ForeWord Book of the Year Finalists

Congratulations to authors Richard Selzer, Joe Amato, and Eve Pell. Their books were recently name ForeWord Book of the Year Finalists!

2009 Finalists in Fiction - Literary Category

Knife Song Korea, by Richard Selzer

2009 Finalists in Autobiography/Memoir Category

Once an Engineer, by Joe Amato

We Used to Own the Bronx, by Eve Pell

The 2009 Book of the Year Award winners will be announced on May 25 at a ceremony at BookExpo America. The winners are being selected by a panel of librarians and booksellers.

 

ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across a number of genres. The Awards program often serves to provide these worthy projects with a second wind of publicity.

The Problem with Pacifism and How to Fix It

Dustin Ells Howes, author of Toward a Credible Pacifism: Violence and the Possibilities of Politics, wrote to share some information on a couple of upcoming speaking engagements in Syracuse and Oswego, New York. Both events are open to the public. Dustin will also have a few books on hand for purchase and signing.

Here is the basic appearance info:

March 25th, 2pm
Lemoyne College
Grewen Auditorium
Sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Studies. Co-Sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Lectures Committee.

March 25th, 7pm
SUNY-Oswego, Hart Hall Basement
Sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Studies, Global and International Studies, Civic Engagement Coalition, Interdisciplinary Programs and Activities Center

Talk Title: The Problem with Pacifism and How to Fix It (same talk at both locations).

Here is a brief description of what Dustin will be discussing:

Most pacifists argue that violence is immoral and making politics more ethical requires a more or less wholesale rejection of it. Yet nearly every political ideology besides pacifism – liberalism, conservatism, fascism, communism, and anarchism – remains unconvinced. Professor Howes argues that this is because pacifists too often try to tackle the problem of violence from an ethical as opposed to a political standpoint. Pacifists should cede that, at least on their own terms, the major ideologies have made an effective case for the legitimacy of violence. The political significance of Gandhi’s techniques is that he showed that violence is never necessary. A practical pacifism can concede that violence sometimes works and sometimes produces just results, but hold fast to the insight that there is almost always an alternative to violence that is more responsible. Gandhi demonstrated this by inventing a political technique that, even in the context of extreme instances of violence and oppression, has just as much of a chance of succeeding as violence.

Dustin Ells Howes is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University and the author of Toward a Credible Pacifism: Violence and the Possibilities of Politics. He studies political theory with a particular emphasis on the problem of violence and politics and has published articles in International Studies Quarterly, Human Rights Review, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He received the Tanner Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a contributor to the blog Waging Nonviolence.

Author Spotlight: Annette Dunlap

We're happy to share with you that author Annette Dunlap set up her own author's page over at Amazon. Here's a bio she put together for the page:

When people ask me why I wrote a biography, I tell them it was on my "bucket list." Ever since I was a schoolgirl, I have enjoyed reading about other people's lives, and I determined that one day a book of mine would be in the biography section of the library. The decision to write about Frances Cleveland was made during my years as a marketing professor at a small, liberal arts college in North Carolina. The advertising textbook discussed the advent of mass marketing, and mentioned that a very attractive first lady's image was used, without her permission, to market a wide variety of products. That first lady was Frances Folsom Cleveland. I did a little background reading, and learned that she was our nation's youngest first lady, that her wedding took place in the White House, and that there was a 27 year age difference between her and her husband, Grover Cleveland. Such is the stuff of novels, but as is often the case, the facts may be more believable than if an author had used the same characters in a work of fiction. 

Frank is my first book, but it will not be my last. I am at work on a second book, again to be published by SUNY Press/Excelsior Editions.

You can track Annette's recent events related to her biography of Frances Folsom Cleveland, Frank. Annette's also listing her upcoming events, including one tonight in Charlottesville, Virginia.

New York's Indie and Small Press Book Fair

Check out this LA Times article about last weekend's New York Indie and Small Press Book Fair. Author Binnie Klein (Blows to the Head) is featured prominently in the piece. Here's another picture of Binnie, relaxing at the Excelsior Editions table with our very own James Peltz.

Dutch Albany Extravaganza

Attention Albany, NY area residents: Save the date and mark your calendars for the Dutch Albany Extravaganza on Sunday, March 7th! From the Capital Region food blog, Table Hopping:

The event will include traditional Dutch treats and coffee at the Bistro/Bar at 74 State, a trolley tour of historic Albany locations, lecture by food historian Peter G. Rose on Dutch art and food, and a traditional Dutch dinner at Marché.

Peter G. Rose, food historian and author, will also be giving a lecture on Dutch art and food. Rose, recipient of the Alice P. Kenney Award for research and writing on the food customs and diet of the Dutch settlers in New Netherland, is author of Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures, a cookbook filled with informative and tasty Hudson Valley recipes.

This will be a day of events that you won’t want to miss.

Visit Table Hopping for the pricing and menu information, and check out Peter G. Rose’s cookbook.

SUNY's Statewide Conversation

Last Friday the Press took part in SUNY’s sixth Statewide Conversation at SUNY Plattsburgh. SUNY Press joined forces with SUNY Central Administration to showcase SUNY at Sixty, an in-depth look at SUNY’s history, political landscape, evolving mission, institutional variety, international partnerships, leadership, and much more. Hot off the press, SUNY at Sixty also marks the first set of conference proceedings published by the SUNY XPress digital program. Check out some pictures from the event below. The Press will also be taking part in upcoming conversations at Upstate Medical University and the University at Albany! 

Look Who's Talking: Eve Pell

Eve Pell (above, left), author of We Used to Own the Bronx, was recently interviewed at Boca Grande Talk, the online home of Florida's Gasparilla Gazette. Eve was in town to visit former roommate Alice Gorman (above, right), a Boca Grande resident, and to speak to a sold-out benefit audience at Johann Fust Community Library with "revolutionary tales of her unique life and times." Enjoy the full Q&A here.

Book signing for Blows to the Head

Binnie Klein read from and signed copies of her book, Blows to the Head: How Boxing Changed My Mind, this past Saturday at Barnes & Noble in North Haven, Connecticut. Binnie and her boxing coach, John Spehar, struck a pose at the event. As Binnie says: "In mid-life, I picked up the unusual stone of boxing that appeared on my path and boxer/coach John Spehar helped me realize a dream."

Binnie, signing copies.

Author Spotlight: Samer S. Shehata

Samer S. Shehata is Assistant Professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University and the author of the new book, Shop Floor Culture and Politics in Egypt, an ethnographic study of textile factory workers in Alexandria, Egypt. Samer's been busy promoting the book these past few months and recently shared some of his multimedia interviews with us.

Samer was interviewed by the publication for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown and you can read it here. The school's media relations office also produced a video interview with him; watch it here. Finally, you can listen to an in-depth interview where Samer explores what he learned while researching and writing the book, including how the "tools of a different discipline—cultural anthropology, specifically the discipline of ethnography—opened up the world to him in way that had great implications both for the book and for his teaching."

Let them eat cake

Mary Hallab, author of Vampire God, was the guest of honor at a book launch party last week, thrown by her friends and colleagues. She sent some photos of the party. Remember the book cover image?

Well, here it is again...on a cake:

That's a pretty good likeness! And we love the subtle shadings of the blue frosting—the more unnatural the frosting color the more we want to taste it. Mary says the cake was made by Sarah and Phong Nguyen, "amazing cake makers (and artist and short story writers—both University of Central Missouri faculty)." Here's Mary cutting into the creepy cake:

Mary's pals certainly know how to throw a fun book launch party. Great job, all around. Thanks for sharing these photos, Mary.

Albany Antiquarian Book Fair

SUNY Press was one of 60 exhibitors at the 35th Annual Albany, NY Antiquarian Book Fair in the historic Washington Avenue Armory. Dealers from at least ten states and Canada were selling antiquarian and out-of-print books, manuscripts, autographs, postcards, maps, posters, photographs and ephemera. Because many of the dealers specialized in New York/Northeast items, we brought along some of our Excelsior titles, which highlight the cultural and historical impact of New York state on the world.

We had a steady stream of people browsing and buying all day, and the fair itself seemed very well attended. Thanks to our partners at the Albany Institute of History & Art for sponsoring this event once again.

From Oscar Wilde to Andy Warhol

Last week, Elisa Glick, Associate Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri, read excerpts from her new book Materializing Queer Desire: Oscar Wilde to Andy Warhol at the Center Project in downtown Columbia, Missouri. Glick discussed the relationships between homosexuality and modernism through well-known icons, especially Oscar Wilde and Andy Warhol. The student paper covered the event:

Calling Warhol the "first great pop dandy," Glick said the artist used glamour, effeminacy and celebrity connections to advertise himself as an artist. But, she said Warhol might have just been reflecting what people in the world around him valued.

You can read the full article here.

Inaugural John G. Neihardt Lecture

On Tuesday, October 6 at 6:00 pm, join SUNY Press and the Albany Institute of History & Art for the Inaugural John G. Neihardt Lecture. The lecture will feature a talk by renowned anthropologist and historian Anthony F.C. Wallace. Wallace's talk will center around the Tuscarora Indian nation and include a tribute to John G. Neihardt and Black Elk. Neihardt was the celebrated author of twenty books of poetry, fiction, and philosophy, many of which are now available from SUNY Press. The John G. Neihardt Lecture was established by Coralie Hughes in honor of her grandfather. SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher will give a brief introduction.

Click here for more information and directions.

Wilson Center event photos

Renée Jones-Bos, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States

Following up our post from last week about the recent panel discussion at the Wilson Center on U.S.-Dutch relations, we have some photos of panel participants to share. Thanks go out to Timothy McDonnell at the Wilson Center for sending along these photos.

For more info on the event, check out our earlier blog post. For more on the SUNY Press book Four-Centuries of Dutch-American Relations, which was featured at the event, click here.

L. Paul Bremer III, former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands

Hans Krabbendam, Assistant Director of the Roosevelt Study Center

Giles Scott-Smith, Senior Researcher at the Roosevelt Study Center

Hudson 400 Dinner in Downtown Albany

Albany Institute of History & Art curator Doug McCombs and Marché's Executive Chef Brian Molino

(photo from the Table Hopping article on the event)

This Saturday, September 26th, Marché at 74 State will be offering a Hudson Quadricentennial dinner. The menu for the event was developed by the Albany, NY restaurant’s head chef, Brian Molino, in consultation with curators Tammis Groft and Doug McCombs, from the Albany Institute of History & Art. Molino also found inspiration in our new cookbook Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures: A Hudson Valley Cookbook. Albany Times Union senior writer Steve Barnes wrote about the upcoming event:

The meal, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the restaurant in the downtown hotel, features five courses modeled after food found on menus and in records at the Albany Institute, for which the meal is a fundraiser.

Besides sturgeon—served lightly smoked and roasted, with butter-braised cabbage—dinner will feature oysters, turkey, lamb, rabbit, pork, local vegetables and, for dessert, warm bread pudding with black currants and candied quince; the courses will be paired with beverages from Brewery Ommegang, which makes Belgian-style ales in Cooperstown.

Molino describes the fare as refined, fine-dining interpretations of dishes he found in records at the museum and books by food historian Peter G. Rose, whose works include Food, Drink and Celebrations of
the Hudson Valley Dutch and the recently released Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures: A Hudson Valley Cookbook.

Sounds delicious. Click here for the rest the article. Do you need reservations, you ask? Yes, you do. It may be too late at this point, but it's worth giving them a call at 518-434-7410. This promises to be a fantastic culinary experience.

Visit us at the Brooklyn Book Festival

We're really excited to be participating in the annual Brooklyn Book Festival this coming Sunday, September 13th at the Brooklyn Borough Hall. As their website says, the festival is a "huge, free public event presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today."

This year's festival promises to be fantastic. Check out the Village Voice's preview:

Already a geek’s delight, the Brooklyn Book Festival will be even more so this year with the brand-new addition of the New York Comic Con Pavilion. With guest presentations and autograph sessions, the comic-book marketplace has panels including “Sci Fi and Fantasy in NYC” at noon and a conversation with the writers of Marvel at 1 p.m. The most exciting (and free!) literary event in the city, this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival also features events with Colson Whitehead, Mary Gaitskill, Heidi Julavits, Edwidge Danticat, David Cross, Thurston Moore, and Tom Tomorrow—to name just a few. Other panels to look for include one with Pete Hamill and Norris Church Mailer on the legacy of Norman Mailer at 1 p.m., and “Writers on Unforgettable Friendships” with New York Review of Books contributors Oliver Sacks (discussing Francis Crick), Darryl Pinckney (discussing Djuna Barnes), and Anita Desai (discussing Ruth Jhabvala) at 4 p.m.

We'll be at table # 87, so stop by and check out a variety of SUNY and Excelsior Editions titles that celebrate New York. For location and direction information, as well as a full list of authors and moderators who'll be in attendance, visit the festival's website.

Hope to see you there!

Book signing pics

L to R: James Peltz (SUNY), Harvey Flad, Laurie Searl (SUNY), and Clyde Griffen.

We've been away for a while, but we're back and ready to share some photos from a book signing for Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in Poughkeepsie, by Harvey K. Flad and Clyde Griffen. The signing and reception took place in late July at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York. Interested individuals from the around the region and as far away as Nicaragua (yes, that Nicaragua!) traveled to town to celebrate the authors and their book.

Main Street to Mainframes in Chronogram

Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in Poughkeepsie appears in Chronogram's July Short Takes section. Look for coauthor Harvey Flad at Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck on July 18 at 7:30 pm and The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany on July 23 at 7:00 pm.

Main Street to Mainframes book party

Last night, Harvey and Mary Flad hosted a party for their brand new book Main Street to Mainframes at their lovely home in the heart of Poughkeepsie. Guests chatted and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres surrounded by the Flads’ eclectic art collection, including Mary Flad’s weavings, quilts, and paintings. Fran Keneston and Laurie Searl from SUNY Press shed the work environment early to drive down to the event. Many of Harvey’s Vassar colleagues came, as did Margaret Crenson, the artist whose 2004 painting, Main Street Facades, adorns the cover of the book. Harvey generously read several passages that included reflections on the civil rights social history of the city as well as the impact the local Woolworths had on the community before it disappeared—which prompted everyone to recall their own Woolworth memories! A good time was had by all on this warm, almost summer, evening.

Book Expo news and notes

Book Expo America in NYC is fast approaching—it starts next Thursday, May 28. We'll have some fun stuff for you to take away from our booth (#4840), plus book signings on Sunday, May 31 for Go, Tell Michelle from 9:30–10:30 and for A Family Place from 11:00-noon. Word is we might also have some hot-off-the-press galleys for Woodstock, so look for those as well.

Also, be sure to sign up for the BEA Book Raffle to win $500 worth of books! We've seen the list and it's a nice collection of books in film & television, American history, comic books, spirituality, and more...including three SUNY Press books: the aforementioned Go, Tell Michelle, A Family Place, and Black Elk Speaks. For a chance to win the complete set of books, all you need to do is drop off your business card or fill out a raffle ticket at the AAUP booth (#4846). Best of luck!