The University of Chicago Press announces a new series devoted to books in literary criticism. Entitled Thinking Literature and co-edited by Nan Z. Da (University of Notre Dame) and Anahid Nersessian (University of California, Los Angeles), the series will be devoted to “the refinement of literary criticism as a way of thinking unavailable by other means.” “This series is a contrarian move,” says Alan Thomas, the Press’s editorial director and acquisitions editor for the series. “At a time when interdisciplinary projects carry the greatest prestige in the humanities, it’s time for literary criticism to make a stronger case for its disciplinary integrity and a bolder claim for what it offers as a practice.” “Thinking Literature will be a gift to our discipline,” says Deidre Shauna Lynch (Harvard University), author of Loving Literature: A Cultural History. “I admire the editors’ commitment to scholarship centered on the big questions, ones that can’t be posed often enough and which need, now more than ever, to be posed anew: what defines literature’s distinctiveness, why does it matter, and what modes of criticism can best honor that significance?” Jeff Dolven (Princeton University), author of Senses of Style: Poetry before Interpretation, adds, “Thinking Literature promises to . . .

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              You know that what folks on your holiday gift giving list want is books, right? Fortunately, that’s what we’ve got: book after book after book, including art, biography, science, literature, poetry, and much more, all 40% off this week only–December 3 through 9–if you order directly from our site. Get The Writer’s Map, which the Weekly Standard called the book of the year. Or Philip Ball’s Beyond Weird, which the Washington Post said was the easily best book for general readers on quantum physics they’d ever seen. Or the David Ferry’s brilliant new translation of The Aeneid; pair it with a different sort of epic, the Bodleian Library’s stunning catalog Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth. Or Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer’s rollicking memoir of his life in the music business. There’s something here for everyone on your list, and it’s all 40% off this week. Time to get shopping!     . . .

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  An era will pass on December 31st with the retirement of executive editor Doug Mitchell after forty-one years at the University of Chicago Press. During his tenure at Chicago, Doug has made an incalculable impact on several scholarly fields, including sexuality studies, sociology, history, and rhetoric. Doug began his publishing career in the college division of Scott, Foresman, then came to the Press in 1977. Some of Doug’s distinctive early acquisitions were books by the Annales historians, works in social and cultural theory, studies in the production of knowledge, and, most famously, the National Book Award–winning Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, by John Boswell. Boswell’s book became the spearhead for Doug’s field-defining list in sexuality studies. For his role in shaping and amplifying that field, Doug was honored in 1998 with a Lambda Literary Award. Doug also published important books in rhetoric and communication and drew on his musical gifts to bring Chicago a line of important books in jazz studies. Perhaps the greatest of Doug’s achievements was to build a community of sociologists linked by a love of culture, narrative, and first principles, for which the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction awarded him its coveted George . . .

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We’re please to be able to share some good news that’s perfectly timed for University Press Week—#TurnItUP! The University of Chicago Press and the Chicago Distribution Center are pleased to announce that Autumn House Press, Brandeis University Press, Carnegie Mellon University Press, Dartmouth College Press, New Issues Poetry & Prose, Oberlin College Press, Omnidawn Publishing, and 2Leaf Press, all formerly distributed by UPNE,  as well as books published under UPNE’s own imprint, are joining the CDC and will be marketed and sold by the University of Chicago Press. All orders for books from these publishers can now be directed to the CDC. Joseph D’Onofrio, the director of the CDC, said “The University of Chicago Press and the Chicago Distribution Center are pleased to welcome our new publishers from UPNE to the family. We look forward to helping them flourish, as they continue to publish great and compelling books.” Founded in 1998, Autumn House Press publishes full-length collections of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. The press concentrates on publishing the work of excellent contemporary writers who have a following among readers, but whose work has been overlooked by commercial publishers. Autumn House Press believes art and literature are essential to the growth of a . . .

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                                The University Press week blog tour continues, today with a focus on politics. Georgetown University Press  provides readers with some resources. A post from Teachers College Press features a list of books on politics and education.  A Q&A with Michael Lazzarra, author of Civil Obedience (Critical Human Rights series) about how dictatorships are supported by civilian complicity is posted by the University of Wisconsin Press.  Rutgers University Press highlights three recent politics books: The Politics of Fame by Eric Burns and the reissues of classics Democracy Ancient and Modern by M.I. Finley and Echoes of the Marseillaise by Eric Hobsbawn. UBC Press describes their new Women’s Suffrage and the Struggle for Democracy series.  Over at LSU Press, there’s a post about their new list dealing with contemporary social justice issues, pegged to Jim Crow’s Last Stand and the recent state vote to ban non-unanimous criminal jury verdicts.  An interview with Dick Simpson and Betty O’Shaughnessy, authors of Winning Elections in the 21st Century can be found courtesy of the University of Kansas Press.  Harriet Kim provides a selection of interesting politics titles that she recently brought back . . .

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Your inbox is full from the weekend. You can’t figure out which problem to tackle first. Wouldn’t you rather pour a cup of coffee and go traveling? Fortunately for you, it’s University Press week, and we’ve got a blog tour kicking off today! Set your browser humming with these offerings: •Duke University Press writes about how partnerships with museums have helped them build a strong art list. •Athabasca University Press offers a playlist by author Mark A. McCutcheon of all the songs featured in his book The Medium Is the Monster: Canadian Adaptations of Frankenstein and the Discourse of Technology. •Rutgers University Press dedicates a post to our their book Junctures in Women’s Leadership: The Arts, by Judith Brodsky and Ferris Olin. •Yale University Press features a post by author Dominic Bradbury about how immigrants enrich a country’s art and architecture. •University of Minnesota Press is running a post about their author Adrienne Kennedy, who will be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on November 12th. That’s just the start of a week full of reasons to #TurnItUp! . . .

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That’s what Alan Jacobs thinks. In one of the strongest reviews we’ve ever read (and we read a lot of reviews), for the Weekly Standard, he praises The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands to the skies: Barring some unforeseen miracle of publishing occurring in the next few weeks, The Writer’s Map will be my book of the year for 2018. It gathers intelligently charming meditations from writers and festoons them with map after map after map after map of imaginary, and sometimes non-imaginary, lands. (Only after several days of staring at the beautifully reproduced images did I force myself to read the words, but I am glad I finally did.) I am so enamored of this book that I bitterly resent what takes me away from it, whether that be the need to eat, or sleep, or write this review. But when duty calls, I sometimes answer. We couldn’t agree more. In this oversized, richly illustrated volume, editor Huw Lewis-Jones has gathered a roster of stars—folks like Philip Pullman, Lev Grossman, Miraphora Mina, Robert Macfarlane, and many more—to share the stories of how they, as writers, engage with, explore, and are enchanted by maps. This is a book for everyone who remembers huddling . . .

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This coming Friday will mark the end of a remarkable era: University of Chicago Press Marketing Director Carol Kasper will retire after more than 23 years as head of the Marketing Department, and nearly 38 years working at the Press. We’ll let Press Director Garrett Kiely tell the story: By any measure, January 20, 1981 was a momentous day. Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, the Iran hostage crisis ended, and Carol Ann Kasper started work at the University of Chicago Press as a part-time receptionist in the Journals Division. When Carol arrived at the Press in 1981, she was not a stranger to the University of Chicago. She was an ABD doctoral student in the English Department who had earned an M.A. in American Literature from the University after graduating with a B.A. in English and a minor in German from Case Western Reserve University (She put that German experience to good use on her many visits to the annual Frankfurt Book Fair). She was promoted to full-time Marketing Copywriter later in 1981, Direct Marketing Manager in 1983, and was named Marketing Director in 1995. She has enjoyed a storied 23-year tenure . . .

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