News & Updates

Director’s Message

The University of Utah Press, like our parent institution and most presses across the country, has moved to fully online and remote operations. As the global pandemic continues to shut down cities and countries worldwide, we are determined to do our part to flatten the COVID-19 curve by practicing social distancing and following the proclamations issued by leaders at the university and by the elected officials of the state, county, and city of Salt Lake, which is now under “Stay Home, Stay Safe” orders. We expect to be working from home at least through the spring.

The Press’s staff made the work-at-home transition pretty smoothly, thanks in part to the generosity of the Marriott Library’s IT staff, who provided critical computer hardware to those without home computers. We are continuing to work productively while surrounded by family (including children both small and large), pets, and the occasional friendly neighbor waving from across the street. Although the recent earthquake just a few miles west of the Salt Lake City rattled everyone’s nerves (and left a number of structures damaged), this hardy group of publishing professionals carries on. We’re growing accustomed to seeing the rooms of our various houses during our weekly Zoom meetings (the new status quo) and the emails fly.

This is not to say that there have been no changes to our operations. The Chicago Distribution Center, which warehouses our books, has closed all shipping and receiving operations. While we no longer have access to the bulk of our stock, we are moving to a fully print-on-demand model for selected titles, which are shipping from one of our regular printers in Virginia. Many of our titles are also available as eBooks and we are pressing to speed the release of others. While not everything will be available owing to the Chicago closure, many titles can still be ordered as usual, so please keep those orders coming.

A Note to Our Authors (and Prospective Authors)

We had looked forward to seeing many of you at spring conferences, at launch events for your forthcoming books, or over a cup of tea just to say hi and connect, and we’ll miss those opportunities. We will continue to support your books with online sales and events, interviews, and podcasts, and we’ll look forward to more robust chances to engage later in the year.

As April begins, we’re featuring recent poetry titles in celebration of National Poetry Month. Each book will be offered at a 25% discount and can be ordered through our website using the code UUPOETRY25. Poetry is particularly penetrating and insightful during times like these, so enjoy this opportunity to add to your library and find yourself in a differently thoughtful place.

Our editors are still actively acquiring manuscripts and would love to spend this time looking over your letters, proposals, and manuscripts. You can find their contact information on our website: https://www.uofupress.com/staff-directory.php. They look forward to hearing from you via email to discuss your projects. Our EDP team is copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, and otherwise moving projects toward completion.

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We encourage you to support your local communities and care for those in need of help. We’re finding that, from the perspectives of our living rooms, the world feels like a much smaller place these days.

We’d love to hear from you if you have any questions or concerns, thoughts or observations. This is a good time to share. We are moved to gratitude that our staff and their families remain well and healthy. That is also our wish for you—please take care, stay safe, and stay well. We look forward to seeing you in the not-too-distant future.

Books and Authors in the News:

• In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953-1954  by James Swensen won the Best Book Award from the Utah State Historical Society.

• In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns  Collaboration, 1953-1954 by James Swensen won the 15 Bytes Book Award for Art Book
  
  
• In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953-1954 by James Swensen won the 2019 Joan Paterson Kerr Book Award for best illustrated book on the history of the American West from the Western History Association.
  
  
• Danish But Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity,1850-1920 by Julie K. Allen received an honorable mention for Best International Book from the Mormon History Association (MHA).

• In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953-1954 by James Swensen received an honorable mention for Best Book from the Mormon History Association (MHA).

• Interwoven: Junipers and the Web of Being by Kristen Rogers-Iversen, copublished with the Utah State Historical Society, was named a “notable book” by the prize committee of the 2018 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. Interwoven was also announced as a finalist for the 2019 ASLE Book Award, given biennially to recognize excellence in the areas of ecocriticism and environmental creative writing.

• Her Mouth as Souvenir by Heather June Gibbons was recommended by Jericho Brown as one of the 17 Best Poetry Books for National Poetry Month in the online O: The Oprah Magazine . Her Mouth as Souvenir was also a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards Poetry Award. Her Mouth as Souvenir was the 2017 winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry series, cosponsored by the Press and the Department of English at the University of Utah.

  
  
  

Press Prizes:

Virginia Kerns won the Don D. and Catherine S. Fowler Prize for her manuscript, Colonizing the Wild: A Narrative of an Indian Captive and the House of Brigham Young.

Zachary Asher won the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize for his manuscript, gone bird in the glass hours.

Jerry Spangler and James Aton won the Don D. and Catherine S. Fowler Prize for their manuscript,  The Crimson Cowboys .

Florence R. Shepard and Susan L. Marsh won the Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental Studies for their manuscript, Saving Wyoming's Hoback .

Matthew Garrett won the Juanita Brooks Prize in Mormon Studies for his manuscript, Making Lamanites.