Short Takes

Kirkus Reviews has given Sarah Gorham's forthcoming creative nonfiction book, STUDY IN PERFECT, a starred review! "Fear during a daughter's life-threatening illness, grief over her mother's death, nostalgia for family gatherings in summers past: All lead Gorham to consider how perfection is interlaced with pain, desire and even sin. A contemplative, lyrical, splendid collection."

THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH by Charles Seabrook is a "delightful read," according to Georgia Library Quarterly. "Seabrook's love for these areas is abundantly clear . . . in this beautiful elegy to the important and endangered salt marshes found on our southeastern coast."

On last Tuesday's (June 3) program of "Against the Grain," Sebastian Kaempf answered questions about the chapter he contributed to the volume THE FUTURE OF JUST WAR on KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Listen and/or download the program here.

Dr. Louis Sullivan, founding dean and first President of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former Secretary of Health and Human Services says the VA Hospital problem is fixable. Find out how and more about his new book, BREAKING GROUND, on Doc Talk.

USCatholic.org recommends Lawrence J. McAndrews' WHAT THEY WISHED FOR as a good summer read. "WHAT THEY WISHED FOR maps these movements [by Catholics] of presidential policies and politics, and shows how American Catholics have successfully shaped the political dialogue starting with the election of President John F. Kennedy."

In David Correia's PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE, "[o]ne of the book's strengths lies in its ability to deconstruct the social production and articulation of property rights as a set of privileges conferred by a particular nation-state," according to a recent review in Western Historical Quarterly. The Journal of American History call it a "must-read for historians of the American Southwest."

The Journal of American History names SIGNPOSTS "a worthwhile collection" and praises co-editors Sally E. Hadden and Patricia Hagler Minter for "help[ing] generate new ways of thinking about southern legal history that are sure to yield similarly fascinating efforts in the future."

The Journal of American History also reviews Robert J. Cottrol's THE LONG, LINGERING SHADOW:

This book represents the most coherent, lucid, and explicit update of Frank Tannenbaum's famous thesis concerning comparative slavery and race relations in the Americas to date. . . . THE LONG, LINGERING SHADOW is an important, ambitious, and thought-provoking book that offers a comprehensive comparison of slavery, race, and the law in the Americas. For scholars and students of race and inequality. . .this book is a must-read.

Co-editors Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell were interviewed about their book, MY DEAR BOY, by Hopeton Hay Monday (June 9) morning for the KAZI Book Review on KAZI 88.7FM in Austin. A link to the interview will be available soon.

Congratulations, Jingle Davis! Her book, ISLAND TIME, is the winner of the 2014 Georgia Author of the Year Award in the Specialty Book category given by the Georgia Writers Association. Winners were announced at Saturday night's banquet at Kennesaw State University.

Short Takes

Gillian Hart argues, during a recent interview with KPFA 94.1's "Against the Grain," that the African National Congress's rule in South Africa has been disappointing to many since it began in 1994. Hart is the author of the new book, RETHINKING THE SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS. Listen to the podcast here.

Kate Sweeney answered questions about her new book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, during a recent interview with WFAE 90.7's "Charlotte Talks." Listen to the podcast here. Also be sure to check-out her recent television interview with GPB's "On the Story." Watch the video here. (Sweeney's segment begins around the 15:00 mark.)

Patricia Vasquez gave a talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC on March 21 related to her new book, OIL SPARKS IN THE AMAZON. Oil & Gas Journal has a write-up about the event and Vasquez's book. Watch the video below to see the full talk or watch the webcast of the talk on the Wilson Center website.

Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell discussed their book, MY DEAR BOY, on Channel 6 Lawrence's "The Not So Late Show." Watch the video here.

Los Angeles Review of Books calls Idra Novey's EXIT, CIVILIAN "imperative and timely."

The Santa Barbara Independent recommends Frank X Walker's TURN ME LOOSE as a must-read for National Poetry Month.

The Electronic Green Journal reviewed THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH, saying the author Charles Seabrook "makes an impassioned and impressive appeal in this book for the protection of the South Atlantic Bight."

UGA Press at AWP 2014

Last week, this year's Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) annual conference was held in Seattle, WA. Throughout the week, attendees enjoyed an exciting array of quality literature, informative panels, and a relaxed atmosphere.

Here is Publisher's Weekly recap of AWP:

Amid the usual panels about how to write, publish and teach books of literature, publishers reported strong book sales and attendees noticed a friendlier atmosphere than in previous years. Although there was no major announcement, this year's AWP shows literary--and print book--culture to be thriving.

The book exhibit ran from Thursday, February 27 through Saturday, March 1. More than 12,000 attendees visited the 650+ booths.

At our booth, numerous past and present UGA Press authors stopped by, as well as several previous staff members and interns. On Friday, we held book signings for six books: PIRATES YOU DON'T KNOW by John Griswold, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney, THE VIEWING ROOM by Jackie Gorman, THIEVES I'VE KNOWN by Tom Kealey, EXIT, CIVILIAN by Idra Novey, and THE CLOUD THAT CONTAINED THE LIGHTNING by Cynthia Lowen. A few other authors stopped to say hello, including Julian Hoffman, Peter Selgin, Melinda Moustakis, John Chasteen, Allen Braden, Hugh Sheehy, Sue Silverman, Robin Ekiss, and Sean Hill.

A highlight of UGA Press moments and people at AWP 2014.

Director Lisa Bayer, assistant acquisitions editor Beth Snead, and publicity manager Amanda E. Sharp were in attendance.

During the conference, Buzzfeed Books had attendees share their responses to a variety of questions. Victoria Chang, Tom Kealey, and Amanda E. Sharp were featured in its list of "What Does the Term 'Successful Writer' Mean to You?" Their answers can be found here.

Winners Announced for the AWP Creative Nonfiction Award, National Poetry Series, and Cave Canem Poetry Prize

We're pleased to announce the winners of several creative writing awards. Look for these soon-to-be published books this fall.

Association of Writers and Writing Programs

Congratulations to Sarah Gorham for winning this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction with her work STUDY IN PERFECT. Gorham is a poet, essayist, and publisher who resides in Prospect, Kentucky. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa and her BA from Antioch College. She currently has four published collections of poetry including DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP, THE TENSION ZONE, THE CURE, and BAD DAUGHTER. Her poems and essays have been published widely, and she has won several awards, along with grants and fellowships. In March 1994 Gorham founded Sarabande Books, a small press devoted to the publication of poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction. She currently serves as president and editor-in-chief. She is the wife of fellow poet Jeffrey Skinner, the mother of two daughters, and a grandmother.

Sarah Gorham’s STUDY IN PERFECT will be published by the University of Georgia Press in the fall of 2014. Last year’s winner, THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS by Julian Hoffman, was published by UGA Press in October 2013.

STUDY IN PERFECT is a book that wholeheartedly delves into ‘the many-faceted idea of perfection.’ Drawing from the realms of science, philosophy, linguistics, social history, and personal reminiscence, the writer uses the abundance of knowledge and intuition at her disposal to define these facets. In doing so, she probes the human capacity to imagine perfection and to seek its illusive promise despite the odds against finding it. In many ways, this is a book about yearning and imperfection as much as it is about the ideals we strive for, and the author’s humanizing touch makes STUDY IN PERFECT not only informative but emotionally rewarding as well. It’s not often that I encounter a writer whose prose is this precise and lyrical and whose imaginative leaps are as articulate, unpredictable, and entertaining.—Bernard Cooper

 
National Poetry Series

The National Poetry Series is pleased to announce the results of the 2013 open competition. The winning books are scheduled for publication in the summer of 2014.

AMPERSAND REVISITED, by Simeon Berry of Somerville, Massachusetts
Chosen by Ariana Reines, to be published by Fence Books

TRESPASS, by Thomas Dooley of New York, New York
Chosen by Charlie Smith, to be published by HarperCollins Publishers

BONE MAP, by Sara Eliza Johnson of Salt Lake City, Utah
Chosen by Martha Collins, to be published by Milkweed Editions

ITS DAY BEING GONE, by Rose McLarney of Tulsa, Oklahoma
Chosen by Robert Wrigley, to be published by Penguin Books

WHAT RIDICULOUS THINGS WE COULD ASK OF EACH OTHER, by Jeffrey Schultz of Los Angeles, California
Chosen by Kevin Young, to be published by University of Georgia Press

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, the 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 

Jeffrey Schultz's poems have appeared in Boston Review, Indiana Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry, and elsewhere and have been featured on the PBS Newshour's Art Beat and Poetry Daily. He's received the "Discovery"/Boston Review prize and a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. He lives in Los Angeles and teaches at Pepperdine University.

Cave Canem

Established in 1999, this first-book award is dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by African American poets. The participation of distinguished judges and prominent literary presses has made this prize highly competitive.

2013 Winner: F. Douglas Brown for his manuscript ZERO TO THREE

These poems lead us from the birth cry in a hospital delivery room, to dusk and revelry in Spain, to modern-day Florida and history-laden Mississippi where Trayvon Martin and Emmitt Till were slain. Even when what Brown has set out to do is grieve loss, his lines move with a buoyant, marrow-deep music, percussive and rich. They move like ‘a train, bound to a destination’ and they arrive with ‘the crackle lightning makes when it hits.’—Tracy K. Smith 

2013 Honorable Mentions: Leon Baham for THE BOOK OF IMAGINARY BOYS and Donika Ross for AMERICAN TAXONOMIES.

F. Douglas Brown, an educator for nearly twenty years, currently teaches English at Loyola High School of Los Angeles, an all-boys Jesuit school. He has an MA in literature and creative writing from San Francisco State University and a BA in English from Santa Clara University. Mr. Brown is both a Cave Canem and Kundiman fellow, two writing organizations that celebrate and cultivate African American and Asian American poets, respectively. Brown has two children, Isaiah and Olivia. When he is not parenting, writing, or teaching, Brown is busy deejaying in the greater Los Angeles area.

AMERICAN AFTERLIFE book club giveaway!

Kate Sweeney, author of AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, is offering free signed copies of her forthcoming book!

AMERICAN AFTERLIFE is not a grief handbook, comprehensive history, or survey of all death practices in America today. Instead, it is a collection of narratives that speak to one another—and it appeals to anyone curious about how Americans “do” death, whether they have navigated this nation’s changing choices in memorialization or not.

Discuss AMERICAN AFTERLIFE in your book club and win a free signed copy. Sweeney is available for Skype book club visits. To schedule, email samantha@jkscommunications.com. Bonus: The first five book clubs to contact Samantha with the subject line "American Afterlife Book Club Giveaway" will receive a free signed copy.

More information about the book, upcoming events, and "Dismal Trade Interviews" is available here: http://www.americanafterlifebook.com/.

Kate Sweeney is a reporter and producer at NPR affiliate WABE in Atlanta, Georgia. She has won two Edward R. Morrow awards (2004 and 2011) and two Associated Press awards (2005 and 2010) for her reporting. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Sweeney’s public radio experience has trained her to write about complex subjects in a voice that is straightforward, intelligent, and conversational. AMERICAN AFTERLIFE reflects that. Her book is also written from the viewpoint of someone who has not yet experienced a terrible death. The driving force behind this book is her curiosity about mortality and what death means when it happens, rather than a penchant for the morbid.

Goodreads Book Giveaway #2

We're giving away advance reader copies of PIRATES YOU DON'T KNOW, AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE EXAMINED LIFE! To enter, click on the "Enter to win" button below or look under the giveaways section on Goodreads. Winners will be selected in mid-February. Good luck!

A gorgeous and profound look at life, death, transience, toil, class, and family.

For nearly ten years, John Griswold has been publishing his essays in Inside Higher Ed, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Brevity, Ninth Letter, and Adjunct Advocate, many under the pen name Oronte Churm. His new book, PIRATES YOU DON’T KNOW AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE EXAMINED LIFE is a funny, poignant, bittersweet, and sometimes snarky account of everything ranging from creative writing to babies, and from race issues in a university town to crocodiles.

Griswold’s tongue-in-cheek tone allows him to discuss this breadth of subject matter in an inviting and entertaining way while still addressing prevalent and important issues. With humor, pathos, and poignancy, he touches on his upbringing in a coal town in southern Illinois, how class in America affected four generations of his family, his experience as an army deep-sea diver and frogman, the joys and challenges of fatherhood, and what it means to be literate and open to the world. 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Pirates You Don't Know, and Other Adventures in the Examined Life

by John Griswold

Giveaway ends February 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Spring 2014 Sneak Peek 6

University of Georgia Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of John Griswold’s new book, PIRATES YOU DON’T KNOW AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE EXAMINED LIFE. It is a funny, poignant, bittersweet, and sometimes snarky account of everything ranging from creative writing to babies, and from race issues in a university town to crocodiles. The book is scheduled for publication on March 15, 2014.

For nearly ten years, John Griswold has been publishing his essays in Inside Higher Ed, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Brevity, Ninth Letter, and Adjunct Advocate, many under the pen name Oronte Churm. Churm’s topics have ranged widely—from the writing life and the utility of creative writing classes, to race issues in a university town, to the beautiful, protective crocodiles that lie patiently waiting in the minds of fathers. PIRATES YOU DON’T KNOW is Griswold’s vital attempt at making sense of his life as a writer and now-professor. The answers for him are both comic and profound: “Picture Long John Silver at the end of the movie, his dory filled with stolen gold, rowing and sinking; rowing, sinking, and gloating."

Though Griswold recently entered the tenure stream, much of his experience, at a Big 10 university, has been as an adjunct lecturer—that tenuous and uncertain position so many now occupy in higher education. In PIRATES YOU DON’T KNOW, Griswold writes poignantly and hilariously about the contingent nature of this life, tying it to his birth in the last American enclave in Saigon during the Vietnam War, his upbringing in a coal town in southern Illinois, and his experience as an army deep-sea diver and frogman. He investigates class in America through four generations of his family and portrays the continuing joys and challenges of fatherhood while making a living, becoming literate, and staying open to the world. But Griswold’s central concerns apply to everyone: What does it mean to be educated? What does it mean to think, feel, create, and be whole? What is the point of this particular journey?

Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, says, “I generally feel indifference for books about writing by writers or anybody. But this one I unabashedly love, embrace, scribble in, underline, copy, quote out loud to my wife. I say without reservation, John Griswold is one of the best essayists inhabiting this land.”

John Griswold is an assistant professor in the MFA program at McNeese State University and the editor of The McNeese Review. He is the author of the novel A Democracy of Ghosts and of the narrative nonfiction Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City. He lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Including McNeese State University, he has taught college-level creative writing, literature, and rhetoric for 16 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the University of Miami. Also, Griswold was the first blogger for Inside Higher Ed and has had the blog, The Education of Oronte Churm, for 7 years. Check out the blog here.

Spring 2014 Sneak Peak 3

With all the changes in healthcare with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), much news and debate has flooded media outlets across the country. Just this week, CBS News released an article entitled “Is the Affordable Care Act in serious jeopardy?” According to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the plan is still going strong as she responded to reporters:

“I don't think it's in trouble. I think we just have to remain calm, get through the website getting fixed, and clarify some misrepresentations about it. It's the law of the land. It's an important economic and health stability issue, a security issue, for the American people, and I believe that in a matter of months many more people will see that." To read the full story or see the video, click here.

One of the UGA Press authors, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, is also a vocal supporter of Obamacare and has expressed his professional opinion saying, “overall I believe the Affordable Care Act is a good start, one that can be tweaked and amended over time to address deficiencies and the unintended consequences that health care laws are prone to. I am especially pleased that the act allocates more resources to prevention and health promotion than before. The numbers are still woefully insufficient—only $4 billion—but it is a start in area that I believe is perhaps most important of all in making the country healthier and lowering our health care costs.”

Dr. Sullivan was HHS secretary from 1989 to 1993 during the George H. W. Bush administration, and, during that time, he made efforts to push through comprehensive health care reform decades before the Affordable Care Act. Currently, Dr. Sullivan is president emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine. He is chair of the board of the National Health Museum in Atlanta and the Washington, D.C.-based Sullivan Alliance to Transform America’s Health Professionals.

In February 2014, UGA Press will release Dr. Sullivan’s autobiography entitled BREAKING GROUND: MY LIFE IN MEDICINE. Written with David Chanoff and featuring a foreword by Ambassador Andrew Young, it is the compelling life’s story of a towering champion of higher education, medicine, and accessible health care for all.

More than just an autobiography of Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, BREAKING GROUND is also a history of how the south has changed, as well as an inspirational story for future generations of all backgrounds. Sullivan began his path to becoming the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary as a young boy growing up in Jim Crow south Georgia. From the age of five, he knew he wanted to be a doctor, and, after attending Morehouse College in the early 1950s, Sullivan went on to medical school at Boston University, where he was the sole African American student in his class. He would go on to become the founding dean and first president of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Founded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine is one of four predominately African American medical schools in the country.

For more news and events for Dr. Sullivan, check out his website.
Read more about Dr. Sullivan's life and career at the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Spring 2014 Sneak Peak 2

One of the hardest topics to think about, much less talk about, is death. How do we as humans cope with our mortality and share that with others? For many locations across the world, people are being given a new setting to do just that. In March 2013, the organization formally known as Death Café Atlanta had its first meeting in the bell tower at Oakland Cemetery. Kate Sweeney, reporter for 90.1 WABE, shares their story:

“No grim subject is off-the-table at Death Café Atlanta’s free monthly meetings, which are open to the public, though attendance is limited. If this seems weird, think about how we usually approach end-of life issues […] Put simply, we don’t. Not until we’re forced to, say, when someone close to us dies. At least, that’s what you hear from most professionals dealing in death […] The goal is to create a fun and freewheeling atmosphere, so that it’s easier to talk about things like…well, like planning one’s own funeral.”

However, to help with the mood, it’s a requirement that all Death Café meetings have cake and sometimes the meetings end in a cheerful song. The intent is to foster a fun and open atmosphere for participants to open up and talk about the uncomfortable and frightening issue that is death. This allows people to discuss a host of topics including but not limited to childhood recollections, funerals, superstitions, “Bucket” lists, legal issues, as well as fears. Popularity for Dead Café Atlanta is growing at a tremendous rate with attendance at capacity for most of the meetings thus far. For the entire article and the broadcast recording of the story, click here.

Alongside covering stories like these, Kate Sweeney is also a University of Georgia Press author. Her latest work, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, is scheduled for publication in March 2014. AMERICAN AFTERLIFE fits in a tradition of books going back to Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death and including more recent successes such as Mary Roach's Stiff and Thomas Lynch's The Undertaking, but Sweeney's temperament and reporting ability lead her largely outside the traditional funeral business and give her work a unique angle on understanding the actions we take and the objects we create in the face of grief.

AMERICAN AFTERLIFE reveals this world through a collective portrait of Americans past and present who find themselves personally involved with death: a klatch of obit writers in the desert, a funeral voyage on the Atlantic, a fourth-generation funeral director—even a Midwestern museum that takes us back in time to meet our death-obsessed Victorian progenitors. Each story illuminates details in another until something larger is revealed: a landscape that feels at once strange and familiar, one that’s by turns, odd, tragic, poignant, and sometimes even funny.

Someone dies. What happens next depends upon our personal stories when it comes to death and on where those stories fall in a larger tale—that of death in America. It’s a powerful tale. And yet it’s usually hidden from our everyday lives until it happens to us.

Peter Trachtenberg, author of Another Insane Devotion, shares his perception of Sweeney’s collection, “At a brisk pace, but with frequent stops to relish the magnificent oddities of the terrain, Kate Sweeney guides readers down the lanes and boulevards of the American way of death. As we look into the grave, she looks at us, with an unflinching gaze that would be the envy of Jessica Mitford. Revelatory and—dare I say it?—terrifically entertaining.”

The book’s publication date is March 15, 2014, so mark it on your calendars. In the meantime, visit Sweeney’s website for updated and announcements. Also, to learn more about Death Café in Atlanta visit their Facebook page.