It's finally here! The University of Nebraska Press and Ted Kooser will celebrate the launch of his new book, Lights on a Ground of Darkness, tonight at the W. Dale Clark Library, 215 S. 15th St. in Downtown Omaha tonight at 7 p.m. Lights on a Ground of Darkness is a remembrance (written as prose, instead of poetry) of the time Kooser spent with his mother’s family in Guttenberg, Iowa, when he was a little boy. The event is free and open to the public, books will be for sale, and Ted will sign copies. And, if you missed it, Ted appeared … Continue reading Tonight’s the night! Ted Kooser to sign copies of his new book in Omaha

Pancho Segura will sign copies of his biography,Little Pancho: The Life of Tennis Legend Pancho Segura today at the U.S. Open. The University of Nebraska Press published Little Pancho, written by Caroline Seebohm, earlier this year. Pancho Segura has lived the life that feel-good sports movies are made of. He was born to a poor Ecuadorian family and was malnourished and sickly as a child. However, his father was a caretaker at a tennis club, so he was exposed to the sport early in his life. And even though he small  and weak, he took to the sport right away. … Continue reading UNP, the U.S. Open, and a book signing

We here at the University of Nebraska Press celebrated the upcoming holiday with pie. Our first ever Pie-A-Palooza was today, and about a dozen UNP employees entered their most beautiful, best tasting and most creative creations. Here’s a pic of the lovely, lovely pies, with more to come on Monday.Have a safe and happy July 4! Our office will be closed tomorrow for the holiday, but we’ll be back on Monday. Continue reading Happy two days before Independence Day!

Louise Pound’s birthday party was yesterday, as was the launch party for a new biography about her titled Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer. The University of Nebraska Press attended, and this party was notable for several reasons. Among them: Hostess Paige Namuth actually met Louise Pound. Her parents were friends of Pound and her siblings,  Roscoe and Olivia,  and sometimes visited them at their Victorian home in downtown Lincoln (which, sadly, has been torn down). One visit, Louise Pound, who by then was in her 80s, took an interest in Paige, who was then about 10 years old. They … Continue reading Louise Pound’s birthday party

Today is the first day of a short but busy week here at the University of Nebraska Press. Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening is a launch party for our book Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer, which is (as the title implies) a biography of linguist and notable Nebraskan Louise Pound. The book launch party, which happens to coincide with Louise Pound’s birthday, is at the Antlers Center, at the corner of Sheridan Boulevard and South Street here in Lincoln, from 5 to 7 p.m. Bonus: Some of Pound’s athletic equipment – including skates, golf clubs and tennis racquets – will be … Continue reading Louise Pound, Pie-A-Palooza and Michael Jackson, too

 While our chief blogger Cara is still cycling across Nebraska this week, here's another University of Nebraska Press cycling memoir to check out: An American Cycling Odyssey, 1887 by Kevin J. Hayes. In 1887 a twenty-one-year-old newspaperman named George Nellis (1865–1948) rode a bicycle from Herkimer, New York, to San Francisco in seventy-two days, surpassing the transcontinental bicycle record by several weeks. He passed through Nebraska on his trip and he also managed to meet the legendary baseball player A. G. Spalding in Chicago, take in professional baseball games in Detroit and Chicago, participate in several bicycle races in Omaha, attend an opera … Continue reading Bicycling Blogger

This past weekend, the University of Nebraska Press fielded a women's 10k team in our local Havelock Charity Run, and our charity funds went to the Lincoln Literacy Council. To top it all off, we also earned 3rd place in our division. UNP Runners from left to right: Erica Corwin (web sales coordinator and sometimes blogger), Tish Fobben (direct mail manager), Amy Lage (UNP facebook fan), Cara Pesek (Publicity Manager and chief blogger), Donna Shear (director), Joeth Zucco (Senior Project Editor) If you're a runner or you're interested in reading about running, check out Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running … Continue reading Running for Reading

Every year, June 2, my dad’s birthday, sneaks up on me. Rarely do I have a gift for him (though it always serves as a reminder of Father’s Day, a few weeks later).  Had I been thinking, this year I would have given my dad a copy of Monica Nucciarone’s new book, Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend. My dad (like many dads out there) loves both baseball and baseball history, and I’m sure he’d appreciate learning more of Cartwright’s very interesting life, which included founding the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York, joining the California Gold … Continue reading Happy birthday Dad! Happy publication day Alexander Cartwright! Happy upcoming Father’s Day!