Announcing Three New Acquisitions from Regina Bradley, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, and Tony Perry for the Ferris and Ferris Books Imprint

The University of North Carolina Press (UNC Press) is pleased to announce three new acquisitions for its Ferris and Ferris imprint: Sitting on Zora’s Porch: Notes from a Black Girl in the Hip Hop South by Regina Bradley, The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, and These Flowers, Those Waters, That Garden: The Environmental Lives of People Enslaved by Tony Perry. These exciting new works exemplify the vision of the Ferris and Ferris imprint to publish the best general interest books on the American South writ large.

“Working with UNC Press on my first book Chronicling Stankonia was a great experience, and the press’ excitement and encouragement to continue to evolve in my theorization and storytelling about the contemporary Black South made the press a no-brainer as a home for my second book,” commented Regina Bradley, Kennesaw State University. “I look forward to growing along with the imprint in challenging what rigorous research can and does look like.”

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Indiana University-Bloomington, whose first book Forging Freedom was published by UNC Press in 2011 notes: “I’m delighted to be bringing the story of Julia Chinn to Ferris and Ferris. UNC Press has long been known as THE publisher for works on Southern History, African American History, and most especially, Black Women’s History. I thus can’t think of a better press to bring The Vice President’s Black Wife to both a general readership and to college classrooms.”

The University of Virginia’s Tony Perry, on his forthcoming book: “These Flowers, Those Waters, That Garden draws great inspiration from a number of UNC publications to tell a story about enslaved people and the environments in which they lived and labored. I’m thrilled my first book will be a Ferris and Ferris title as this imprint affirms much remains to be said on the subject of Southern history, including the human and nonhuman forces that shaped it.” 

Mark Simpson-Vos, Wyndham Robertson Editorial Director, UNC Press states: “When I survey the first books we’ve published under the Ferris & Ferris imprint and the next suite of books just signed, I’m thrilled to see how our vision for the imprint is coming to fruition. As the historian Charles Reagan Wilson reminds us, there are ‘many Souths,’ and we find them expressed in countless creative ways. As diverse as the books in the imprint have been in terms of authorship, genre, and subject, I know our readers will pick up on the through lines and spin them in their own exciting directions, which has always been my hope.”

Sitting on Zora’s Porch: Notes from a Black Girl in the Hip Hop South, The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn, and These Flowers, Those Waters, That Garden: The Environmental Lives of People Enslaved (all currently working titles) are projected to be published by UNC Press between 2022 and 2023.

About Ferris and Ferris Books:
Launched in Fall 2020, the Marcie Cohen Ferris and William R. Ferris Imprint publishes high-profile, general-interest books about the American South. Ferris and Ferris Books are supported by a multimillion-dollar endowment at UNC Press. The Press publishes two to three books annually under the Ferris & Ferris Books imprint.