And this is part of the reason the attacks on I and "the woke" and"multiculturalism" will fall flat on its fatous asss because the train ( yes, th e Tranes) left the station a long time ago, and flatulent Rip Van Winkles like Ted Cruz et ill are raving in their pajamas in ta aaheir basinets, having woken up to the realiitieras that America has changed irrevocably and they now live in a country where thousands of people havetwzge reead Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich and many other writers and have experienced the oceans of music, art, be it hiphop be it thTTETe sonnets of Gwendolyn Brooks, the essays of James Baldwin and Alice IWalker, or the current brilliance of John Edgar Wideman ,Evie Shockley and Patricia Smith, not to mention such identify affirmers as Yi Yun Li, Franny Choi, Ocean Vuong, Tommy Orange, George Abraham, Martin Espada, it is like all these Rip Van Winkles have been living in utter oblivion partially because a certain part of the publishing industry didnt have the smarts to understand there's gold in dem hills, and thebiggoted critics couldnt review the novels and poetry collections because they had no understanding of the peoplewho wrote the books and were stuck in a rusting limited "canon".
When the skinheads demonstrated in Charlotte, chanting "JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US
I was half-cringing with fear and astonishment, and half sneering and laughing, "YOU IDIOTS! DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT WE REPLACED YOU WELL OVER FIFTY YELS AGO WHEN WE HELPED BRING ONE OF THEWORLDS GREATEST FILM INDUSTRIES INTO THE UNITED STATES WITH TALENTED INGENIOUS PRODUCERS, DIRECTORS,SCREENWRITERS AND ACTRESSES AND ACTORS EDUCATING AND ENTERTAING MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR WELL OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
IDENTITY? WHITE IDENTITY HAS RULED THE US FOR NEARLY THREE HUNDRED YEARS.
AND IT IS A MAINLY UPPER MIDDLE CLASS PROTESTANT CALVINISTIC GUILT RIDDEN WHITE IDENTIY THAT IS IN A STATE OF DISSOLUTION ANDHE SO DESPARATE THAT IT MUST STRIKEOUT AT ITS SOCALLED "FELLOW AMERICANS."
I SAY THANK WHOMEVER FOR THE MILLLIONS OF THE WOKE WHO HAVE FOUGHT HARD FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMAN'S RIGHTS, WORKER'S RIGHTS, A
SOUND ENVIRONMENT AND ARE NOT PROPELLED BY OBSCENE MURDEROUS GREED.
THANKS TO ALL WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE A BETTER MORE PEACEFUL WORLD WHERE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ALL IDENTIES ARE CHERISHED, NURTURED, AND CELEBRATED
I appreciate this long-overdue article about the dedicated excellence of some university presses, including and especially those who promote international literature and "minority literature."
Syracuse University, for many years,has published classics of Middle Eastern literature, with such masterful,dynamic poetry books as Mahmoud Darwish's Adam of Two Edens and Samir Al Qasims'. Texas University Press and Arkansas U Press have also published works by ED, Alicia Ostriker,Toi Derricote,Cornelius Eady, and other. Shout out to U of GeorgiaPress for keepng in print two two scintillating classics ofAmecan (U( novels- John Killens' And Then We Heard The Thunder, and Tom Kromer' unforgettable short novel Waiting For Nothing, a terse epic and the homeless of the 1930s.
I APOLOGIZE TO ONE AND ALL. I WAS TYPING TOO FAST IN MY ENTHUSIASM SO MY INFO IS GARBLED. LET'S TAKE IT FROM THE TOP,
The University of Texas has consistently published works by Middle East writers as has the University of Arkansas, particularly scintillating work by. the grossly underrated and undereviewed writer Ghadda Samass.
The University of Berkely California publishdd Darwish's poetry.
For years, the University of Pittsbugh has published a plethora of writers including one o the finest in the world, the Syrian/Lebaicnese poet Adonis, and one of his early masterpieces- Pages of Day and Night. Were Adonis not an Arab, he would have won the NobelPrize years ago,
The University of Pittsburgh has also published a slew of terrific poets, including the veteran masters Toi Derricote and Cornelius, innovative pioneers and founders of Cav Canem, a dynamic organization of African American writers that formed in 1996 to promote the many elegant and scintillating poets in a time of racist hierarchy in the pubshing world, and now has over five hundred members, more than a few with National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes and ongoing workshops, retreats, and publications an teaching positions that have led a revolution along with the Asian American organization Kaya in US Poetry..Say some of their names: early mentors Lucille Clifton, Elizabeth Alexander, Michael Harper, Marilyn Nelson, Yusef Koumanakka encouraging and promoting poets Tyehimba Jess, Douglas Kearny, Patricia Smith, Evie Shockley, Traci Smith, Natasha Treadway,John Keene,Major Jackson,Terrence Hayes and others.
U Pitt has also endowed two of the most prestigious contests for fiction and poetry in the US- The Dru Heinz Award for Fiction, and the Agnes Starret Award for Poetry.
The University of Nebraska has established a whole line of African poets.
For years, The University of Washington Press has published and/or republished such classical Asian American works such as John Okada's No NoBoy and Toshio Mori's outstanding short story collection, Yokahama, California, Carlos Bulosan's America Is In The Heart, and Bienvenidos Santo's colllection Scent of Apples.
The University of Arizona regularly publishes sterling Native American poetry.
Somooetimes big publishers wise up Hassan Blassim's of IrAQ and Finland published his first two scintillating short story collections with an excellent smallpress- Comma Press in EnglAND, II beliieve- The Madman of Freedom Square and The Iraqui Christ. Some very astute person at Penguin snapped up Blasim and published him in a book called The Corpse Exhibitiion which ,deservedly splendidly.
Similar thing happened to Sherman Alexie.He did two astonishing chapbooks with HANGING LOOSE PRESS N 'BR00KLN,then had his next work ssnapped up by Atlantic Monthly.
And when will some astute American publisher do an entirebook(individually)of of the two most amazing surrealist writers in the world- Hyesoon Kim of South Korea and Vi Khi Nao of Vietnam
Yes, Im hearing about SOME craven and cowardly "teachers" having students read excerpts.But his this not a recent practice. It has been going on for years and is partly. the result of having a massive education system that is based on he assembly line, UNcritical thinking and, in tooman cases corrupted noncriical thinking practices
There are too many teachers whoshouldnot be teaching. Theydont like to read, they arenot curiious about such astonishing wriiters of today such asVi Khi Nao,,HassanBlasim, PatBarker/Martin Espada, Doug Kearny, Frannie Choi, Sam Sax, JOHN EGAR WIDEMnAN
An excellent essay, a tonic. I’ve published with commercial presses, but have also published three of my books with a university press. In each case, I chose a university press because I knew the books would stay in print far longer (the trade-off was a smaller advance). No regrets. One of the books won a prize, and all three have been translated in foreign editions.
For my eighth book, however, I decided to do something completely different, and I’m glad I did:
I read your Chronicle piece and really liked it; I'm glad you're posting on this topic here too. Can I ask what you think of the relationship between book publishing and journal publishing at university presses? This is something I've been thinking about a lot as I may be taking over the editorship of an academic press journal in a couple of years and have been hearing a bit about it from that side.
Thank you! I don't have a lot of direct experience on the journals side. I will say that having lost a journal to a commercial publisher when I was director at WVU, there were lots of bells/whistles/financial incentives that a big place was capable of offering and that we couldn't match. So while you sometimes hear about the big for-profit journals publishers being especially exploitive, it was the faculty who edited our journal who wanted that big-press experience (not something forced on anyone by evil outside capitalist interests). And I don't know that small not-for-profits offer a craft benefit in the world of journals to help offset commercial advantages, the way I believe they do with books.
Having a journal at a UP rather than a commercial house probably means it's cheaper to libraries, to the extent that's a consideration. But I think the whole field has really undergone change (including a meaningful uptick in OA) in a way that book publishing hasn't.
Thanks! Great to get your insight. I know from librarians (and it's of course widely reported) that the proportion of money they spend on journals vs. books has completely flipped. And then as you say with OA (and packaged library subscriptions, as for instance with Oxford) it feels like the economics of journals are changing quickly. Really hard to keep pace with all of the different pressures and challenges.
Derek, university presses serve an important need in publishing, not just in fiction but nonfiction as well. Case in point, I don’t have a “platform” yet I have a nonfiction book in progress at a uni presses on the entrepreneurial history of barbed wire, with lessons that apply today. Thanks for posting.
And this is part of the reason the attacks on I and "the woke" and"multiculturalism" will fall flat on its fatous asss because the train ( yes, th e Tranes) left the station a long time ago, and flatulent Rip Van Winkles like Ted Cruz et ill are raving in their pajamas in ta aaheir basinets, having woken up to the realiitieras that America has changed irrevocably and they now live in a country where thousands of people havetwzge reead Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich and many other writers and have experienced the oceans of music, art, be it hiphop be it thTTETe sonnets of Gwendolyn Brooks, the essays of James Baldwin and Alice IWalker, or the current brilliance of John Edgar Wideman ,Evie Shockley and Patricia Smith, not to mention such identify affirmers as Yi Yun Li, Franny Choi, Ocean Vuong, Tommy Orange, George Abraham, Martin Espada, it is like all these Rip Van Winkles have been living in utter oblivion partially because a certain part of the publishing industry didnt have the smarts to understand there's gold in dem hills, and thebiggoted critics couldnt review the novels and poetry collections because they had no understanding of the peoplewho wrote the books and were stuck in a rusting limited "canon".
When the skinheads demonstrated in Charlotte, chanting "JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US
I was half-cringing with fear and astonishment, and half sneering and laughing, "YOU IDIOTS! DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT WE REPLACED YOU WELL OVER FIFTY YELS AGO WHEN WE HELPED BRING ONE OF THEWORLDS GREATEST FILM INDUSTRIES INTO THE UNITED STATES WITH TALENTED INGENIOUS PRODUCERS, DIRECTORS,SCREENWRITERS AND ACTRESSES AND ACTORS EDUCATING AND ENTERTAING MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR WELL OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
IDENTITY? WHITE IDENTITY HAS RULED THE US FOR NEARLY THREE HUNDRED YEARS.
AND IT IS A MAINLY UPPER MIDDLE CLASS PROTESTANT CALVINISTIC GUILT RIDDEN WHITE IDENTIY THAT IS IN A STATE OF DISSOLUTION ANDHE SO DESPARATE THAT IT MUST STRIKEOUT AT ITS SOCALLED "FELLOW AMERICANS."
I SAY THANK WHOMEVER FOR THE MILLLIONS OF THE WOKE WHO HAVE FOUGHT HARD FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMAN'S RIGHTS, WORKER'S RIGHTS, A
SOUND ENVIRONMENT AND ARE NOT PROPELLED BY OBSCENE MURDEROUS GREED.
THANKS TO ALL WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE A BETTER MORE PEACEFUL WORLD WHERE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ALL IDENTIES ARE CHERISHED, NURTURED, AND CELEBRATED
I appreciate this long-overdue article about the dedicated excellence of some university presses, including and especially those who promote international literature and "minority literature."
Syracuse University, for many years,has published classics of Middle Eastern literature, with such masterful,dynamic poetry books as Mahmoud Darwish's Adam of Two Edens and Samir Al Qasims'. Texas University Press and Arkansas U Press have also published works by ED, Alicia Ostriker,Toi Derricote,Cornelius Eady, and other. Shout out to U of GeorgiaPress for keepng in print two two scintillating classics ofAmecan (U( novels- John Killens' And Then We Heard The Thunder, and Tom Kromer' unforgettable short novel Waiting For Nothing, a terse epic and the homeless of the 1930s.
I APOLOGIZE TO ONE AND ALL. I WAS TYPING TOO FAST IN MY ENTHUSIASM SO MY INFO IS GARBLED. LET'S TAKE IT FROM THE TOP,
The University of Texas has consistently published works by Middle East writers as has the University of Arkansas, particularly scintillating work by. the grossly underrated and undereviewed writer Ghadda Samass.
The University of Berkely California publishdd Darwish's poetry.
For years, the University of Pittsbugh has published a plethora of writers including one o the finest in the world, the Syrian/Lebaicnese poet Adonis, and one of his early masterpieces- Pages of Day and Night. Were Adonis not an Arab, he would have won the NobelPrize years ago,
The University of Pittsburgh has also published a slew of terrific poets, including the veteran masters Toi Derricote and Cornelius, innovative pioneers and founders of Cav Canem, a dynamic organization of African American writers that formed in 1996 to promote the many elegant and scintillating poets in a time of racist hierarchy in the pubshing world, and now has over five hundred members, more than a few with National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes and ongoing workshops, retreats, and publications an teaching positions that have led a revolution along with the Asian American organization Kaya in US Poetry..Say some of their names: early mentors Lucille Clifton, Elizabeth Alexander, Michael Harper, Marilyn Nelson, Yusef Koumanakka encouraging and promoting poets Tyehimba Jess, Douglas Kearny, Patricia Smith, Evie Shockley, Traci Smith, Natasha Treadway,John Keene,Major Jackson,Terrence Hayes and others.
U Pitt has also endowed two of the most prestigious contests for fiction and poetry in the US- The Dru Heinz Award for Fiction, and the Agnes Starret Award for Poetry.
The University of Nebraska has established a whole line of African poets.
For years, The University of Washington Press has published and/or republished such classical Asian American works such as John Okada's No NoBoy and Toshio Mori's outstanding short story collection, Yokahama, California, Carlos Bulosan's America Is In The Heart, and Bienvenidos Santo's colllection Scent of Apples.
The University of Arizona regularly publishes sterling Native American poetry.
Somooetimes big publishers wise up Hassan Blassim's of IrAQ and Finland published his first two scintillating short story collections with an excellent smallpress- Comma Press in EnglAND, II beliieve- The Madman of Freedom Square and The Iraqui Christ. Some very astute person at Penguin snapped up Blasim and published him in a book called The Corpse Exhibitiion which ,deservedly splendidly.
Similar thing happened to Sherman Alexie.He did two astonishing chapbooks with HANGING LOOSE PRESS N 'BR00KLN,then had his next work ssnapped up by Atlantic Monthly.
And when will some astute American publisher do an entirebook(individually)of of the two most amazing surrealist writers in the world- Hyesoon Kim of South Korea and Vi Khi Nao of Vietnam
Yes, Im hearing about SOME craven and cowardly "teachers" having students read excerpts.But his this not a recent practice. It has been going on for years and is partly. the result of having a massive education system that is based on he assembly line, UNcritical thinking and, in tooman cases corrupted noncriical thinking practices
There are too many teachers whoshouldnot be teaching. Theydont like to read, they arenot curiious about such astonishing wriiters of today such asVi Khi Nao,,HassanBlasim, PatBarker/Martin Espada, Doug Kearny, Frannie Choi, Sam Sax, JOHN EGAR WIDEMnAN
Thank you for your talk today in our class!
An excellent essay, a tonic. I’ve published with commercial presses, but have also published three of my books with a university press. In each case, I chose a university press because I knew the books would stay in print far longer (the trade-off was a smaller advance). No regrets. One of the books won a prize, and all three have been translated in foreign editions.
For my eighth book, however, I decided to do something completely different, and I’m glad I did:
https://themillions.com/2024/09/a-mystery-in-the-shape-of-a-book-free-library.html
University presses have supported my work.
Yes! I am proud to do so much book design work with university presses.
I read your Chronicle piece and really liked it; I'm glad you're posting on this topic here too. Can I ask what you think of the relationship between book publishing and journal publishing at university presses? This is something I've been thinking about a lot as I may be taking over the editorship of an academic press journal in a couple of years and have been hearing a bit about it from that side.
Thank you! I don't have a lot of direct experience on the journals side. I will say that having lost a journal to a commercial publisher when I was director at WVU, there were lots of bells/whistles/financial incentives that a big place was capable of offering and that we couldn't match. So while you sometimes hear about the big for-profit journals publishers being especially exploitive, it was the faculty who edited our journal who wanted that big-press experience (not something forced on anyone by evil outside capitalist interests). And I don't know that small not-for-profits offer a craft benefit in the world of journals to help offset commercial advantages, the way I believe they do with books.
Having a journal at a UP rather than a commercial house probably means it's cheaper to libraries, to the extent that's a consideration. But I think the whole field has really undergone change (including a meaningful uptick in OA) in a way that book publishing hasn't.
Good luck if you do end up with the journal!
Thanks! Great to get your insight. I know from librarians (and it's of course widely reported) that the proportion of money they spend on journals vs. books has completely flipped. And then as you say with OA (and packaged library subscriptions, as for instance with Oxford) it feels like the economics of journals are changing quickly. Really hard to keep pace with all of the different pressures and challenges.
Derek, university presses serve an important need in publishing, not just in fiction but nonfiction as well. Case in point, I don’t have a “platform” yet I have a nonfiction book in progress at a uni presses on the entrepreneurial history of barbed wire, with lessons that apply today. Thanks for posting.
Well unsurprisingly I wholeheartedly agree! Thanks for re-upping this Derek.