DINNER PARTY follows the path of Judy Chicago's iconic piece of American Art—The Dinner Party—as it traveled from inception (1973) to completion (1979) to tour (1979-1989) to the permanent collection of the Brookly Museum (2007), and it sheds light on the history of American feminism since 1970.

In OLD LOUISVILLE, author David Dominé and photographers Franklin and Esther Schmidt take the reader on an intimate tour of one of the largest and most significant historic preservation districts in America.

Robinson Forest in eastern Kentucky is one of our most important natural landscapes—and one of the most threatened. THE EMBATTLED WILDERNESS chronicles the cultural and natural history of the forest and makes the case for saving it.

Get out and explore northwest Georgia's biologically diverse and beautiful Etowah River with the waterproof guidebook, ETOWAH RIVER USER'S GUIDE.

The beautifully illustrated ISLAND TIME by retired Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist, Jingle Davis, captures the history and beauty of the Georgia seaside destination, St. Simons Island.

NORTH CAROLINA'S AMAZING COAST, modeled after the successful GEORGIA'S AMAZING COAST, contains 100 short, self-contained features about the flora, fauna, and natural history of North Carolina's coast. It makes an excellent educational tool and inspiring gift.

Now back in print and available in paperback for the first time is James Beard Award Winner NATHALIE DUPREE'S COMFORTABLE ENTERTAINING.

2013 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

Press release from UGA Today

2013 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame inductees announced by UGA Libraries

Tuesday,December 18, 2012

Writer: Jean Cleveland

Contact: Toby Graham

Athens, Ga. – Judson Mitcham, Georgia’s poet laureate, and the late author Toni Cade Bambara, who compiled one of the first anthologies of African-American women’s writing, will be honored as the newest inductees of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame at its 2013 ceremony.

A poet and novelist, Mitcham—the only two-time winner of the Townsend Prize for Fiction—was not formally trained as a writer. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Georgia and spent his career as a psychology professor at Fort Valley State University where he taught for 30 years. His debut novel, The Sweet Everlasting (1996), and his second, Sabbath Creek  (2004), were both published by the UGA Press. He also twice has been given the Georgia Author of the Year Award, for his first novel and his book of poems Somewhere in Ecclesiastes (1991).

“In his novels and his poetry, Mitcham’s elegiac voice looks backward with fondness and discernment on a personal and regional past slipping rapidly beyond reach,” said Hugh Ruppersburg, senior associate dean of the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

A resident of Macon, Mitcham began teaching writing workshops at Mercer University in 2002. He also has served as adjunct professor of creative writing at UGA and Emory University, where he has directed the Summer Writers’ Institute.

Bambara is well known for her teaching and community service, in addition to her award-winning writing, which focused on African-American culture. Her first novel, The Salt Eaters, won the 1981 American Book Award and the Langston Hughes Society Award.

Born in New York City, Bambara lived in Atlanta several times during her career, including being writer in residence at Spelman College (1978-79), visiting professor in Afro-American studies at Emory University (1975) and instructor at Atlanta University (1979). She died in 1995.

Bambara did not separate civil rights from the fight for women’s equality. In 1970, she published The Black Woman, an anthology that made connections between the two struggles and included fiction, non-fiction and poetry by herself as well as such writers as Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker.

Mitcham and Bambara were elected to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame by a board of judges appointed by the University of Georgia Librarian. The board includes academicians, civic leaders and librarians, the heads of the University of Georgia Press and The Georgia Review, and recent Hall of Fame inductees. The board votes following the conclusion of the annual ceremony.

Making its debut at this year’s ceremony in September was a special issue of The Georgia Review, the university’s award-winning 65-year-old literary magazine, which features work by and commentary on 33 of the 43 Hall of Fame members.

“We really ought to call this group the ‘Georgia Writers in the World Hall of Fame,’ because there is nothing merely local or regional about so many of their achievements,” said Stephen Corey, editor of The Georgia Review. “One of my greatest pleasures in having produced this issue is the thought of copies going out across the United States, and in more limited fashion into many other countries around the world, to show readers what a universal group of writers is gathered here.”

The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame is administered by the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which holds the most comprehensive collection of books by Georgians in existence along with the papers of many Georgia writers.

A date for the 2013 induction ceremony has not been set. For more information, see here.

Short Takes

LOVE, IN THEORY receives a starred review in Kirkus. "Levy’s award-winning short-story collection masterfully explores the vagaries of romantic love. . . . Levy’s prose is deeply philosophical and sometimes heady but never pompous. It depicts infidelity and loss yet avoids melancholy and sentimentality, as the characters often don’t have the expected reactions to difficulties—they are too cerebral for that. . . . Readers will likely savor this collection, a 2011 winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, for its intoxicating language and introspection. A smart, insightful collection of stories about life and love."

In the winter issue of ForeWord, Michele Gillespie's KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS is listed as one of "ten outstanding books that enlighten our understanding of America. . . . Michele Gillespie offers readers of all persuasions an eminently readable take on the wonders and warts of one of the American South’s most compelling time periods."

Rebecca Lave's new book, FIELDS AND STREAMS, looks at the criticisms and praise for Dave Rosgen's controversial work regarding stream restoration. "[S]he argues that restoration practitioners can be effective if they use Natural Channel Design but adapt it to local stream conditions and layer other techniques on top." Indiana University profiles Lave and FIELDS AND STREAMS in a recent press release.

Southern Spaces reviews AN EMPIRE OF SMALL PLACES. "Robert Paulett has given us a refreshing consideration of life in the eighteenth-century deerskin trade. His focus on disparate groups occupying the same arena but living different experiences challenges us to reimagine the complexities of life among multiple cultures and changing landscapes. . . . [H]is work adds new information and a different perspective to studies of the American South."

Amina Gautier's AT-RISK is reviewed in the recent issue of the Iowa Review. In it, the reviewer what this collection of stories has to offer the reader. "Ultimately, these aren’t stories that surprise us at the end, but rather ones that surprise us with how those ends are reached. . . . A thought-provoking read, AT-RISK offers no easy solutions to the problems of inner city poverty and racial discrimination. In the end, we may not be able to love these children and teenagers enough to change their circumstances, but Gautier ensures that we will, in fact, love them."

In the News: Eat Drink Delta

If you live in Mississippi and are looking for something to do next week, be sure to check out one of these many events for Susan Puckett's new book, EAT DRINK DELTA. The Clarion-Ledger calls it "a fun, flip-through read."

Monday, December 17 @ 5:00 pm
Jackson, MS

Talk and Signing – LemuriaBooks, 202 Banner Hall, 4465 I-55 North.

Tuesday, December 18 @ 5:30 pm
Greenwood, MS

Talk and Signing – TurnRow Books, 304 Howard Street.

Wednesday, December 19 @ 5:30 pm
Clarksdale, MS

Signing – Miss Del’s General Store, 145 Delta Avenue.

Thursday, December 20 @ 5:00 pm
Charleston, MS

“Sip and Sign” – Charleston Arts and RevitalizationEffort (CARE),
1 North Market Street.

Friday, December 21 @ 11:00 am-2:00 pm
Indianola, MS

Signing – Crown Restaurant, 112 Front Street.

Short Takes

Atlanta Magazine names Charles Seabrook's THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH as one of the Top 10 Books of 2012! "In a mesmerizing blend of reporting and memoir, longtime environmental journalist Seabrook captures the poetry and the science behind the marshes that he has loved since his childhood on Johns Island, South Carolina."

A review of THE DELUXE JIM CROW appears in the new Bulletin of the History of Medicine. "Drawing on meticulous, comprehensive research in published sources, archival materials, and oral interviews, [Karen Kruse] Thomas looks at the debates over and implementation of state and federal health programs in the South. . . . The result is a book that illuminates the key influence of region and race on health politices in the first half of the twentieth century."

The Glorified Love Letters blog reviews Marcia Aldrich's COMPANION TO AN UNTOLD STORY. "Not every writer would be able to pull off a book like this, and I don't know how much attention Aldrich has received for her effort — apart from winning the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction — but I suspect that it isn't what it deserves."

According to the Cemetery Club, ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY "is not only an absolutely beautiful book, it's full of information about Oakland as well as helpful cemetery information in general. Chock full of gorgeous full-color photography, this books takes you into this historic cemetery even if you are reading it hundreds of miles away from this impressive cemetery. . . . This is an A+ book on an A+ cemetery."

Rain Taxi features an interview with LOVE, IN THEORY author E. J. Levy.

Derek Askey: Why do people need love stories? Will we always? How were you able to bring a fresh approach to them?

E. J. Levy: Our earliest recorded stories are arguably love stories (if you think of Gilgamesh, for instance, or Penelope awaiting Odysseus). Perhaps that's because love is convenient shorthand for desire, and we need desire to have drama. . . . I hope the collection helps readers re-connect with themselves and one another in a distracted age.

According to CNN Travel, Lonely Planet has named Louisville, KY as one of the top 10 U.S. travel destinations for 2013. "Louisville, Kentucky, was named the top U.S. destination for 2013, following travel publisher Lonely Planet's discussions among its group of U.S. editors and authors. While they tend to debate entries into each year's Top 10 list, everyone agreed on Louisville, said Reid." Before you go visit, you might consider picking up a copy of OLD LOUISVILLE. The book takes readers on an intimate tour of one of the largest and most significant historic preservation districts in America. OLD LOUISVILLE will be available in April. Go here to see an interview with the author and photographers on WHAS 11.

Chapter 16 reviews Benjamin Houston's THE NASHVILLE WAY in the recent Nashville Scene. "THE NASHVILLE WAY is a book that should be read by everyone interested in Nashville's history, particularly by those who lack such an interest but presume to chart our future."

The Washington Post interviews Mark Auslander, author of THE ACCIDENTAL SLAVEOWNER, about his research regarding the construction of the Smithsonian Castle. According to Auslander, the "iconic red sandstone used to build the Smithsonian Castle, one of Washington’s most recognizable buildings, was quarried by slaves, including some who were once most likely owned by Martha Washington."

Calling All UGA Press Alumni and Current Staff!

Next year is the 75th anniversary of the University of Georgia Press. In preparation for our year-long celebration, we want to make sure to connect with all current and past Press employees. If you previously worked at the Press as a full-time employee, part-time employee, or intern, we want to know! Please join one or both of our two new groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.

To find us on LinkedIn, search for "University of Georgia Press" under Groups. (Or, click here.) Once we have received and approved your request to join, stay tuned for opportunities to participate in our 75th anniversary celebrations.

On Facebook, search for "University of Georgia Press" and look for the Group. (We also have a Fan Page and Profile, so be sure to find the Group.) Click "Join Group." After we have approved your request to join, we will post information about the 75th anniversary promotions and events.

Please feel free to post Press memories, stories, and experiences. We look forward to connecting with you!

The National Poetry Series 2012 Winners

The National Poetry Series is pleased to announce the results of the 2012 Open Competition. The winning books are scheduled for publication in the summer of 2013.

the meatgirl whatever, by Kristin Hatch of San Francisco, CA
Chosen by K. Silem Mohammad, to be published by Fence Books

The Narrow Circle, by Nathan Hoks of Chicago, IL
Chosen by Dean Young, to be published by Penguin Books

The Cloud that Contained the Lightning, by Cynthia Lowen of Brooklyn, NY
Chosen by Nikky Finney, to be published by University of Georgia Press

Visiting Hours at the Color Line, by Ed Pavlić of Athens, GA
Chosen by Dan Beachy-Quick, to be published by Milkweed Editions

Failure & I Bury the Body by Sasha West of Austin, TX
Chosen by D. Nurkse, to be published by HarperCollins Publishers

The National Poetry Series was established in 1978 to ensure the publication of poetry books annually through participating publishers. More than 160 books have been awarded since the Series’ inception. Publication is funded by the Lannan Foundation, Stephen Graham, Joyce & Seward Johnson Foundation, Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds, and, The Poetry Foundation.

For more information, please contact 
The Coordinator, The National Poetry Series,

57 Mountain Avenue, Princeton, NJ  08540

Phone: 609.430.0999   Fax: 609.430.9933

Short Takes

The Kansas City Star names Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES as one of the top 100 books of 2012.

Band of Thebes names the other recent Flannery O'Connor Award winner, E. J. Levy's LOVE, IN THEORY, one of the best LGBT books of 2012.



The University of South Carolina will be hosting a talk and book signing to celebrate the final volume in the "South Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times" series. The event will take place on Thursday, December 6 at 5:30pm in the Hollings Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Two other events happening on December 6 are Benjamin Houston's UK book launch for THE NASHVILLE WAY and Hugh Sheehy's reading of THE INVISIBLES at Three of Cups Lounge.

THE NASHVILLE WAY event will be at Blackwells at Newcastle University at 6:00pm.

THE INVISIBLES reading is part of Sweet! Actors Reading Writers event. The event starts at 7:30pm and is open to the public.

Press News: The University of Georgia Press Welcomes New Marketing and Sales Director

The University of Georgia Press is proud to announce that David Des Jardines, long-time UGA Press employee, will assume the role of marketing and sales director. His appointment is effective December 3.

Des Jardines is currently the electronic information manager at the press, and he has been the interim marketing and sales director for the last few months. Des Jardines has 30 years of publishing experience. He started at UGA Press in 1989 and has held various marketing and acquisitions positions. Prior to coming to UGA Press, Des Jardines held positions at Viking Penguin Inc. (now Penguin USA) and Elsevier Science Publishing Co. (now Reed Elsevier). He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Valdosta State University and a diploma in computer programming from Athens Technical College.

Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the Press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has more than 1,500 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies.

Now Hiring: Senior Acquisitions Editor

The University of Georgia Press seeks an experienced and motivated Senior Acquisitions Editor. The Senior Acquisitions Editor is responsible to the UGA Press's Editor-in-Chief for evaluating, acquiring and transmitting 25-30 high-quality, marketable new manuscripts per year for the University of Georgia Press. While this position has some flexibility in the area of acquisition, its primary focus will be History and/or International Studies (as determined by experience of preferred candidate). Responsible for developing intellectually distinguished and successful lists in History and/or International Studies including but not limited to the following series: Studies in Security and International Affairs; Early American Places; Race and the Atlantic World, 1700-1900; Politics and Culture in the Twentieth-Century South; Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America.

This position also assists the Editor-in-Chief and Director with shaping the Press's overall publishing program and identifying outside funding sources for select projects in need of external support.  

Founded in 1938, the University of Georgia Press is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the Press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has over 1,500 titles in print. For more information, please visit the Press website.

The Press is located on the University of Georgia’s historic North Campus in Athens, Georgia.  Perennially rated as one of the nation's top college towns, Athens offers a vibrant place to work and live.  With Atlanta 70 miles to the west, Athens offers good proximity to the city while maintaining a small-town culture and feel.  Athens offers a nationally recognized music scene, great restaurants, a local food movement, and a vibrant downtown area with independently owned businesses. Please visit here for more information about Athens.

Required Qualifications:  Bachelor's degree in a humanities or social science discipline; minimum of five years of acquisition experience with a scholarly or trade publisher; proven track record of working successfully with senior scholars and authors. 
Demonstrated success in list building.    
Ability to work independently and imaginatively in seeking out promising book projects.
Ability to work effectively with authors and external reviewers.
Ability to manage multiple, deadline-driven projects simultaneously.
Tenacity and creativity to see projects through to successful publication.
Superior communication and networking skills.
Familiarity with manuscript development and preparation.
Familiarity with all stages of the publishing process.
Familiarity with best practices and emerging models of digital publishing, including ebooks and library aggregation.
Knowledge of copyright and contracts as they relate to book publishing.
Ability to travel. 

Preferred Qualifications:  Master’s degree preferred.

The full description of duties and application instructions is available here.

The University of Georgia values diversity in its faculty, students, and staff and strongly encourages applications from underrepresented minority candidates. The University of Georgia is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer.

Short Takes

FLUSH TIMES AND FEVER DREAMS author Joshua Rothman has a piece in Bloomberg regarding the similarities of the 2008 financial meltdown and the Panic of 1837.

The financial meltdown of 2008 has been attributed to a pre-crash economy whose incentives and rewards resembled a freewheeling casino rather than a rational marketplace. . . .
The U.S. has been here before. The middle of the 1830s was one of those times, when land speculation and easy credit blurred the lines between legitimate and illegitimate pursuits of wealth. No part of the U.S. was more steeped in this culture of speculation than the Deep South, because the forced removal of Native Americans had opened vast swaths of valuable cotton land there for development. Cotton cultivated by slaves was the raw material driving the early Industrial Revolution. The crop’s market prices kept rising seemingly regardless of supply, and it became America’s most significant export and arguably the most important commodity in the world.

In honor of University Press Week, Southern Spines features an interview with THE INVISIBLES author Hugh Sheehy.

SS:  The book is called  The Invisibles, which likely borrows from one of the short stories with the same name. Define  an “Invisible” for us.
HS:  It’s a weird condition because it’s kind of a paranoid condition. It’s a person who is unmemorable for some reason, who doesn’t get detected by other people. Other people don’t pick up on their presence. They are there, but nobody notices them. When they’re gone, it’s as if they’ve never been there. They’re there lurking.

Over on Lambda Literary, the other recent Flannery O'Connor Award winner, E. J. Levy, answers questions about her collection, LOVE, IN THEORY, "her long road to publishing, the eroticism of academia, and of course, love."

Finally, for the sake of cheesiness, what’s your own theory of love?
I’m from the dairyland of the Midwest so I’m a huge fan of cheese! I think (I hope) I’m done with theories of love; these days, I’m for love, in fact. I think Thomas Merton said it well, “We are what we love.” So, if I have any theory on the subject now, it would be to choose well what you love and then love with all you’ve got; in the end, it defines us, as much as we try to define it.

California State University, Fullerton highlights Erica L. Ball's new book, TO LIVE AN ANTI-SLAVERY LIFE and shares an excerpt on their news services website.

Georgia Collections Sought for Nationwide Digital Library

Press release from UGA Today:

Georgia collections sought for nationwide digital library

November 27, 2012

Writer: Jean Cleveland

Contact: Sheila McAlister

Athens, Ga. - The Digital Library of Georgia is accepting applications for original, unpublished historic materials significant to Georgia to be digitized and included in a nationwide digital library.

Georgia libraries, museums, historical societies, archives and other cultural heritage repositories are invited to submit applications for up to five collections each to be considered for digitization and subsequent inclusion in both the Digital Library of Georgia and the Digital Public Library of America. The deadline is Jan. 25. Applications can be found here.

The Digital Public Library of America is a groundbreaking project to make the country's local archives digital, searchable and freely accessible. Launched last summer by Harvard University, the DPLA recently received a boost when the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation gave $1 million to create seven pilot sites with libraries in Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah to serve as regional hubs. Georgia's share of the grant, together with additional funding from the Arcadia Foundation, is $350,000.

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia has operated since 2000 as part of Georgia's GALILEO virtual library. According to Toby Graham, director of the Digital Library of Georgia, the DLG already includes more than a million digital files.

"This project will allow us to issue a call for nominations from libraries and archives and other institutions around the state to add more content to the Digital Library of Georgia, which will serve as a pipeline into the Digital Public Library of America," Graham said.
Selection of materials to digitize will be made according to the availability of resources and the DLG collection development policy, which can be found here. DLG will be partnering with Lyrasis for the conversion of selected content, and staff hired through the grant funds will create descriptive records.

"Georgia's public archives—libraries, colleges and universities—have a rich collection that we're eager to share with the world," said Beverly Blake, Macon program director with the Knight Foundation. "Perhaps most importantly, this project will help ensure that our local communities engage with that history and contribute to the collection, helping our libraries become dynamic, digital community centers."

See here for more information on the Digital Public Library of America.

University Press Week Updates: Last Day for Blog Tour

Today is Day 5 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

Author and New York Times editor Constance Rosenblum celebrates the regional pride of university presses over on the New York University Press blog.

The Columbia University Press blog features two posts. The one from its editorial director and associate director Jennifer Crewe describes university presses’ willingness and ability to innovate to meet new intellectual and economic challenges. Columbia University professor Sheldon Pollock calls upon the university and its faculty to become more involved with university presses.

John Sherer, director of the University of North Carolina Press, writes about his recent transition from New York trade publishing back to his roots at UNC Press.

The University of Alabama Press features a post from author Rick Bragg.

Author Catherine Allgor says of the University of Virginia Press, "The process of creating this book [THE QUEEN OF AMERICA] with UVP has truly been an exercise in holistic business. In the end, it is a beautiful book. The product reflects the process, which left all of us feeling happy and fulfilled in this work we do. Uniting in a quest for excellence is the hallmark of the University Press, especially mine." She challenges business schools to refer to the university press model when identifying a holistic approach to business.

And finally, the tour wraps up on the Oregon State University Press blog with a post from intern Jessica Kibler.

Thanks for joining us all week on this blog tour!

Short Takes

The Nervous Breakdown reviews E. J. Levy's LOVE, IN THEORY. "EJ Levy’s new story collection, LOVE, IN THEORY, is a powerful array of contradictions: sensuous yet wry, bruising yet brainy, perfectly precise yet voluptuously messy."

Idra Novey, EXIT, CIVILIAN, was the NewsPoet on NPR's "All Things Considered" on November 9. Go here to check out her interview and read her poem, "The President Rehired."

According to the Iowa Review, "Danielle Cadena Deulen has hit her stride and shows no signs of slowing." The stories in THE RIOTS "create empathy, if not sympathy, for [Deulen's] younger, troubled self."

In a new podcast for the Journal of Southern Religion, Art Remillard interviews Joshua Rothman, author of FLUSH TIMES AND FEVER DREAMS, about his new book and why scholars of southern religion might be interested in it. Listen to the podcast here.

Article on Charles Seabrook and his book, THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH, in Connect Savannah. '“Everyone who lives here should read it,” suggests [local artist Betsy] Cain. “It gives a deep understanding of where we live.”'

Seabrook will be signing books at The Book Lady in Savannah on November 17 at 7:00pm.

The Press is saddened to learn of the passing of two Press authors: O M Brack Jr. and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Brack edited Sir John Hawkins' THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. and was textual editor for the Works of Tobias Smollett series. Wyatt-Brown was the author of THE LITERARY PERCYS.

University Press Week Updates

Today is Day 4 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

The Princeton University Press blog features an interview with Labyrinth Books co-owner Dorothea Von Moltke. She discusses their business model, how prominent university presses are on their shelves, how they make purchasing decisions, how they collaborate with university presses, and also the future of the university town bookstore/university press publishing – what’s unique and special about what they and we do.

Over on the Indiana University Press blog, former intern Nico Perrino shares how university presses are an essential cog within our society's "sophistication machine" and their vital role disseminating scholarly communication and advancing scholarship.

Fredric Nachbaur, director of Fordham University Press, explains on their blog how they have been celebrating University Press Week.

The Texas A&M University Press blog post is by author and Houston Chronicle columnist Loren Steffy. He discusses the impact of university presses, as well as the lasting impact of TAMU Press both on the field of nautical archaeology and on Steffy's family.

Georgetown University Press's publicist, Jackie Beilhart, contributes to today's blog post. It focuses on Less Commonly Taught Languages and how university presses are uniquely talented in creating scholarly material for these languages.

University Press Week Updates and Press Influence Map

Today is Day 3 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

Over on the University of Chicago Press blog, critic, writer, and editor Scott Esposito shares how Wayne Booth's MODERN DOGMA AND THE RHETORIC OF ASSENT contributed to his own engagement with criticism.
Jason Weidemann, senior acquisitions editor for the University of Minnesota Press, writes about the time he recently spent in Cape Town lecturing on publishing.
Author Stephen Wade discusses how university presses "make room for the richness of American voices" for the University of Illinois blog.
Bison Books Manager Tom Swanson explains why university presses matter to their region for the University of Nebraska blog.
Author Laurence M. Hauptman blogs for Syracuse University Press and outlines three main reasons for why university presses matter.

In addition to the blog tour for University Press Week, member presses were asked to create a "Press Influence Map" to show, visually, the significance and outreach of each particular press. More than 30 university press maps demonstrate contributions at both the community and worldwide scale. They are available for browsing here.

"State university presses shine a bright light on their regional community; prestigious disciplinary lists reach out to scholars across the globe as both authors and readers; and institutional  collaborations, translations, prizes, and events can carry the name of a university and its press almost anywhere."

Using Google Maps and a custom iconographic key, the UGA Press map demonstrates the many associations the Press has with people, places, and organizations around the world.

Listed here are:
-workplaces of authors, editors, and other contributors whose books are being published in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013
-locales important to these books, as settings or subjects
-organizations with which we have partnered to publish these books

View our map here or click on the map below.


View University of Georgia Press Influence Map in a larger map

 

University Press Week Updates

Today is Day 2 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

MIT Press features a post from editorial director Gita Manaktala on current shifts in reading and scholarship and how university presses can continue to deliver value to readers and authors.
University of California Press has a post from library relations manager Rachel Lee. She discusses the relationship between libraries and university presses.
Author and University of Hawaii Press editorial board member Barbara Watson Andaya will be sharing how university presses extend the global boundary of knowledge.
Wilfrid Laurier University Press includes a post from author R. Bruce Elder, who highlights the importance of scholarly monographs, particularly as they relate to thinking more critically about the big questions in our society.
University of Florida Press interns Alia Almeida, Claire Eder, and Samantha Pryor share their experiences at the University of Florida Press.

In addition to the blog tour, two local publications have also publicized UGA Press's participation in University Press Week. The University of Georgia newspaper, Columns, offers suggestions for how students, faculty, staff, and members of the community can learn more about UGA Press and University Press Week.

Our director, Lisa Bayer, also has a letter to the editor in a recent edition of the Athens Banner-Herald.

The UGA Press provides a vital service to citizens and students of Georgia by publishing books of the highest quality about our state. By telling and preserving the story of Georgia, the Press enables a better understanding of our past and informs the conversation about our future.

We are the leading publisher of books on Georgia’s rich history, culture and natural environment. You will recognize many names in our catalog, from Erskine Caldwell and Jimmy Carter to Flannery O’Connor and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. We are also the publisher of many of the faculty of Georgia’s public universities. In 2013, the Press will celebrate 75 years of publishing on and for Georgia.

Small is Better: Why University Presses Are Sustainable Presses

Photo credit: Olivia Drake

As part of the blog tour celebrating University Press Week, today's post is by guest blogger Claire Bond Potter. Potter is the co-editor of DOING RECENT HISTORY and the Professor of History at The New School for Public Engagement. Her blog, Tenured Radical, is featured on the Chronicle Blog Network.

Small is Better: Why University Presses Are Sustainable Presses

My recent stroll through the Brooklyn Book Festival reminded me that, despite dire predictions about the future of reading, small publishing houses are where innovative books grow. In a media world where big is not always better, a small press offers sustainability and quality, reaching out to wonderful writers who can't guarantee mass sales. Furthermore, small presses are conserving publishing's original economic model. They produce beautiful books in small runs. They have the occasional best seller that allows them to lose money on other worthy books. They assemble and retain staffs that are committed to the author, to the reader and to ideas.

That's a model that university presses never abandoned. It works. And we love making it work.

I say "we" because Renee Romano and I became members of the university press publishing community three years ago. Editing our series, "Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America" at the University of Georgia Press, and our own edited collection, DOING RECENT HISTORY: ON PRIVACY, COPYRIGHT, VIDEO GAMES, INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS, ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIP, AND HISTORY THAT TALKS BACK (2012), has been a great reminder of why publishing with a university press might be your first choice, not a default position.

Small is personal. At a university press, your book is being taken through the process by an editor who may have even solicited it, has helped you craft the proposal and is committed to the success of each book. your book will be in print over the long term. You might even get your fifteen minutes of fame from marketing departments that are increasingly sophisticated about testing larger markets for your work: go here to see NYU Press author Amy Farrell kickin' it about FAT SHAME (2011) on the Colbert Report!

To put it bluntly, as large publishing houses have consolidated under the ownership of a few large media empires, making money on everything they publish is a far greater priority than helping you through the difficult process of crafting good scholarship that will only sell to a select audience. This doesn't mean commercial editors are bad or unintelligent people: many of them are intellectuals with the same degrees you have. But they need books that will sell, even if it means an endless stream of relatively interchangeable memoirs about addiction, mental illness, sex scandals, parents who go off the rails, the triumph of overcoming (fill in the blank) and the truly terrible things that bad people do to children.

But I want to argue that this is ok: for a thoughtful book about complex ideas, I think smaller may be better. And it's a good thing too. Chances are, although you aspire to be Jill Lepore (or at least I do — I won't speak for you), your first book, and probably all the rest of them, will be published by a university press. People who encourage young authors to "get an agent," or who wax about the potential that manuscript has for a mass audience, are expressing great confidence in you, and you should feel honored by that. But here's what usually happens when you take their advice: you send your proposal to a friend of a friend who knows an agent who either reads it (or doesn't) and says,

"I'm sorry, I can't sell this."

But so what? Ideas weren't put on this earth to be sold, only hustled along to the next person who can make good use of them. As Anis Shivani of the Huffington Post wrote in 2010, small is innovative, small is thoughtful. Small means publishing what is important not something whose profits can be maximized through a vertical integration scheme. Too often ignored, "university presses are often the ones that provide the most thoughtful analyses of civil liberties, constitutional law, foreign and domestic policy, trade and finance, globalization, immigration and citizenship, and other areas where the rapidity of events in recent years has made it difficult to step back and put matters into perspective."

Although ongoing budget cutbacks in higher education mean that university presses have been pressed to not lose money, they don't have corporate bosses who answer to impatient shareholders. University presses have a far more realistic goal: not losing money and serving smaller, specialized audiences that they know intimately.

This is particularly important for history. While it seems that nearly every book about any aspect of the American Civil War has an audience, that's not true of, say, the Wars of Independence in 13th century Scotland. Myself, I have always aspired to write what I call an "airport book." This is an imaginary work of meticulous scholarship that will cause the historical profession to shower me with praise and prizes, but will catch fire and be sold in the bookstores at the Minneapolis airport. (Which are, by the way, some of the finest airport bookstores in the country.)

But for many reasons, few of us will write that book. More importantly, many of us won't want to — or can't — sacrifice the scholarly apparatus and theoretical framework that can make a book an excellent read for specialists but unattractive to even a well-educated reader. Scholars in the fields of art history, natural history, science studies and geography who require expensive illustrations may also find a mass market publisher unwilling to invest in the book they envision. Beautifully written memoirs, novels and poetry that would have been published by major houses thirty years ago, some by highly accomplished and successful authors who are now being passed over by pubshing houses that used to compete for them, are also finding a home at university presses.

Our bottom line is this: at a university press, publishing is what it used to be. Smaller, better. We can help you write the book you want to write, and we get it to your readers.

That's publishing.

Next stop on the blog tour: the University of Missouri Press. A complete blog tour schedule is available here.

University of Georgia Press Celebrates University Press Week, November 11-17, 2012

This November, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) will celebrate University Press Week. This week originated in the summer of 1978 when President Jimmy Carter proclaimed a University Press Week “in recognition of the impact, both here and abroad, of American university presses on culture and scholarship.”

The mission of the University of Georgia Press, along with the other 132 members of the AAUP, is to support creative and reliable scholarly communications. In celebration of that mission, November 11-17, 2012 has been designated the first annual University Press Week. University Press Week will highlight the extraordinary work of university presses and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society.

“As the University of Georgia Press prepares to celebrate 75 years of publishing seriously good books in 2013, we enthusiastically join the AAUP in marking University Press Week and illuminating the immeasurable academic and cultural contributions of university presses everywhere,” said Lisa Bayer, director of the University of Georgia Press.

The University of Georgia Press will kick off University Press Week with a celebration at the Georgia Literary Festival, held November 9-11 on Jekyll Island, GA. University Press Week giveaways will be available at the Press’s booth.

Throughout the week, students, faculty, staff, and members of the community can learn more about the Press and University Press Week by visiting the University of Georgia’s Main Library. Materials about the Press and University Press Week will be on display in the newly renovated entryway to the library.

In the spirit of collaboration that pervades the university press community, the University of Georgia Press and 24 other presses will come together for a blog tour during University Press Week. This tour will highlight the value of university presses and the contributions they make to scholarship and our society.

Harvard University Press launches the tour on Monday, November 12, and it continues coast-to-coast with stops in Canada and Hawaii before ending on Friday, November 16, at Oregon State University Press. The tour comes to the University of Georgia Press’ blog (ugapress.blogspot.com) on Monday, November 12, with a post by Doing Recent History co-editor and Tenured Radical blogger Claire Bond Potter.

In addition to the blog tour, the AAUP and other member presses are planning several features and events for University Press Week. For more information, visit www.universitypressweek.org.

Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the Press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has more than 1,500 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies.
For more information, see http://www.ugapress.org/.

Short Takes

RUMOR, REPRESSION, AND RACIAL POLITICS author George Derek Musgrove has co-authored a Washington Post article entitled "Not gone, not forgotten: Struggling over history in a gentrifying D.C."

The Charlotte Observer lists Michele Gillespie's KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS in its round-up of new North Carolina-related titles.

Louisiana Cookin' calls CORNBREAD NATION 6 "a juicy read about everything related to cooking in the South."

Dr. Fulminarc's Sidekick Books blog reviews Idra Novey's EXIT, CIVILIAN from a British point-of-view: "With the USA sending so many of its citizens to prison, Novey’s poems and the questions they raise are timely and crucial in asking her compatriots to consider what the state of their prisons says about them."

Listen here for Poetry Magazine's "Who Brings the Joy" podcast to hear three of Idra Novey's poems. 

Be sure to tune in to NPR's "All Things Considered" this Friday (11/9). Idra Novey will be this month's NewsPoet. "Each month, we bring in a poet to spend time in the newsroom — and at the end of the day, to compose a poem reflecting on the day's stories."

Congratulations to Mark Auslander and his book, THE ACCIDENTAL SLAVEOWNER! The book has been awarded the 2012 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology. 

Election Day: UGA Press Titles

Wanting to buff up your knowledge of the U.S. presidency for election day? Here are some recent UGA Press titles that cover American presidential leadership, policy and history:

THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS: FROM TRUMAN TO OBAMA
A compelling look at the role of religion in American politics and culture 

David L. Holmes

"This is an admirable and colorful yet balanced look at our recent Presidents and their religious beliefs. It will have wide appeal for all readers and particularly for those interested in presidential history." —Nancy Richey, Library Journal

"Holmes, professor of religious studies at the College of William and Mary (The Faiths of the Founding Fathers) examines the backgrounds of our presidents since WWII by delving into their families, the people who influenced their religious beliefs, and their patterns of attending Sunday worship. . . . [I]t is well-researched reading for the reader who wants to know about the presidency." —Publishers Weekly
 
FAITH BASED 

A critical examination of faith-based organizations as a replacement for the welfare state

Jason Hackworth

"Hackworth's study begins to remedy the absence of attention to religion within the critical scholarship on neoliberalism, and it will push this literature in a new and much needed direction. Faith Based is very accessible and interesting, and it moves along nicely. It's a great book." —Jason Dittmer, author of Popular Culture, Geopolitics, and Identity

HERE, GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS BORN
A lively and engaging look at patriotism and collective memory

Seth C. Bruggeman

"In addition to his discussion of this national monument, Bruggeman provides a broader insight into the history of public commemoration from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century, highlighting the changing ways in which sites and objects have been revered...Bruggeman’s study adds an important piece of the puzzle to our understanding of public history and the ways in which the past has been presented to general audiences during the last eighty years."
—American Historical Review

JIMMY CARTER, THE POLITICS OF FAMILY AND THE RISE OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
A look at the seismic shift in the political landscape that gave rise to the Religious Right

J. Brooks Flippen

"Flippen offers an exhaustive, highly documented, and fascinating account of how Jimmy Carter both helped inaugurate 'The Year of the Evangelical' in 1976 and ultimately lost the momentum of this movement to Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party."—Choice

Other related titles:
LIFE OF GENERAL WASHINGTON
David Humphreys With George Washington's Remarks Edited and with an Introduction by Rosemarie Zagarri
"Priceless . . . The book belongs on all Washington shelves."—Library Journal

JIMMY CARTER, AMERICAN MORALIST 
The life story and moral legacy of our thirty-ninth president
Kenneth E. Morris
"[Written] with humor, precision, and precocious hindsight."—Washington Post Book World

Trick-or-Treat: Give us frightening books to read!

Looking to read something that gets you in the Halloween spirit? Check out one of these spook-tacular titles that are sure to bring on the chills!

"[I]f you can't go to Oakland, then definitely invest in your own copy of ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY. It's a wonderful journey through Atlanta's history and you won't regret educating yourself about Atlanta's rural cemetery garden." If you missed the Halloween tours at Oakland Cemetery, follow Paranormal Georgia Investigations' recommendation and pick-up a copy of ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY. (For Halloween, we suggest reading the book while in costume!)

GHOSTS AND GOOSEBUMPS is a rich collection of folktales and superstitions that capture the oral traditions of central and southeastern Alabama. The spirits of treasure-keepers, poltergeists, murderers and the murdered, wicked men and good-men-and-true float through the book’s first section.

Ten Things to Know About the Ghosts

1. Never laugh at ghosts.

 2. Ghosts never speak unless spoken to.

3. Ghosts hardly ever appear in the daytime, usually at midnight.

4. If you're walking at night and you walk through a warm spot, you're walking though a ghost.

5. People born at midnight can see ghosts.

6. All dogs can see ghosts. If you want to see one, get behind a dog at midnight and look between his ears.

7. If you wish to speak to a certain ghost, go to its grave and walk around it backward twelve times.

8. If you want an easier way, go at midnight and call them by their first name.

9. If you meet a ghost walk around it nine times and it will disappear.

10. If you're running from a ghost, if you have the chance, run over a bridge; ghosts can't travel over running water.

 Rita Shaw (from GHOSTS AND GOOSEBUMPS)

For some chill-worthy short stories, check out Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction winner Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly aptly summarizes these haunting tales. "The best stories pair childhood idylls with horrific murder: a teacher and her student are terrorized by vicious killers in 'Meat and Mouth'; a man returns to his childhood house to learn that his next-door neighbor, once a figure of erotic fixation, has been hacked to pieces, in 'Smiling Down at Ellie Pardo'; the father in 'After the Flood' tries to account for his stunted stepson’s destructive impulses. . . . A little violence goes a long way and the lurking fear at the heart of these stories elevates them beyond the merely promising to reveal a wicked new talent."

Short Takes

A review of Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES appears in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"Left behind, the characters in THE INVISIBLES try to make sense of what remains. . . . [Y]ou’ll remember them all — Sheehy’s finely crafted genre-bending mash-up of thrillers, fairy tales, realism and children’s stories makes sure of it. . . . Fairytale and folkloric elements create a timeless, mythical atmosphere more Grimm than grits, a place where even the most contemporary characters, teens desperate to stand out from the crowd, come across like a gothy Hansel and Gretel."
A slightly revised version of the review also appears on reviewer Gina Webb's book blog.

PLOP! Review names THE INVISIBLES as a noteworthy book for 2012. "Sheehy has done his homework, and this collection is a sharp, relevant, and exquisite first entry that deserves what critical acclaim it can muster.  I am on the edge of my seat for Sheehy’s next book – a novel, I suspect – but for now, THE INVISIBLES is hands down my recommendation of the year."


Michele Gillespie received a "key to the city" of Mount Airy, NC. The key was presented to Gillespie "in appreciation of the courtesy that she has shown to local collections and collectors of historical materials including the Mount Airy Public Library, the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, and the Raven Knob Boy Scout Museum. The presentation honored Dr. Gillespie's application of serious, academic, historical research skills to local topics during the writing of her book, KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS."

On behalf of Mayor Deborah Cochran, Librarian Pat Gwyn (second from left) in addition to staff and friends of the Mount Airy Public Library present a "key to the city" of Mount Airy to Michele Gillespie (third from left). Photo by Ken Badgett for the Mount Airy Public Library.

An interview with THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS author David Holmes appears in the November issue of U.S. Catholic magazine.

What role is religion playing in the current presidential campaign?

It’s less important than I thought it would be. At first it looked like Mitt Romney’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be a major issue, but we’re far enough into the campaign now to see that it’s not going to be.

I thought Barack Obama’s lack of consistent church attendance might become an issue, too, but no. Traditional values and social values are important, and they spring out of religion, but not religious affiliation itself.

The Civil War Monitor interviews WAR UPON THE LAND author Lisa Brady about her book and the future of environmental studies of the Civil War. The video interview is available here.

In the News: Walton Harris Retiring from the University of Georgia Press

After 18 years at the University of Georgia Press, Walton Harris will retire from the design and production department at the end of October.

"All of the Press staff will miss Walton's great sense of humor, above-the-call-of-duty dedication, and wonderful inventiveness in playing his part in the making of our books,” said Kathi Morgan, assistant director for design and production at UGA Press. “His design and production colleagues will especially miss Walton's appreciation of the craft of design, typography, composition, appropriate color palettes, use of quality materials, and fine manufacturing technology and techniques so each book could be enjoyed and treasured.  We wish him—and his family—well during the next phase of his life beyond the office!”

 As book designer, production manager, and production specialist at the Press, Harris has managed more than 800 titles through production and designed and composed more than 160 titles since 1994.

“I will always be grateful to Walton for all that he did for our department, the Press, and for me from 1994 through 2005 when we worked together in design and production,” said Sandy Hudson, former assistant director for design and production at UGA Press. “Organized, thorough, detail-oriented, a team player, someone who appreciates others and treats people with respect—Walton was and is a superb production coordinator. Dedicated, focused, and hardworking, Walton can always be counted on to do a great job and to carry through on any project.”

After receiving his BFA from the University of Georgia, Harris made many one-of-a-kind books and other works of art. His work has been exhibited at the Lucky Street Gallery, Heath Gallery, and Nexus Contemporary Art Center. Some of his books are in the collections of the High Museum of Art, New York Museum of Modern Art, and in private collections.

Harris’s publishing career began in 1977 when he cofounded Nexus Press, a fine arts publisher specializing in limited edition artist’s books. From 1980 until 1991, Harris wrote, designed, directed, and performed original works for the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, including Dinosaurs, Aladdin, Once Upon A-bomb, The Box, Cirque Pataphysique, and Bad Sax. His show, The Box, was invited to the International Puppet Festival in Boston, MA in 1989, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution declared it the “most creative and original dramatic performance” in the 1989 year-end theater review. Harris went on to cofound the animation studio Vivid Pictures in 1992.

“I have really enjoyed working on the complex four-color projects in our series of natural history titles: Snakes of the Southeast, Turtles of the Southeast, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, Lizards and Crocodilians of the Southeast, Salamanders of the Southeast, Dragonflies and Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast, Wildflowers of the Eastern United States, and The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia,” said Harris.