Short Takes

Deep South Magazine praises our two new books on Medgar Evers, telling "anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Civil Rights Movement and quiet bravery of Medgar Evers [to] pick up [Minrose] Gwin's book [REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS]." Frank X Walker's TURN ME LOOSE is described as "a powerful tribute."

Congratulations to BEAR DOWN, BEAR NORTH author Melinda Moustakis! Her story "They Find the Drowned" from her Flannery O'Connor Award-winning collection has won a 2013 O. Henry Award. The story will appear in the 2013 O. Henry Prize Stories book in September.

Congratulations to Ren and Helen Davis, authors of ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY! They are the recipients of the 49th Georgia Author of the Year Award in the Specialty Book category. Congratulations to Dorinda Dallmeyer, Janisse Ray, and James Holland! Their book, ALTAMAHA, was a finalist for the Georgia Author of the Year Award.

Our friends at the Southern Foodways Alliance are busy with another new project: A Spoken Dish. As NPR reports, "the Southern Foodways Alliance is teaming up with Whole Foods Market and Georgia Organics in this video storytelling project as a way to celebrate and document food memories and rituals of the American South." The Southern Foodways Alliance is also partnering with the Press on the new Southern Foodways Alliance Series. The first book in the series, THE LARDER, will be available this October.

Antipode praises David Correia's PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE, calling it, "[E]ngaged, critical, historical geography as it ought to be done."

"THE INVISIBLES blends magic realism and mystery fiction, and throughout the entire collection Sheehy uses genre combinations dynamically, whether to establish narrative frame or mood or to inflect the interiority of a main character. . . . Sheehy’s stories, by creating continual intersections between the fantastic and the real, find a novel way to seize upon the moments of change that test the relationship of the individual will with the outside world."—Kenyon Review

The latest issue of UGAResearch Magazine features HUMMINGBIRD SLEEP by Coleman Barks in the media shelf section. The poetry in HUMMINGBIRD SLEEP "is a quiet, sometimes humorous examination of the meanings of identity, language and perception."

In the News: The Dinner Party

As Judy Chicago nears her 75th birthday and The Dinner Party turns 35, the artist and her iconic art piece continue to inspire viewers as diverse as the Queen of Norway and the Russian feminist performance art group Pussy Riot. While on national television this spring, the Queen announced The Dinner Party as her favorite piece of art. In early June, two members of Pussy Riot visited the piece in person for the first time and described their experience as "extraordinary."

In her new book, THE DINNER PARTY: JUDY CHICAGO AND THE POWER OF POPULAR FEMINISM, Jane Gerhard explores the history of this widespread and unabated influence, a phenomenon that began with the opening of the piece in 1979. Her study of The Dinner Party illustrates the powerful role feminism has in our culture and the way in which material objects can influence the transmission of ideas.

Stephanie Martin, Susan Hill and
Shelley Mark examine possible stitches
for use in a runner at the loft, 1977.
Courtesy of Through the Flower

Gerhard's book is the first to accurately portray the daily work life of Chicago's Dinner Party studio where men and women gathered to help the artist produce her monumental work and is the first account to capture the sense of excitement of the 1979 San Francisco opening. In addition to retelling the history of its unique production and the never-told story of its unconventional U.S. tour, Gerhard examines the media's coverage of the piece and its controversies, sifting through debates about its significance among feminists, art critics, and the public.

Judy Chicago herself has praised the book, saying, "I've been waiting years for a book that thoughtfully appraised what The Dinner Party has meant to art, feminism, and politics in our times—also, for an accurate description of its impact. This publication, by historian Jane Gerhard, IS that book."

On July 11, Gerhard and Chicago will take part in a moderated talk and signing at the Brooklyn Museum, the permanent home of The Dinner Party. Find out more about this event here.

50th Anniversary of Medgar Evers' Assassination

Today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Medgar Evers. Both Minrose Gwin, REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS, and Frank X Walker, TURN ME LOOSE, are in Jackson, MS, participating in several days' worth of events commemorating Medgar Evers. The Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute is hosting most of these events. More information about the institute and order of events is here.

Gwin and Walker will also be doing a joint talk and signing at Square Books in Oxford, MS on Friday at 5:00pm.

Check out this ABC News story for more on Medgar Evers and his life in pictures.

On June 12, 1963, Evers was assassinated in the driveway of his Mississippi home by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith. The first NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, Evers's death was the first assassination of a high-ranking public figure in the civil rights movement.

REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS by Minrose Gwin.

In REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS, Gwin compiles together an impressive collection of fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, and songs that emerged in response to Evers's life and death. Gwin examines local news accounts about Evers, 1960s gospel and protest music as well as contemporary hip-hop, the haunting poems of Frank X Walker, and contemporary fiction such as The Help and Gwin’s own novel, The Queen of Palmyra. In this study, Evers springs to life as a leader of “plural singularity,” who modeled for southern African Americans a new form of cultural identity that both drew from the past and broke from it.

When speaking of REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS, Myrlie Evers-Williams said, "This is a book that should be widely read, shared with others, and placed in a spot of honor in every library. It tells important and all-too-often forgotten stories of the times with clarity and passion. It is a treasure."

TURN ME LOOSE by Frank X Walker

The poems in TURN ME LOOSE unleash the strong emotions both before and after the moment of assassination and take on the voices of Evers's widow, Myrlie; his brother, Charles; his assassin, Byron De La Beckwith; and each of De La Beckwith's two wives. Except for the book's title, "Turn me loose," which were his final words, Evers remains in this collection silent.

To recognize today's anniversary, the Press is giving away two advance reader copies of TURN ME LOOSE. To enter the drawing to win a copy of the book, email your  mailing address to press@ugapress.uga.edu. You have until 9:00am EDT tomorrow (June 13th) to enter.* The two winners will be notified via email.


*One entry per person please.

Short Takes

Publishers Weekly calls Gary Gallagher's BECOMING CONFEDERATES "[a]n excellent addition to Civil War scholarship."

The Tenured Radical blog gives a shout-out to THE DINNER PARTY and explains its connection to Pussy Riot: "Two members of the Moscow-based feminist punk rock collective Pussy Riot have been spotted in New York City in the last week. . . . According to The New York Times, the pair . . . 'receiv[ed] a guided tour of  'The Dinner Party,' Judy Chicago’s feminist installation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.'"

Thinking about purchasing a copy of THE NATURAL COMMUNITIES OF GEORGIA but not sure if it is right for you? Then check out this YouTube video for an in-depth review of the book.



Vincent Carretta's PHILLIS WHEATLEY is reviewed in the latest issue of Reviews in American History:

Histories of the heroic come with unique challenges. In penning the first full-length biography of Phillis Wheatley, Vincent Carretta had a tall order. Known for his scholarly editions of the writings of Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, among others, and his EQUIANO, THE AFRICAN: BIOGRAPHY OF A SELF-MADE MAN (2005), Carretta is no stranger to celebrated figures of African descent in the Atlantic World. In this monograph, however, he reveals a fresh perspective on this figure at once known and unknown, one whose symbolic meaning obfuscates the alternately unsettling and inspiring circumstances of her lived experience.

RUIN NATION author Megan Kate Nelson discusses her book on Civil War Talk Radio with host Gerry Prokopowicz. Listen to the interview here.

In Memoriam: Charles M. Hudson

Anthropologist Charles M. Hudson passed away in Frankfort, Kentucky, this past Sunday at age eighty. He was the preeminent authority on the history and culture of Native Americans in the Southeast and on the impact of the earliest colonial presence in the region—most notably that of Spain.

Hudson's legacy in the eyes of the wider public will be such monumental studies as Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South’s Ancient Chiefdoms and The Southeastern Indians, as well as his leading role in establishing the route of the Hernando de Soto expedition (1539–43) across the Southeast.

Here at the UGA Press, and more behind the scenes, Charlie's manifold contributions are not easily summarized. As an author and editorial board member, as a reader of manuscripts and champion of emerging scholars, he was a true friend of the Press.

Books by Charles Hudson, available from the UGA Press:

• Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South’s Ancient Chiefdoms
• The Catawba Nation
• Four Centuries of Southern Indians
• The Forgotten Centuries: Indians and Europeans in the American South, 1521–1704
• Black Drink: A Native American Tea

Also of Interest:

• Mound Sites of the Ancient South: A Guide to the Mississippian Chiefdoms by Eric E. Bowne
• Looking for De Soto: A Search Through the South for the Spaniard's Trail by Joyce Rockwood Hudson

Fall 2013 titles announced

The fall 2013 seasonal catalog is now available on our website. It features titles that will be published from September 2013 through February 2014. We have an exciting range of new books in the categories of history, poetry, international relations, literary & cultural studies, environmental studies, food studies and creative writing, as well as plenty regional interest titles.


Highlights include:




THE BILLFISH STORY is a passionate, readable, and informative account of billfish—sailfish, marlin, spearfish, and swordfish—and the bonds formed with this unique group of fish by anglers, biologists, charter-boat captains, and conservationists through their pursuit, study, and protection of these species.


Indigo was an important crop in colonial South Carolina and even became the official state color. RED, WHITE, AND BLACK MAKE BLUE examines the history of the indigo trade and the stories of the peoples who made indigo a key part of the colonial South Carolina experience.


Exhaustively researched, JOHNNY MERCER improves upon earlier popular treatments of the Savannah, Georgia-born songwriter to produce a sophisticated, insightful, evenhanded examination of one of America’s most popular and successful chart-toppers.


Featuring over 100 color photographs, THROUGH THE ARCH provides an illustrated tour and architectural history of UGA’s development over more than 225 years.



THE CLOUD THAT CONTAINED THE LIGHTNING by Cynthia Lowen, producer and writer of the widely acclaimed documentary Bully, is the latest National Poetry Series winner, selected by Nikky Finney.


Poet, painter, and novelist Clarence Major’s new book of poetry, DOWN AND UP, explores the physical world juxtaposed sharply with the inner world.


As the two new Flannery O’Connor Award books, THIEVES I’VE KNOWN explores and celebrates the lives of America’s invisible youth, and THE VIEWING ROOM is a collection of stories about damaged lives and how the living cope with the dying.


Terry Tempest Williams selected THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS as the winner of the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction.


The new Southern Foodways Alliance series, edited by John T. Edge, explores key themes and tensions in food stories. The first in the series, THE LARDER, showcases interdisciplinary methodologies in the study of food and culture.

Short Takes

Susan Puckett will be traveling from Ocean Springs, MS up to Memphis, TN over the next week and a half to promote her book, EAT DRINK DELTA. Her first stop is at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education in Ocean Springs. She will be there from 6:00-8:00pm on June 8 for "A Trip to the Delta" cooking class.

"The menu includes Chicken Brined in Sweet Tea, Mississippi Grits with Shrimp and Tomato Confit and Lemon Ice Box Pie. The cost is $69 per person for members and $79 for nonmembers. She also will be signing copies of the book at the Ocean Springs Fresh Market in the Depot parking lot earlier that day while the Mary C. staff serves samples of Craig Claiborne's mother's Hot Cakes with Orange Syrup." For more on the event and an interview with Puckett, check out this article in the Sun Herald.

Susan Puckett's upcoming events:

• Saturday June 8, 2013 9am-1pm: The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education Snacks & Signing, Ocean Springs Fresh Market, Ocean Springs, MS

• Saturday June 8, 2013 6pm-8pm: The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education Cafe Cooking Class, Ocean Springs, MS

• Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 12-1pm (at the library): Table Talk, Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library & Hitching Lot Farmers' Market, 314 7th Street North, Columbus, MS

• Thursday, June 13 5-7pm, 2013: Talk & Signing, Oxbow Market, Clarksdale, MS

• Friday, June 14, 2013 12pm-2pm: Lunchtime Celebration of Mississippi Flavors, The Neon Pig, 1203 N Gloster St, Tupelo, MS

• Monday, June 17, 2013, 7pm: Dinner & Signing, ACRE Restaurant, 690 S Perkins Rd, Memphis, TN

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/06/01/4704664/author-to-bring-tales-tastes-of.html#storylink=cpy

Congratulations to Nathalie Dupree! She received a James Beard Award for her new book, MASTERING THE ART OF SOUTHERN COOKING (Gibbs Smith). Dupree is the author of several UGA Press books, including NATHALIE DUPREE'S SOUTHERN MEMORIES, NEW SOUTHERN COOKING, and NATHALIE DUPREE'S COMFORTABLE ENTERTAINING.

In a recent KY Forward article, University of Kentucky Biology Department chair Vincent Cassone said, "Let's hope THE EMBATTLED WILDERNESS by Erik Reece and Jim Krupa opens at least a few eyes to the urgency of preserving our wild heritage in Kentucky and elsewhere for 'those who come after us.'"

WAVE Country with Dawne Gee interviewed David Domine about his new book, OLD LOUISVILLE. Check out the interview below.

wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather 
 
The latest issue of Southern Historian features a positive review of Arthur Remillard's SOUTHERN CIVIL RELIGIONS. "This is a book recommended for all historians of the post-war South and highly recommended for those particularly interested in religion, race, and gender." Remillard also has a post about religion and Boston over on the Religion in American History blog. Check out the post here.

The Chattanoogan calls THE NASHVILLE WAY a "well-written history" and a "thorough and engaging account of the historical drama that unfolded in Nashville."

Calvin Johnson Jr. was on today's "Morning Express with Robin Meade" on CNN as part of their week-long "American Behind Bars: Stolen Lives" series. Johnson is the author of Exit to Freedom. The book is the only firsthand account of a wrongful conviction overturned by DNA evidence.

Minrose Gwin, author of REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS, and Frank X Walker, author of TURN ME LOOSE, will be speaking at Jackson State University on June 13 at 5:00pm.

Hey Rube!

New York clothiers Barking Irons have designed one of their latest t-shirts around that notorious bit of circus slang, "Hey Rube!"

Harking back to the glory days of the traveling big top, "Hey Rube!" was a rallying cry for circus people who found themselves in a tight spot—a fairly common experience. At hearing "Hey Rube," fellow workers and performers would drop whatever they were doing and converge on the source of the outcry, ready for trouble. Nowheresville's local bully, who thought he had picked a fight with the tiny clown who jumps out of a suitcase, suddenly found himself dealing with the roustabout who tosses around huge piles of canvas like so many throw pillows. 

The folks at Barking Irons live and breathe Americana. They don't just want to sell you a piece of clothing; they want you to walk with them in history. That's where Greg Renoff, author of The Big Tent, comes in. Barking Irons interviewed Renoff about the "strange and embattled history of the circus in America" to ground readers in this fascinating chapter of our past. Learn about a bygone era in American popular entertainment—and then get a nice deal on a book and tee package.