You won't find any gala celebrations at Arizona Stadium's 50 yard-line or on the McKale Center's Lute and Bobbi Olson Court. But this year, as the University of Arizona Press (UAP) celebrates its 50th anniversary, there is indeed much to commemorate. In an economy where almost everything has been downsized and where book sales are off, UAP anticipates it will publish another 50-60 quality books (its average per year) that reflect our diverse life and culture in the Southwest.
UAP's Interim Director, Kathryn Conrad, will be the first to admit UAP's approach to publishing may be less than glamorous, but it's also a far cry from the scholarly texts that are often synonymous with the world of academia. "The books that make the greatest contribution are not always those with the slickest point of view." She also adds that one area where UAP excels is when it really comes to understanding an issue.
Conrad sites Roxanne Doty's recent UAP book on the rise of border vigilantism, The Law Into Their Own Hands. "This is not a book that takes the side of the Minutemen or the immigrants and so it's not a viable commercial book." Instead, she says it is a far more serious look into the issue.
"To take one side or the other could be provocative or sensational but that's not what we do." Instead, the UAP chooses to publish books of depth that would not have a chance to make it with a commercial publisher. Like all of its published books, this manuscript was "peer reviewed" by various experts in the field.
If this still doesn't whet the appetite for a best seller, Holly Schaffer, UAP's Publicity Manager points out that their commitment to quality has been reflected in any number of awards for both fiction and poetry and that UAP prides itself in helping first time authors find both an audience and their voice.
"Scholarly may be a scary word," she says, "but in reality it also reflects quality."
When it comes to reader interest and accessibility, she and Conrad cite the work of poet Luis Valadez, whose book, What I'm On, is described in the UAP catalogue as follows: Luis Valadez is a performance poet and his poems shout to be read aloud. It's then that their language dazzles most brightly. Frankly autobiographical, (these words) recount the experiences of a Mexican-American boy growing up in a tough town near Chicago. Not exactly the stuff of a staid and scholarly press.
"We also publish what we see," says Conrad. "We see the stars, we see the desert, we see the border, we see native people." Indeed, the UAP catalogue reflects a rich collection of work that mirrors Southwestern culture. This also includes 1959's Pima Remembers, by George Webb, one of UAP's first published books. A book on the Pima Indians cultural traditions and the ways they were being lost, this book is still in print. "Two generations later," Schaffer notes, "this book can still be used to teach."
UAP is the recipient of numerous awards and acknowledgements and according to Schaffer, has sent well over 1.3 million books to customers all over the world, reaching 56 different countries and every state in the Union over the last five years.
Still, in the world of "what have you done for me lately," their catalogue continues to impress and includes the following: Nobody's Son, by Luis Alberto Urrea - a story about a family that comes from Tijuana and settles into the 'hood, hoping for the American Dream; If I Die in Juarez, by Stella Pope Duarte - based on the author's interviews with relatives of murdered women, to give readers the experience of walking in the shoes of women who daily risk being abducted and murdered; Rebuilding Native Nations Strategies for Governance and Development, edited by Miriam Jorgenson a book that provides guidelines for creating new governance structures, rewriting constitutions, building justice systems, launching nation-owned enterprises, encouraging citizen entrepreneurs, developing new relationships with non-Native governments, and confronting the crippling legacies of colonialism.
Visit www.UAPress.arizona.edu for more information.
