University of Nebraska Press

UNP on the WWW – A round-up

As I was drinking my morning coffee and getting ready for work today, I checked one of my very favorite   book blogs and found a review of TWO University of Nebraska Press titles featured prominently on the homepage. Which was a great way to start the day.

In her short story collection Call Me Ahab, Anne Finger explores disability and the way it affects (and doesn’t) art, relationships, legacy and a host of other topics. It’s a powerfully and beautifully written book, which has gained it much notice.  Including from Millions reviewer Amy Halloran, who calls Finger “a talented storyteller, delivering voices and situations with smooth conviction.” Well said.

In the same review, Halloran also mentions Peggy Shumaker’s book, Just Breathe Normally, which she describes as “a captivating and lyrical memoir.” The full review is here.

In other news:

--  The Feminist Review, one of the first outlets to review Call Me Ahab, has posted a review of Keeping the Campfires Going, which is a collection of essays by indigenous women living in urban areas on the challenges of remaining connected to their heritage while integrating into their urban homes as well.

-- Enemies author John Christgau was interviewed on Radio Goethe.

-- I don’t have a link for this next tidbit, just wanted to share anyway: Two chapters from Floyd Skloot’s The Wink of the Zenith, were recently singled out for notice. "When the Clock Stops" was named a Notable Essay of 2008 in The Best American Essays 2009 and "Into a Maelstrom of Fire: On Having a Feeling for Thomas Hardy" received Special Menion in The Pushcart Prize XXXIV, 2010.

Work from Terese Svoboda to be features on CellStories

Short stories, while not as popular in form as novels, are, in a lot of ways, more convenient. They’re short. It’s easy to read an entire story in a single sitting. Even if that sitting is at a computer, or an iPod.

Writer/editor/teacher Dan Sinker has begun a project called CellStories, in which he’s posting a short story a day at http://cellstories.net/. The reason, according to the Web site: “Because we still think the best place for something wonderful to read is in the palm of your hand and, when you combine the amazing technology of modern web-enabled phones and mobile devices with some of the best short-form writing around, something incredible can happen. Like this!”

Up tomorrow: A short story from Trailer Girl and Other Stories, by Terese Svoboda, a Bison Books edition of which is forthcoming in December. I know what my lunchtime reading will be tomorrow.

For a links to previous CellStories, visit Dan Sinker’s Twitter page.

Huskers (and UNP authors) in the news

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will play the Louisiana-Lafayette in a sold-out stadium this Saturday. It will be the 300th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium.

Anyone who knows Nebraska football knows that the consistent sellout crowds are an important part of the game day atmosphere. There’s a certain feeling of privilege that comes with scoring tickets, and there’s a certain feeling of camaraderie that comes with being part of an enormous, enthusiastic crowd.

University of Nebraska Press author Steve Smith talked to 10/11 News about the significance of 300 consecutive sellouts, as well as the significance of Husker Football to fans across the state today – topics he discusses in-depth in his 2005 book Forever Red, which is part Husker history, part memoir, part simple observation. Remember the “On the Eighth Day, God Created Husker Football” bumper stickers? Neither did I until Smith’s book reminded me. Anyway, to see the video of Smith discussing his book, visit the 10/11 homepage and click on the video on the right side titled "Forever Red author talks Husker pride."

And if you’re interested on a coach’s perspective on Husker football, the University of Nebraska Press just released a paperback edition of Tom Osborne’s autobiography, More than Winning. In More than Winning, Osborne writes of both his coach philosophy and the values that helped to shape it, as well as his experiences as both an athlete and coach.

Lost Lamb (rediscovered)

The Wall Street Journal recently ran this fascinating story about pulp writer Harold Lamb, and about the volumes of his short stories that the University of Nebraska Press began publishing three years ago. Lamb’s stories were fixtures in the pulp magazines of the 1950s, and his stories were usually set in Asia and on the Russian Steppes. His stories pure adventure, without the sorcery and science fiction elements of many pulp stories of the day. The author of the WSJ article, John J. Miller, wrote this about Lamb’s writing:

"Lamb ... didn't stick magical or supernatural elements into his historical settings. The Asian backdrop probably seemed exotic enough, with its khans, yurts and mare's milk. The first Khlit story takes place on the banks of the Dnieper River, which runs through Ukraine and drains into the Black Sea. By the third tale, the hero has gone into an unwarranted exile. He spends the rest of his days wandering among Muslims and Mongols.

"Long before multiculturalism became a byword for political correctness, Lamb appreciated an authentic form of it. He once described why he wrote on the people and societies of Asia: 'It all came out of an ­intense irritation over the fact that all history seemed to draw a north-south line across ­Europe, through Berlin and Venice, say. Everything was supposed to have happened west of that line, nothing to the east. Ridiculous, of course.'"

Ted Kooser launch party coming up, Terese Svoboda on NBCC blog

On the blog yesterday, I mentioned that Ted Kooser’s new book (which is officially released today by the University of Nebraska Press) was included in Publishers Weekly’s list of the top 20 indie books of the fall (yay!) Today I have more exciting Ted news, namely that in just a little more than two weeks, you’ll have a chance to meet Ted and get a signed copy of his new book.

The University of Nebraska Press is celebrating the publication ofLights on a Ground of Darkness, which is a remembrance of the time Kooser spent with his mother’s family in Guttenberg, Iowa, when he was a little boy, on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. The event will be in Omaha at the W. Dale Clark Library downtown. The event is free and open to the public, books will be for sale, and Ted will sign copies. We’re looking forward to this.

In other news, UNP author Terese Svoboda was featured on the National Book Critics Circle blog a few days ago. The blog author mentions that Svoboda’s novel, Tin God (published by UNP!) is on her to-read list. She also quotes Svoboda explaining (very elegantly) how she came to be a writer:

…I wrote furiously in my youth and also painted, sculpted, and made movies. It was also the seventies when everyone was an artist. When the great wash of peers pulled back and it was revealed that they had secretly studied law or medicine, there I was, standing in the sand, still making art.

Such a lovely writer, that Terese.

PW names Lights on a Ground of Darkness among the top indie books published this fall

Exciting news here at the University of Nebraska Press today: Publishers Weekly has named Ted Kooser's new book one of the top 20 indie publications of the fall season. Following is a press release detailing the specifics of this honor:

Publishers Weekly names Ted Kooser’s Lights on a Ground of Darkness among the top offerings this fall from independent presses

LINCOLN, Neb. (Aug. 31, 2009) – Publishers Weekly magazine has named Ted Kooser’s Lights on a Ground of Darkness one of the top 20 books published by university and independent presses this fall.

Lights on a Ground of Darkness, was listed among the “dazzling array of works” from independent publishers in the Aug. 31 issue of Publishers Weekly.  PW describes Kooser’s writing as “precise” and “evocative.” The article notes that Kooser has said that writing this book, which is a memoir of the time Ted spent with his mother’s family when he was a little boy, was the most important work he has ever undertaken because it was his attempt to keep these beloved people alive against the relentless erosion of time.

More than a memoir of Ted's childhood, Lights on a Ground of Darkness is a remembrance of Ted's mother's immigrant parents, and the simple life they lived after they retired from farming and moved to run a Standard Oil filling station in Guttenberg, Iowa. The book is full of Ted's small memories: hunting for nightcrawlers with an uncle, throwing bottle caps over the roof of the Standard Oil station with his grandfather, games of cards with extended family, the cream an aunt used to bring when she came to visit. Ted also recounts larger, broader memories of his grandparents: the way they cared for and loved a grown son with cerebral palsy, the hard life they led and the simple pleasures they enjoyed, and the passage of time and eventual deaths of both family members and a way of life common to immigrants and descendents of immigrants in the Midwest in the middle of the 20th century.

The University of Nebraska Press will celebrate the publication of Lights on a Ground of Darkness at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, at W. Dale Clark Library, 215 South 15th St., in Downtown Omaha. Kooser will sign copies of his book at the event, which is free and open to the public.

About the author: Ted Kooser, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and former U.S. poet laureate, is Presidential Professor of the University of Nebraska. He is the author of twelve books of poetry, including Valentines (Nebraska 2008) and The Blizzard Voices (available in a Bison Books edition). His award-winning prose book, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, is also available in a Bison Books edition.

About the University of Nebraska Press: Founded in 1941, the University of Nebraska Press (UNP) is a nonprofit scholarly and general interest press that publishes 160 new and reprint titles annually under the Nebraska and Bison Books imprints respectively, along with 20 journals. As the largest and most diversified university press between Chicago and California, with nearly 3,000 books in print, the University of Nebraska Press is best known for publishing works in Indigenous studies, history and literature of the American West, literary translation, and sports history. UNP has also had a long-standing dedication to making available the best literature from around the world, which helped earn the press the title of ForeWord Magazine’s Independent Press of the Year for 2008. With nearly 200 translated titles currently in print from five different languages, including two titles by J.M.G. Le Clézio, the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the number and breadth of translated titles has distinguished UNP as one of the largest, most active American publishers of translated work. UNP’s translations and other titles have won numerous awards.

A distinctive member of the University of Nebraska community, UNP supports the missions of research, teaching, and service. In addition, UNP's sustained commitment to publications on the peoples, culture, and heritage of Nebraska reflects decades of service to its home state. Learn more about UNP at www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Football titles on sale and two American history titles in the news

The fourth-floor offices of the University of Nebraska Press offer a clear view of the Memorial Stadium Jumbotron, which the past few weeks has been on at all times – a clear signal that football season is nearly upon us.

Nebraskans – and a lot of non-Nebraskans, too – know that football season is a big, big, big deal here. And like most of the rest of the state, the University of Nebraska Press participates in the football madness. We publish a number of football titles, and, in honor of football season, many of those titles are on sale.

Sale titles include biographies like Rockne, the story of Fighting Irish head coach Knute Rockne, a celebrity in the world of football who died in a plane crash in 1931, when he was still in his 40s; More than Winning, Tom Osborne’s autobiography (no explanation needed); and Golden Boy, in which exceedingly handsome Heisman Trophy winner Paul Horning describes the perks and pitfalls of his success.

Other books examine football from a slightly different vantage point. Forever Red looks at Husker football through the eyes of a fan – specifically author Steve Smith, who deeply loves Husker football, but also recognizes the occasionally ridiculous ways that love can manifest itself (I particularly enjoy Steve’s descriptions of the fans who wear seven slightly different shades of scarlet all at once). Another title, Wedded to the Game describes the lives of the wives and girlfriends of NFL players. Visit the sale page for a full list of titles.

In other University of Nebraska Press news, Searching for Tamsen Donner by Gabrielle Burton continues was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, as part of an article about why so many people remain fascinated by the Donner Party. And the Salt Lake City Tribune published this very interesting story about Alice in Jamesland author Susan Gunter, which covers, among other topics, Gunter’s meticulous research of her subject.

The UNP's summer reading list, on sale

  Select University of Nebraska Press titles that lend themselves well to lazy afternoons of summer reading are on sale through August 15. Titles on sale include novels Jackalope Dreams, Because a Fire was in my Head and The Plain Sense of Things, as well as adventure and travel memoirs including Kayaking Alone, Bicycling Beyond the Divide and Searching for Tamsen Donner. Also on sale is How to Cook a Tapir, a book I’ve been meaning to blog about all summer. How to Cook a Tapir is the story of author Joan Fry’s year in Belize. Fry was a 20-year-old newlywed who didn’t know how to cook when she agreed to a working honeymoon with her anthropologist husband. Off they went together to a remote jungle village, where Fry’s husband studied the language, religion and customs of the people there, and Fry was the lone teacher at the local school. She also learned to cook unfamiliar foods on an unfamiliar stove, starting with instant oatmeal and working her way up to things like chile verde, chickpea soup with cilantro and pasta, and a traditional soup called caldo. Fry includes a recipe at the end of every chapter, and when I read this book late last winter while there was still snow on the ground, I couldn’t help but think that many of these dishes would be perfect for summer barbecues.

A full list of summer sale titles is here, along with instructions for applying the discount.

Louise Pound, Pie-A-Palooza and Michael Jackson, too

Today is the first day of a short but busy week here at the University of Nebraska Press. Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening is a launch party for our book Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer, which is (as the title implies) a biography of linguist and notable Nebraskan Louise Pound. The book launch party, which happens to coincide with Louise Pound’s birthday, is at the Antlers Center, at the corner of Sheridan Boulevard and South Street here in Lincoln, from 5 to 7 p.m. Bonus: Some of Pound’s athletic equipment – including skates, golf clubs and tennis racquets – will be on display at the party, which is free and open to the public.

Thursday is the UNP’s inaugural pie-baking contest. This is something I’m looking forward to, as the employees of the UNP are a talented bunch in the departments of both creativity and culinary skills. Look for photographs and recipes on the blog late this week or early next.

And Friday is a holiday – sort of. It’s the day we state employees have off, since July 4 is on a Saturday this year. Bit o' Nebraska trivia: It’s also the day the City of Lincoln is putting on its fireworks display (so as not to interfere with Larry the Cable Guy’s appearance at Memorial Stadium on July 4).

In other news, the Inkwell Bookstore blog has posted images of numerous books featuring Michael Jackson on the cover. Some are pretty cool-looking in terms of cover design, some a pretty cool-looking in terms of content, and some are just plain strange. Also, today’s PW morning report mentions a Jackson bio that was already in the works is set to go to press tomorrow. Wow.

An online puzzle, subject of a UNP book on the Daily Show, and a facinating story about an astronaut-turned-painter

I learned via today’s PW Morning Report that Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown’s new mystery book will be promoted with a series of online puzzles. This Web site says the puzzles are “bound to intrigue us as much as any of his mystery novels.” We shall see.

In University of Nebraska Press news, former Boston Celtics star and basketball legend Bill Russell was on the Daily Show the evening before last, promoting his new book. The UNP is not the publisher of Russell’s book, but it is the publisher of The Dandy Dons, which tells the story of Russell and his ragamuffin University of San Francisco team that shocked everyone by being really awesome. And it was fun to see one of the main characters of The Dandy Dons chatting with Jon Stewart.

In other news, former astronaut Alan Bean was featured in the New York Times today. Bean kept a diary while stationed on the space station Skylab, portions of which were published in the recent UNP book Homesteading Space. In 1981, Bean retired from NASA to paint full-time, and the astronauts, spacescapes and other subjects he observed during his Skylab days provide the fodder for much of his work. Bean has been painting since the 1960s, but it wasn’t until he was well into his career as an astronaut that he began painting the moon and other spacescapes, he says in the NYT story:

“My astronaut friends began to say to me, ‘Bean, why do you keep painting the earth?’ ” he recalled. “ ‘You’re the only artist that’s ever been anywhere else but this earth, and you keep painting the earth.’”

That is hands-down my favorite quote in the story.