Happy University Press Week! Help us celebrate university presses November 13-17. Since 2012, members of the Association of University Presses have participated in an annual celebration of University Presses. Following the example of the first University Press week, proclaimed by US President Jimmy Carter in the summer of 1978, this event recognizes the impact that a global community of university presses has on every one of us.

This year’s theme for UP Week is “Speak UP.” This is meant to provide an opportunity for presses and their supporters to shout to the rooftops about the value of the essential work of university presses: giving voice to the scholarship and ideas that shape conversations around the world.

The #UPweek blog tour today features “WHERE does your press #SpeakUP?” Posts on today’s topic, describing the ways our partners and communities amplify authors’ work, come from University of Illinois Press, Columbia University Press, University of Alabama Press, University of Notre Dame Press, John Hopkins University Press, Purdue University Press, University of Toronto Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, University Press of Kentucky, Bristol University Press, University of the West Indies Press, State University of New York Press, and the University of Washington Press.

For our contribution, local bookseller and UNP author Carla Ketner will discuss the connections her bookstore, Chapters Books & Gifts has with the University of Nebraska Press and the importance of being a part of the university press community. Her picture book, Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder, was published earlier this month.

University Press Community in Nebraska

I have two stakes in the university press community: I’m a bookstore owner, and I’m an author published by the University of Nebraska Press. My mission as a small-town Nebraska bookseller for nearly 20 years includes promoting the works of Nebraska authors, many published by University of Nebraska Press. Over the years, my store, Chapters Books & Gifts, has hosted events featuring a number of those authors. A number of those events have featured one notable University of Nebraska Press author: Ted Kooser.

In the fall of 2004, as the newly named United States Poet Laureate, local luminary Ted Kooser spoke at my store’s grand opening. Since then, the store has hosted celebrations for his books and even his 80^th birthday party. From supplying books to designing posters, the University of Nebraska Press has been a partner in these events.

My newly released picture book biography, Ted Kooser: More than a Local Wonder, is a direct result of my connection to the University of Nebraska Press as a bookseller. If I hadn’t opened a bookstore just days after Ted was named US Poet Laureate, and if Ted hadn’t been a gracious person and prolific author, I wouldn’t have written a book about him. If the University of Nebraska Press hadn’t published Ted’s books and been an ardent supporter of projects related to him, my book might never have found a home. And if my book had never found a home, I wouldn’t have discovered for myself the careful editing, beautiful design, and publicity the Press provides for its authors.

Book creators and their distributors are a community. University presses are an integral part of that community. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it as well.