Happy St. Patrick’s Day, University of Nebraska Press readers!

Lots of things happening at the University of Nebraska Press today:

First, the big news: Margaret Jacobs, author 2009 UNP title White Mother to a Dark Race has won the 2010 Bancroft Prize, widely considered among the most prestigious awards for history. In White Mother to a Dark Race, Jacobs writes about the forced removal of indigenous children from their families and their assimilation into American and Australian culture. In both countries, white women played large roles in the removal and assimilation process – they served as teachers in boarding schools, as surrogate mothers and, often, as the agents who physically removed indigenous children from their families. Jacobs traveled to Australia and throughout the United States in order to better understand why white women were so invested in this movement and what they hoped to accomplish by removing indigenous children from their families. In White Mother to a Dark Race, Jacobs also explores the impact that forcible removal had on indigenous children and culture. Congratulations!

Second: Football fans, particularly Pittsburgh football fans, should check out this nice piece on UNP authors Rob Ruck and Maggie Jones Patterson, as well as Art Rooney, the subject of their recent biography, titled, appropriately, Rooney. Ruck and Patterson spent 10 years researching Art Rooney, a standout athlete, longtime owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and, by all accounts, all-around good guy. This quote, from Patterson, sums that up: "As a reporter, having done many stories on many people, I've never done research on anyone who got better and better the more we dug," says Patterson, an associate professor of journalism at Duquesne University. "There's a lot of kindness in this man that people don't know about. It was done without any fanfare. I think he just really liked people."

And finally: The 2010 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference is coming up in Denver April 7-10, and lots of UNP authors will be there. Below is a schedule of UNP panels and signings. If you’re going to be at AWP and need a sweet reason to attend UNP author Sherrie Flick’s signing of her book, Reconsidering Happiness (which is largely set in a bakery), the author will give cookies to the first 13 people (a baker’s dozen) who stop by. Following is the schedule of UNP-related events:

Signings:
All at our booth: Exhibit Hall A, Booths 809 & 811

Kurt Caswell
author of An Inside Passage
Thursday, April 8, 2:00-2:45 p.m.

Sherrie Flick
author of Reconsidering Happiness
Friday, April 9, 12:00-12:45 p.m.

Terese Svoboda
author of Trailer Girl and Other Stories
Friday, April 9, 2:00-2:45 p.m.

Peggy Shumaker
author of Just Breathe Normally
Friday, April 9, 3:00-3:45 p.m.

Patrick Madden
author of Quotidiana
Saturday, April 10, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Panels:

American Lives: Exploring the Modern Memoir (organized by UNP)
Saturday, April 10, 10:30-11:45 a.m.,
Room 108, Colorado Convention Center
Panelists: Kristen Elias Rowley, Aaron Raz Link, Sonya Huber, Lee Martin, Fleda Brown

Description: Since 2002, the University of Nebraska Press has highlighted the diversity of the American experience and the innovation of talented writers through American Lives, a series of memoirs edited by Tobias Wolff. The Press will launch the 25th book in the series at AWP 2010. American Lives: A Reader will celebrate the genre by pulling together excerpts from twenty series writers. Come listen to five of these renowned memoirists read and discuss their unique approaches to the genre.

The River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize: A Celebration (organized by Kurt Caswell)
Thursday, April 8, 12:00-1:15 a.m.,
Room 111, Colorado Convention Center
Panelists: Joe Mackall, Kurt Caswell, Brandon R. Schrand, Michael Downs

Description: The annual River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize, founded in 2002 by Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman, is fast becoming one of the most competitive and honored nonfiction book prizes in the U.S. Come hear readings by recent winners of this prestigious award.