Founder of the Deep Ecology Movement Dies

Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess died on Wednesday at the age of 96. Naess was the founder of the deep ecology movement and a leading figure in modern environmental circles. He founded the journal Inquiry and authored many books, including LIFE’S PHILOSOPHY: REASON AND MEANING IN A DEEPER WORLD, which the Press published in the U.S. and recently issued in paperback.

In addition to his prolific academic career at the University of Oslo, Naess was an avid mountaineer who led the first expedition up Tirich Mir in Pakistan, among other accomplishments.

Images:
Left: Arne Naess
Right: Tirich Mir

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UGA Press Authors on New Letters on the Air

NPR’s nationally syndicated show New Letters on the Air opens 2009 with shows that feature appearances by several UGA Press poets:

January 9: Victoria Chang, author SALVINIA MOLESTA, discussed her poetry with New Letters editor Robert Stewart. Chang, who works as a business journalist, talked about mixing her "practical" business role with the imaginative role of a poet. Chang also discussed how being the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants has influenced her work.

January 30: In a conversation taped at a recent symposium, Cave Canem founders Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady talk about their goal of providing a safe space for African-American poets. They are joined by Nikki Finney, editor of THE RINGING EAR, as well as Opal Moore, Sean Hill, and Kyle Dargan.

February 6: Sean Hill, a native of Milledgeville, Georgia, is the author of the poetry collection BLOOD TIES AND BROWN LIQUOR. An homage to African-American life in the segregated South, the poems create a call and response across six generations of the fictional Silas Wright family. Hill discusses how he weaves history, fiction and his own family into this debut book.

UGA Press Author Helps Discover New Fish Species

University of Georgia researchers Byron Freeman and Mary Freeman have discovered a new species of fish in Georgia’s Flint River. Byron is coauthor of FISHES OF THE OKEFENOKEE SWAMP, which was recently reissued by the UGA Press. The Halloween darter, or Percina crypta, is a small striped fish that is very similar to the Blackbanded darter already known to exist in the area. But as the Freemans surveyed the river with a small group of ecologists the distinctive orange coloring unique to Halloween darters caught their attention and led to the discovery.

Mary works for the U.S. Geological Survey and the UGA Odum School of Ecology, and Byron is director of the Georgia Musuem of Natural History. Read more about their discovery in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or on the UGA website. The research team on which the Freemans were working also included Noel Burkhead of the U.S. Geological Survey and Carrie Straight, a Ph.D. student at the UGA Odum School of Ecology.

Come See Us in Savannah

One of the highlights of Savannah's literary calendar is the annual Book Festival. In its second year, the festival will be held Friday, February 6, through Sunday, February 8, and will be located around historic Telfair Square. The UGA Press will have a book display at the festival; come by our booth (on Telfair Square at Barnard Street between York and State Streets) and check out our "Buy Two Books, Get One Free" special.

Several authors with books from the Press are on the festival schedule. Roy Blount Jr., author of CRACKERS, will deliver the keynote address at Trinity Church on Friday, February 6, at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, February 7, the Press has a full slate of authors on the schedule. Constance Curry, contributor to DEEP IN OUR HEARTS and MISSISSIPPI WOMEN, will speak with Robert Zellner in the rotunda of the Telfair Academy at 11:00 a.m. Judith Ortiz Cofer, author of EL DELI LATINO and A LOVE STORY BEGINNING IN SPANISH, will read her poetry in the fellowship hall of Trinity Church at 1:00 p.m. Roy Blount Jr. will speak again, this time in the sculpture gallery in the Telfair Academy at 2:00 p.m. Food writer and local Savannahian Damon Lee Fowler, who wrote the foreword to our reissued edition of Mrs. S. R. Dull's SOUTHERN COOKING, will speak in the Neises Auditorium at the Jepson Center at 2:00 p.m. David Kirby, author of ULTRA-TALK and WHAT IS A BOOK? will read his poetry in the fellowship hall of Trinity Church at 2:00 p.m. Former Georgia Poet Laureate David Bottoms, author of OGLETHORPE'S DREAM, rounds out the schedule with a reading of his poetry in the fellowship hall of Trinity Church at 3:00 p.m.

The Press will be displaying all of these books plus an array of titles about Savannah, coastal ecology, Georgia history and culture, and more. Special features include a gathering of beautiful fine arts and decorative arts books that we're distributing for the Telfair Museum of Art.

Images (courtesy of the Savannah Book Festival):
Left: John Berendt at the 2008 festival.
Right: Author tent at the 2008 festival.