#NextUP in Publishing: A Q&A with Acquisitions Editor Archna Patel
The Africana Religions series, currently six books strong, is relatively young. What are your hopes for the series’ growth?
I am thrilled to add my energy to the series! Sylvester Johnson, our series editor, and I are excited to keep pushing the series in new directions. We already have wonderful books that challenge conventional narratives around Christianity and the African diaspora. Cécile Fromont’s Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas, for example, shows how enslaved and free Africans used Catholicism-derived celebrations to create spaces for cultural expression and political empowerment. We’re also eager to foreground and focus on indigenous religions. Danielle N. Boaz’s Banning Black Gods is a fantastic example. Not only does she highlight understudied religions like Palo Mayombe, but she brings together controversies such as the right to wear headscarves and the right to wear dreadlocks in schools to place this longer history of religious racism into a human rights framework and a call for an end to such abuse.
Looking ahead, I am excited to make the series a home for scholars who are pushing for change. There is such excellent work being done, for example, at the intersection of religion and technology and religion and health, particularly in light of the pandemic and the climate crisis, and I think scholars who work with this broader goal in mind not only produce important scholarship, but also some captivating creative writing. Adriaan van Klinken’s Kenyan, Christian, Queer, for example, is such a moving book. Not only does it shed light on how religion can become a critical site of queer activism, but because the book interweaves the author’s own personal stories, it results in an intimate, engaging, and urgent book.
One thing I hope that will remain unchanged is that the series will continue to produce field-shifting work. Oludamini Ogunnaike’s Deep Knowledge not only brings attention to Sufism and Ifa in West Africa, but its unique methodological approach makes it a model for future scholarship in the field.
Finally, we are discussing exciting new ways to bring exposure to the series and to feature authors past and present. Stay tuned as we work to bring the subject of Africana religions into conversation with other disciplines, scholars, and audiences.
Are there any current trends in scholarship that you’d like to see the Press’s Africana studies list engaging with?
I am interested in thinking about Africana studies expansively. There is great work being done not just in Afro-Latinx studies, but also projects uncovering the deep histories between Afro-Asia and important research on the lived experience of Afro-Arab communities. How do concepts of self-determination, care, and indigeneity become transformed, mutated, and translated in these different spaces? I’m also invested in exploring these disciplinary boundaries. What do we overlook or discount by upholding the spaces that separate Black studies and Indigenous studies, or the African continent and the Middle East? I am really excited to center marginalized areas of study for the list.
As scholars use new tools and methodologies to bring these stories to light, I love to think about how I can match this energy and think more creatively about the types of books we publish for the list. Short book vs. heavily-illustrated. Biography vs narrative-driven. Personal stories vs. strictly scholarly. I really enjoy these type of brainstorming sessions with authors and it’s so rewarding when the format and the goal of the book align and make an impact out in the world. Speaking of authors, they are the heart of the list and the best part of my job! I am always thinking about how I can best support them and how I can continue to work to make the publishing process more transparent, especially for BIPOC scholars and first time authors. A piece of advice I like to share is don’t wait! Don’t wait until you’ve completely finished the manuscript to reach out to an editor. Reaching out earlier gives us an opportunity to hear about the project and offer feedback as you are writing, but also this is your chance to ask questions and figure out if this is the right editor and right press for you.
Now that events are returning in-person, what are you enjoying doing in this new normal?
It’s been wonderful to return to in-person conferences! A little nerve-racking, yes (how do I set up meetings again? Oh my god, there are so many people!), but it’s been great to get back out there and have interesting and exciting conversations with scholars about their work. I’ve also been hearing about how people have been caring for their families and their communities during these past few extraordinary years, and it’s very inspiring. It’s also been lovely to see and reconnect with fellow editors in the exhibit halls!
A great joy that I “discovered” during the pandemic was reading outside, and it’s something that I’ve kept up. I’ve been taken on an exhilarating ride in Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and I am knee deep into the Sandman comics (I have borrowed a friend’s omnibus volume 1 and it is a tome). All this fantasy is very helpful, because stepping into a different world is a great way to forget how badly the Lakers are losing right now. Fingers-crossed that changes soon, but in the meantime, I have my books to comfort me, as always.
Learn more about the Africana Religions series here!
#UPWeek Blog Tour Day One: Who is #NextUP at your press?
To kick off this year’s #UPWeek Blog Tour, we’re highlighting three of our newest employees! Learn more about #UPWeek here.
Emily Lovett, Production and Editorial Assistant
My name is Emily Lovett, and I am a new Production and Editorial Assistant at PSUP, working primarily with titles from the Eisenbrauns imprint. While pursuing my master’s degree at Western Michigan University, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the world of academic publishing through my work with Medieval Institute Publications (MIP). I learned firsthand both the complexities of academic publishing and the value of university presses, which embody my own belief that academic scholarship is not for the benefit of only a small academic circle but has the potential to affect all people. I am thrilled to continue that work at PSUP!
Josie DiNovo, Editorial Assistant
Hello, people of UP week! I’m Josie DiNovo, and I’m an editorial assistant at Pennsylvania State University Press. At PSUP, I work on projects in a variety of areas, including books in our Jewish studies, rhetoric, and Graphic Medicine series as well as our Graphic Mundi imprint. I have aspired to work for a university press since I was in undergrad because I wanted to work in a publishing environment where the mission was disseminating knowledge. I appreciate that my work at a university press can have an impact on individual scholars and advancing our understanding of the world. I have been at PSUP for one and half years, and it has been magical to see manuscripts that I once read as unformatted word documents become beautiful books for the rest of the world to enjoy.
Mackenzie Brunnhuber, Publicist
Hello! My name is Mackenzie Brunnhuber, and I have been working at the Penn State University Press for three years. I started as the Publicity Assistant and was recently brought on full-time as the Publicist. I learned about the university press world through an editing course that I took my junior year at Penn State, where the professor mentioned PSUP and the function of university presses in the publishing world. PSUP’s mission of disseminating important knowledge in accessible ways immediately drew me in, and I love having a hand in helping our authors get their work out into the world. PSUP has been a wonderful place for me to begin my career in academic publishing, and I look forward to continuing my time here in my new role!
Právě probíhá desátý ročník University Press Week. Letošním mottem je “Keep UP!” a cílem je poukázat na to, kam se univerzitní nakladatelství za posledních deset let posunula. Další informace o této akci spolu s příspěvky jednotlivých zapojených univerzitních nakladatelství najdete na stránkách UP Week 2021.
Mottem prvního UP Week v roce 2012 bylo „Přispíváme k informované společnosti“ – a po celých deset let zůstala univerzitní nakladatelství tomuto cíli věrná, udržují nejvyšší standardy vědecké práce a podporují sílu myšlenek. Svět se mění a spolu s ním se mění i univerzitní nakladatelství, přizpůsobují obory, seznamy autorů a vydavatelské know-how a tvoří stále rozmanitější a čím dál více globální společenství. Informovaná společnost je stejně důležitá jako kdykoli předtím a my jsme hrdí na to, že můžeme vzdát hold pokroku, díky němuž se univerzitní nakladatelství stala lídry ve svých oborech a silou, s níž je třeba držet krok!
Read how our fellow UPs #RaiseUP voices from the scientific community in today’s blog tour! Learn more about #UPWeek here.
University of Alabama Press
#RaisingUP Scientific Voices with NEXUS Series
A conversation with series editors Alan Marcus, Alexandra Hui, and Mark Hersey
Purdue University Press
Raising Up the Science behind the Human-Animal Bond
Princeton University Press
Six Impossible Things
Ingrid Gnerlich
Bristol University Press
The Relevance of Science Communication in the Era of COVID
Claire Wilkinson
Indiana University Press
Science and Critical Thinking
Donald R. Prothero
University of Toronto Press
Science Writing in a Time of Crisis
Mireille F. Ghoussoub
Scientific Trust in the Era of COVID-19
Lacey Cranston
Vanderbilt University Press
Stories from the Natural World
A book trailer for Between the Rocks and the Stars
Columbia University Press
6 Things to Consider before Applying to PhD Programs
Ashley Juavinett
Oregon State University Press
Rebuilding Ecological Resilience
Bruce A. Byers
#UPWeek: A Q&A with Kathryn Yahner, editor of Keystone Books
PSU Press Acquisitions Editor Kathryn Yahner grew a decades-old regional series into an imprint with impact. Here she answers questions about its history and shares an excerpt from one of her favorite titles.
What’s the origin of the Keystone Books imprint? How did it evolve when you took the helm?
The Keystone Books imprint began as a regional series in 1976 and has been cultivated by several different editors during the last forty-four years. In the 2010s, we determined that having an imprint dedicated to books about Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic geared toward general readers was the best way to continue to reach a wide audience. The imprint has grown to include titles related to all facets of the Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic story: histories, field guides, books of poetry, photo essays, and much more. Since I took the helm about a decade ago, the book-buying landscape has changed a great deal, and we’ve had to readjust. We’ve revised old classics (and are in the process of revising more), we’ve published beautiful coffee-table books with an appeal far beyond the region, and we’ve produced books on topics of great local and national significance: fracking, disability, and LGBTQ rights. In order to bring out books with high production values in today’s market, in some instances, we’ve been very lucky to partner with some wonderful local and state organizations—and the resulting beautiful books have received national attention.
How has editing the series impacted your relationship with local writers and organizations?
Since my role as editor in the Keystone imprint is far more developmentally hands-on than it is for my scholarly list, I have spent months and sometimes years working closely with authors to bring their books to fruition. Many of my authors are local; some live in State College, and I have gotten to know them quite well through meetings and numerous visits to the office. Others live elsewhere, and our relationship is cultivated over the phone or via email. This work has also introduced a close and gratifying relationship with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, with which we have worked (and continue to work) to produce high-quality books. One of my very favorite parts of the job is working closely with local writers to tell their stories.
What local story have you come across through the imprint that’s left the biggest impression on you?
There are many local stories that have left impressions on me in my years working as the editor for the Keystone imprint. One in particular, however, has left a strong impression. Out in Central Pennsylvania, which evolved out of the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project, began with a cold call to the author of an article I had read in Pennsylvania Heritage. When I was growing up in central Pennsylvania, I knew few gay people and knew even less about the LGBTQ history of our area. Working with the authors on this book and getting to know the story helped me appreciate the struggles of those who paved the way for modern rights and the depth of the rural activism that was born in this area. I’ve been fascinated by the unique connections they built and saddened by the horrific discrimination many faced. It is a history that has had local, state, and national implications, and I’m very proud to be a part of a book that is bringing this important story to the public consciousness.
Which Keystone book has most surprised you in terms of its impact, in Pennsylvania and beyond?
Probably Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers: A Visual History of Pennsylvania’s Railroad Lumbering Communities. This book of photographs by the itinerant photographer William T. Clarke is not only one of the most visually stunning books we’ve produced in my years of working with the imprint, but it also has a fascinating backstory. Dozens of glass-plate negatives sat in a barn for decades and were nearly lost because of the resulting damage, but they were recovered and are reproduced in the book, offering evocative and highly detailed scenes of life during the late nineteenth century. This could have been simply a niche regional topic, but the book has had a wide national reach. Once we created a book we were proud of, our design team and marketing team knocked it out of the park to make this book one that people wanted to own and to read. While I knew it was something very special from day one, its total impact has been a pleasant surprise.
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An excerpt from Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers:
Who were those people? What were they doing? Who was the photographer? Where were the photographs taken? When? How? And why are their pictures here, of all places? Lois Barden asked these questions more than forty years ago. This book is an effort to answer her questions.
Lois and her husband, Bob Barden, were browsing through a toolshed near Honeoye Lake, south of Rochester, New York, in 1974. Bob’s other relatives were sorting through household goods and antiques in the nearby cottage. In the dark shed, Lois spied two wooden crates on the dirt floor in a damp, gloomy corner. They were filled with glass windowpanes. Maybe they’d be useful on their farm. She lifted an eight-by-ten-inch plate from a box and saw something more than dirt on it. She brushed away some of the grime, held it to the light coming through the doorway, squinted at the smudge she’d uncovered, and was shocked. A ghostly face stared back at her, a sudden and unexpected glimpse from a shadowy world beyond the grave. This was not a common windowpane! Seconds after her startling discovery, Lois replaced the glass plate, lifted the heavy crates, and moved them outside. She plucked plate after plate from the boxes and realized they were loaded with photographic negatives of a type she’d never seen before. One thing for sure, she thought, these are no ordinary pictures. And they’re old.
She figured the negatives were made with one of those old-fashioned cameras on a tripod, where the photographer inserted the glass plate into the camera mechanism, huddled under a cloth that was draped over it to block out the light, and looked through the back of the camera to compose and focus the picture before asking the people in front of the lens, “Please remain as still as possible.” Fascinated, Lois hauled the crates to the cottage and asked the relatives if any of them knew anything about the mystery images. No one did. Well, then, did anyone want the plates? No. Sensing the importance of her find, she stored the crates at the family cattle farm near Candor, New York. And there the negatives remained, ignored and nearly forgotten.
Some thirty years later, in early March 2004, Lois was taking a digital photography course at Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, New York. She mentioned the glass plates to Harry Littell, her instructor, figuring that because he had rephotographed scenes from historic photographs from a contemporary perspective and had helped author books dealing with regional historical photographs, he might be interested in her old negatives. And he was. In fact, when she brought a couple of the plates to the next class, he became excited, saying he thought she’d made an important discovery. Lois was thrilled.
Girls near a stream in the north-central Pennsylvania forest
Upon examination of the crates’ entire contents, they determined that the images depicted primarily forests, logging operations, and community life of long ago. They decided that the entire cache was remarkable and should be saved: the treasure trove consisted of 131 unique glimpses into the past.
Preserving the crates’ contents was arduous. For some plates they first had to remove dirt caked on the surface. Other plates had been exposed to water and the emulsion was nearly curled off the glass. Working carefully, they saved as much of the image as they could on each plate. Then they scanned the negatives, transforming them into digital format. Through the use of modern photographic technology, they rescued the surviving images from further breakage or damage. Harry then used digital tools to remove dust and scratches. Once the negatives were scanned and retouched, prints were made, necessitating further decisions and adjustments to create images that Harry felt would be faithful to the originals. The team decided that large areas of peeling and damaged emulsion at the margins of the images would not be altered. Subsequent prints based on this decision sometimes produced surrealistic effects, but the damaged photographs also reminded viewers that what they saw came from old, fragile negatives. During the restoration and preservation process, Lois and Harry found information scratched in the emulsion at the margins of several negatives. These clues helped them determine that the unknown photographer made the images in various transient logging camps and communities near Galeton and Port Allegany in north-central Pennsylvania during 1897 and 1898.
Lackawanna Lumber Company steam locomotive and tender, north-central Pennsylvania, 1898
For example, an image with the date 1898 scratched in the emulsion, showing a steam locomotive with the words “Lack’a [Lackawanna] Lumber Company” painted on the side of the tender, was helpful. The engineer and fireman were standing in the gangway and cab of Lackawanna Lumber Company rod locomotive No. 6, built in 1881 at the Brooks Locomotive Works, Dunkirk, New York. This locomotive and three other Lackawanna locomotives were kept busy in the 1890s, along with seventy log cars and three Barnhart log loaders. The Lackawanna Lumber Company logging railroad line operated primarily in northwestern Clinton County and extended into Potter County near Cross Fork in north-central Pennsylvania. “Lackies” transported enough logs for an estimated sawmill output of eighty thousand board feet of hemlock a day. Company headquarters were located at Cross Fork and Mina, operating from 1888 to 1903. And other images of gondola cars filled with logs and bark cars carried “Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad” markings, providing a further lead.
At that point, Lois Barden and Harry Littell did not know why these time-consuming gelatin dry plate images were made at what must have been great expense and effort under primitive and trying conditions. Nor did Lois Barden know how or why her husband’s late relatives came into possession of the crates of negatives. Lois and Harry invited a third person, Ron Ostman, and, later, others to help with the historical research concerning the Pennsylvania logging industry at the end of the nineteenth century. An Internet search led the trio to the website of the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum, in Ulysses, Pennsylvania. A visit with Delores Buchsen, the museum’s director, and staff members and with Robert Currin, a curator and historian with the Potter County Historical Society in Coudersport, provided rich depositories of expert knowledge and stored information. The search was on.
Photographer William T. Clarke
Courtesy of the Lois Barden Photograph Collection, Candor, New York, BC 21.
Read how our fellow UPs #RaiseUP new voices in today’s blog tour! Learn more about #UPWeek here.
University of Illinois Press
Meet the Press, Acquisitions Edition: An Interview with Alison Syring
Georgetown University Press
An Interview with Senior Acquisitions Editor Hilary Claggett
Duke University Press
Raising Up the Work of First-Time Authors
University of Wisconsin Press
#RaiseUP New Voices
Press committee members share their perspectives and experiences.
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Perspectives on publishing and raising voices from the newest member of WLU Press
Maia Desjardins
NYU Press
The Magic of Making Books
Ilene Kalish
University of Toronto Press
UP Week Day 1: New Voices
Jodi Litvin
Raising Up Cultural Emblems and Public Art
Amanda Buessecker
University of Missouri Press
“We Have Drank from the Same Canteen”: Veteran Company A, the Civil War, and Reconciliation in Kansas City
Amy Laurel Fluker
Bucknell University Press
Amplifying Voices from Sierra Leone
Shanee Stepakoff
University of Manitoba Press
Looking Out from Anishinaabe Territory
An excerpt from Dammed: The Politics of Loss and Survival in Anishinaabe Territory
Brittany Luby
Amherst College Press
Introducing Amherst College Press’s Internship Program and Community Page
Hannah Brooks-Motl
#UPWeek: An interview with Senior Acquisitions Editor Hilary Claggett
In honor of University Press Week 2020, we sat down with GUP’s newest editor Hilary Claggett for a discussion on how the global business list will amplify new voices.
How long have you been working as an acquisitions editor, and in which subjects have you acquired?
I’ve been a Senior Acquisitions Editor for two decades, with equal time spent acquiring in business, economics, and finance, on the one hand, and politics, international affairs, and security studies, on the other. The common thread is that both publishing programs have, in retrospect, been strongly influenced by current events. For example, twenty years ago, business publishing was consumed by globalization and ecommerce, and international affairs publishing was heavily influenced by counterterrorism efforts in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Today the main influences I see impacting both business and politics are the pandemic, climate change, the Fourth Industrial Revolution sparked by artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, and related technologies; and the movement for equity, diversity, inclusion, and racial and environmental justice. Many of these are interrelated. For example, the coronavirus and racial inequality combine in health disparities and higher death rates from COVID-19 among minority groups. Climate change relates to economic inequality because it impacts people differently, and climate change relates to the pandemic by exacerbating the likelihood of more pandemics in the future, perhaps worse than this one.
How do you publish timely books that in some ways are chasing a moving target without their becoming immediately outdated?
Because books relating to the economy and to business—whether we’re talking about a perennial subject like leadership or a relatively new one like the impact of AI—have always been highly sensitive to fast-moving events and trends, I’ve been able to leverage my experience publishing in politics and current events to plan one to two years ahead in terms of focusing on what is enduring about a subject and what is just a flash in the pan. Ironically, the more up-to-the minute the writing, the more dated it may be. For example, you wouldn’t end a book on coronavirus by saying, “at press time, there were X number of deaths” when you know those numbers will be irrelevant by the time of publication. But you can discuss the historical trends in the data in a meaningful way.
With all this experience, in what way do you see yourself as a “new” voice? Can acquisitions editors be said to have a voice?
I am new to the university press world after having spent my career in what is awkwardly called commercial academic publishing, which is neither purely trade nor purely scholarly. I used to say that I published books for general readers with a scholarly backbone, and in a way, I still seek books that are accessibly written for business leaders or general readers with an interest in the economy. The difference is that they are peer reviewed, which has helped authors to focus on their analytical frameworks and the quality of their research. As to whether acquisitions editors have a voice, I’d say we do, though not in the way you might think. Authors have their own points of view and perspectives, and I do not seek to impose my opinions or my writing style on their work. However, I do have a voice in selecting what proposals for books that I believe would be important, valuable, and useful, in addition to being marketable. Because this Global Business program is new, I am commissioning a large portion of the list to get it off the ground, so there are times where the idea starts with me, and then I look for an author to write what I have in mind. But ultimately it’s a collaborative process.
How are you giving space to diverse voices within the Global Business publishing program?
Over the last five years at least, a lot of research has been done on the invisibility and/or neglect of women in the economics profession, and I’m working on a series to address that inequity. In terms of business leadership, women have made great strides, and it’s no surprise that I’m receiving a lot of excellent proposals for business books from highly qualified women. While diversity has long been a goal of corporate America, some scholars have pointed out that white women have been the primary beneficiaries of these initiatives. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests over the deaths at the hands of police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, corporations and other organizations are facing the same reckoning as the rest of American society. I am working with several potential authors on assessing this effort. Some companies will take it seriously, and some will pay lip service, but I’m seeing signs of lasting change. One of the most important trends of our time is the accelerated pace of change, so my challenge in the acquisitions process is to ensure that my books stay slightly ahead of the curve, but are not so far out in front that they are too early, such as the book I published on predatory lending a couple of years before the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Timing is everything, but we can also lead change by privileging previously neglected voices and perspectives, and that is what I intend to do.
