Category: UNC Press News

Harwood follows up on ethical issues at stake in the octuplets case

  We’ve had a lot of passionate responses to Karey Harwood’s recent guest post about the ethical issues surrounding the California octuplets case. Harwood gave some helpful responses for further reading in the comments thread to that post. Here, we’re pleased to have a follow-up post from her, in which she addresses the pressures on patients and providers in the… Continue Reading Harwood follows up on ethical issues at stake in the octuplets case

Dear Mister President

[ed. note: see updates from 2/24 and 2/25 at bottom of post] ABC reports that President Obama is reading ten letters a day from all kinds of people all across the country, “to help him get outside of the bubble,” says press secretary Robert Gibbs. Each day he is handed a purple envelope containing the day’s selection of letters. Sometimes… Continue Reading Dear Mister President

Good stuff from the internet that we think you might like

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the good stuff going on up on the interwebs. All of these stories warrant posts here, but instead of falling way behind, I’ve decided to round ’em up and toss ’em out to you as a batch. You’ll find public history, Sidney Poitier, Catholic feminism, Civil War, black women academics, university presses,… Continue Reading Good stuff from the internet that we think you might like

Last Sunday in Durham

The past few weeks here in the Raleigh -Durham -Chapel Hill area were filled with the type of weather you’d rather read about than have to live through: rain, snow, black ice in the mornings, a damp cold and the occasional wind to cut through most clothing. This section of North Carolina tends to get a serious dose of what… Continue Reading Last Sunday in Durham

Fatemeh Keshavarz to appear on Just Peace radio show this evening

As Iran celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, a network of individuals and associations inside and outside of Iran known as Iranians for Peace have written to President Obama to encourage direct dialogue with Iranian authorities to find political solutions to nuclear standoffs. They also call for “a nuclear-weapon-free zone for ALL the countries in the Middle East,… Continue Reading Fatemeh Keshavarz to appear on Just Peace radio show this evening

I laughed, I cried, I feared for my job

Oh, Gawker, you make me giggle but hurt me so.  It’s like getting tickled and laughing really hard until you get the hiccups and an awful cramp in your side and suddenly the game is over. Feeling depressed because the recession and the internet are both killing the book publishing industry, and hurting your hopes for the big literary contract… Continue Reading I laughed, I cried, I feared for my job

Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners Announced

In a former life I was a Children’s Librarian.  Books written for kids is still one of my most preferred genres when seeking out books to read (much to my wife’s constant bewilderment).  And while the UNC Press has published two recent titles for kids (“The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales” and “Taffy of Torpedo Junction“) neither… Continue Reading Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners Announced

Dorothy Spruill Redford on WUNC’s “The State of Things”

In 1860 one of the largest and most successful plantations in North Carolina was Somerset Place. In the course of becoming one of the state’s most prosperous rice, corn, and wheat plantations, the plantation’s owner, Josiah Collins, became one of the largest slaveholders in the state. Somerset Place covered as many as 100,000 acres and was home to more than… Continue Reading Dorothy Spruill Redford on WUNC’s “The State of Things”

UNC Press Awarded Mellon Grant for Indigenous-Studies Series

The University of North Carolina Press is proud to announce that it is part of a $1-Million grant to establish a collaborative publishing program dedicated to indigenous studies. The grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation teams the UNC Press with the University of Arizona Press, the University of Minnesota Press, and Oregon State University Press. Mark Simpson-Vos, an acquisitions… Continue Reading UNC Press Awarded Mellon Grant for Indigenous-Studies Series

The Age of Obama

Things have been a bit on the busy side here at the Press lately. Add in our once-every-three-year dumping of snow and yesterday had all the makings of an ‘interesting’ day. Still, many of our staff took time at lunch to gather in our Boardroom, the largest room in the building, and the only room with a television set, to… Continue Reading The Age of Obama

A Woodwright Considers the Axe

When Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine held their “Woodworking in America” workshop in November 2008 they called upon the one man who all woodworkers could admire and appreciate to deliver the keynote address: star of PBS’s The Woodwright’s Shop and author of our series of “Woodwrights” books, Roy Underhill. For the uninitiated, Roy Underhill is the modern-day woodworking guru for… Continue Reading A Woodwright Considers the Axe

Moving Forward by Looking Back: Enduring Editions

What better way of starting the New Year than by taking a giant step forward? And what better way of taking a giant step forward than by looking backwards? It is in this light that the UNC Press is proud to announce a new series that looks back at the rich history of books published by the UNC Press over… Continue Reading Moving Forward by Looking Back: Enduring Editions

One last holiday wish

Last Friday, UNC Press held its annual holiday luncheon – with a budget-conscious twist: POTLUCK! Each department was asked to contribute a main course, and the rest was willy-nilly. (Except, is it still a potluck if you have a sign-up sheet? How about if you plead, “Please! No more desserts!”) We were overflowing with sweets, but not at the expense… Continue Reading One last holiday wish

105th Anniversary of Wright Brothers’ Flight

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first two flights in their homemade aircraft on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Today the National Park Service hosts a celebration at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. At 10:35 a.m., there will be a military fly-over, with aircraft significantly more sophisticated than the Wright brothers’.… Continue Reading 105th Anniversary of Wright Brothers’ Flight

UNC Press books making headlines (and airwaves)

We’ve got lots going on around here! Here’s a quick roundup of ways in which UNC Press books are making waves right now. . . . Patrick Huber’s Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South has just earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The review states, “With respect and passion, Huber puts these pioneering artists… Continue Reading UNC Press books making headlines (and airwaves)

Zubok among Washington Post’s Best Books of 2008

The Washington Post published its Holiday Guide yesterday, featuring the Best Books of 2008. Included in “The World” section is Vladislav Zubok’s A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. At the beginning of the year, Richard Rhodes reviewed Zubok’s book along with Melvyn Leffler’s For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the… Continue Reading Zubok among Washington Post’s Best Books of 2008

Louis Perez is named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Louis A. Pérez Jr., a leading American scholar of Cuba and author of many prizewinning books on Cuban history — including his five most recent books published proudly by UNC Press — was celebrated by colleagues, friends, and family last month on his induction into the 2008 class of Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of… Continue Reading Louis Perez is named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

UNCP books now available in small doses through DailyLit

It’s an old idea that now has a very modern twist, like a newspaper serial for the 21st century. . . . Want to read a book but don’t have large blocks of time for settling in and curling up? We’ve found a solution for you with DailyLit — the first e-book vendor to send easy-to-read segments of books to… Continue Reading UNCP books now available in small doses through DailyLit

Reflections on “A life so noble,” The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers launch event

The following is a guest post from Michelle Lanier, curator of cultural history with the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties. Along with Historic Edenton Site Manager Linda Jordan Eure, Lanier helped to organize the launching of The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers (edited by Jean Fagan Yellin) on November 22, 2008. Photos and podcast links follow her… Continue Reading Reflections on “A life so noble,” The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers launch event

Holy Smoke launch night at The Pit

Last Thursday the Press had a fabulous launch party for Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue at The Pit in downtown Raleigh. We celebrated with authors John Shelton Reed, Dale Volberg Reed, and William McKinney as well as several pitmasters featured in the book, including Ed Mitchell (pitmaster at The Pit), Samuel Jones (3rd-generation pitmaster at the… Continue Reading Holy Smoke launch night at The Pit