Thanks for reading

We want to thank you all for following this blog for the past few years. We're focusing our efforts on the SUNY Press Facebook page at this time, and for that and a number of other reasons, we're going to let the blog go to an archival status for now. Again, thanks go out to those who followed it reguarly and even those who only read a few posts in recent weeks. We've enjoyed writing for all of you on this blog and hope you'll continue to follow us for the same news and notes on our Facebook page. (And if you haven't signed up for Facebook yet, maybe this is a good enough reason to join!)

Visit us at Book Expo America

Next week, we'll make our annual trek down to BookExpo America (BEA), the largest publishing event in North America. Publishers, booksellers, authors, librarians, and more will gather in New York City to celebrate publishing, books, and all things related.

We'll be featuring our newest books in the exhibit hall and many of our noted authors will be on hand for autographing sessions, including Binnie Klein, Barbara Chepaitis, Anthony V. Riccio and Silvio Suppa, and Dan Rattiner. BEA will take place from May 25-27 at the Javits Center in New York City. Passes are available to the public, so be sure to stop by and check us out!

On The Evolutionary Review

Watch Joseph Carroll discuss the journal he coedits (with Alice Andrews), The Evolutionary Review. Joe explains the journal's aim and style as well as the state of the two-cultures synthesis as it exists within the humanities and social sciences today. Enjoy!

Busy busy busy

Spring has sprung in the northeast, and as usual that means our next seasonal catalog—the fall seasonal catalog, mind you—will be dropping soon. We've been busy working on that lately, hence the lack of exciting new blog posts. We hope to remedy this soon, but while you wait, remember to become fans of SUNY Press on Facebook, where you can follow our latest news and notes. Also, get out and enjoy the spring weather!

Find us on Facebook

Short but important post for today: SUNY Press is on Facebook! Find us there by clicking on the Facebook link you see on the right side of our blog, just beneath our logo.

Tell your friends!

Prestigious publication grant awarded by French Embassy

SUNY Press has received a prestigious Hemingway Grant from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy supporting the forthcoming publication of Guilty, an important work by the 20th-century French philosopher Georges Bataille. Translated and with an introduction by Stuart Kendall, Guilty will be published in January 2011 in the SUNY series in Contemporary French Thought, edited by David Pettigrew and Francois Raffoul. Check back often to our website for further details on this exciting new translation, the first to include the full text of Bataille's Oeuvres Completes.

The Digital Revolution

Today we'd like to share a message from our Executive Director, Gary H. Dunham.
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Greetings,

It’s high time to speak again about the digital revolution. Dizzying advances in digital communication technologies make it an extraordinarily promising time to be a publisher. At the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century, our authors are sharing their creativity and scholarly research with readers through a wide array of means and media, only one of which is the printed book. As I have often said, those publishers who cling only to the printed book often are not standing in the same room where authors and readers are holding conversations. It’s time to move to where the information flow is taking place.

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely adore an elegantly designed, printed book—a real, bound narrative that’s portable, acquires a wonderfully vintage smell over time, carries the marks and moments of its owner, and looks so right on a shelf. Printed books will not and should not go away, but they are part of a richer, more dynamic world of information sharing nowadays. It is our responsibility as a publisher to track closely and understand the evolving, myriad ways that authors and readers connect, and to offer a range of choices to both facilitate that communication and enhance the worldwide visibility and accessibility of SUNY Press publications. You deserve that attention and vision from a university press, and so do the lives, peoples, topics, issues, and histories that we share through publications.

Embracing the latest in digital communication technologies is thus a key cornerstone of SUNY Press’s long-term strategic plan. Many of the strategic initiatives and partnerships necessary to carry out this transformation are in full swing, and let me mention some of them here. Our seasonal catalog is now primarily issued as an online, interactive edition. All new titles and a growing number of our backlist are offered in XML, the most versatile and powerful digital platform available. We’re making huge strides towards realizing our dream of a largely virtual warehouse. Each new scholarly monograph published by SUNY Press is available simultaneously in an eco-friendly and affordable DirectText electronic edition. The press’s new journals and conference proceedings dissemination programs are also digitally based, allowing purchasers the freedom and flexibility to buy a digital or print-to-order copy of the whole volume, an individual chapter, or bundles of chapters. We have also aggressively pursued partnerships with a host of online partners in order to maximize the presence of our publications on the Web: NetLibrary and ebrary offer thousands of SUNY Press titles to libraries; Amazon's Kindle now features SUNY Press best sellers, with thousands more soon to be available; Barnes & Noble currently offers over 1,000 SUNY Press e-books, with thousands more on the way. And Google currently makes available thousands of SUNY Press books on Book Search, all of which will soon be sold also through the revolutionary Google Editions program. Wherever you look for a book on the Web, nowadays you are very likely to run into a SUNY Press publication.

Whew! There’s much going on here, digital-wise, and so much more in the works. Stay tuned!

Until next time,

Gary H. Dunham
Executive Director

Get your ebooks here, there, and everywhere

Have you visited the SUNY Press eBookStore lately? If not, then you may not realize we have 230 (and counting) downloadable books available, including Black Elk Speaks.

We also have a growing list of ebooks available for both the Kindle and the nook. So far there are over 500 1000 titles for the nook and around 50 for the Kindle, with many more to come for both, of course. So the next time you're looking at our books on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, check for the ebook version for your preferred device.

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.

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.

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! 

Black History Month

Every other day this month, the SUNY Press homepage will be featuring a select list of titles for Black History Month. Our African American Studies list alone consists of more than 120 titles. Celebrate the month by exploring books written by and for African Americans.

Launching the Journals Program: The Evolutionary Review

We are excited to begin a new Journals Program here at the Press, starting with the inaugural issue of The Evolutionary Review: Art, Science, Culture.

Over the past several years, “literary Darwinism,” evolutionary aesthetics, and evolutionary cultural theory have expanded and flourished, displaying their vitality in numerous articles and books, and gaining ever-increasing visibility not just in academic journals but in newspapers and magazines aimed at educated general readers. The Evolutionary Review (TER) now offers a forum for the whole scope of evolutionary thinking in every field of human interest.

Most of the writers contributing to TER are academics, but the editors didn’t want this to be an “academic” publication. Even in its more respectful connotations, the word “academic” suggests writing oriented to specialized professional audiences highly tolerant of routine recitations, dry facts, neutral or conventional authorial personas, an impersonal manner, and prose that is merely efficient—not aesthetically pleasing, not expressive or evocative, not, in itself, enjoyable to read. Why should serious writing be dull? The editors (Alice Andrews and Joe Carroll) decided that they would make pleasure for readers one of the chief criteria for selecting contributions to TER. They aimed at eliciting critical reflections that would charm the imagination with wit, humor, and invention. They wanted prose that would please the tongue and tickle the ear, satisfying a lust for language that is sinuous, vivid, sharp, and clear.

The editors knew many evolutionists with lively, cultivated minds. They saw that many humanists have acquired a sophisticated understanding of human evolutionary biology and that many evolutionary scientists have become increasingly alert to the peculiarly “human” character of “human nature”—recognizing that culture has a truly exceptional importance for this one species. The time, then, seemed right. Even five years ago, such a journal might not have been possible. The first volume of TER splendidly demonstrates that evolutionary cultural critique can be wide-ranging, powerful, and subtle. The editors and contributors are confident that a vast territory lies open here for exploration. The pool of potential explorers has no visible limits. Come join us!

Deciphering Warhol and Van Gogh

The New Yorker recently ran two stellar pieces on legendary artists (summarized nicely at The ArtBlog), one by Adam Gopnik about Vincent van Gogh and his severed ear and the other from Louis Menand concerning Andy Warhol's life and work. They're engrossing articles, with revealing facts and analyses on these artists, which is surprising, given that these are two of the most studied and dissected artists of all time.

We highly recommend both essays, with a chaser of the following books from last year, Mystery of The Night Café: Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent van Gogh and Materializing Queer Desire: Oscar Wilde to Andy Warhol for additional perspectives and critical analyses.

Have you read these essays and/or books? If so, what are your opinions?

Congratulations to SUNY Press award winners

Five SUNY Press titles have been named 2009 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles. Here are the winners:

Measured Meals: Nutrition in America
By Jessica J. Mudry


Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace
By Anna Everett

The Politics of Inquiry: Education Research and the "Culture of Science"
By Benjamin Baez and Deron Boyles

The Lebanese Army: A National Institution in a Divided Society
By Oren Barak

Fairy Tales: A New History
By Ruth B. Bottigheimer


Congratulations to all of our award-winning authors!

Happy New Year!

In this industry, we're always working toward future publishing deadlines. So, as we leave 2009 behind, it actually feels like we've been living in 2010 (and beyond) for some time now. However, it's worth noting that 2009 was a stellar year for SUNY Press. The year was full of memoirs, oral histories, blood-suckers, letters to the First Lady, and cookbooks, to name only a few. As we move into the new year, this blog will continue to update you on the latest news and notes from the Press, including exciting new e-content, journals, conference proceedings, art books, regional studies, scholarly monographs, and much more.

Happy New Year!

The holiday sale continues!

Just a friendly reminder: over at our website we're offering 20% off plus free shipping—all December long! So head over and take advantage of these great offers while they last.

Happy Holidays!

The holidays are in full swing, and we'd like to wish everyone a very merry holiday season. Over at our website we're offering a special holiday discount for the entire month of December: 20% off all titles plus free shipping! So shop 'til you drop—our Excelsior Editions collection offers a nice selection of gift items, from art books to cookbooks to calendars and more!

You may also notice while surfing our site that it's been through a full redesign—a fancy new look plus improved functionality! We invite you to check out the spiffy new site design and drop us a line about it in the comments section below.

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.

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.