Resnick on the radio

Goodbye Wifes and Daughters by Susan Kushner Resnick uncovers the story behind the losses behind the tragic 1943 story of how almost 80 men descended into the Smith coal mine in Bearcreek, Montana and only three came out alive. Lisa Bonos of the Washington Post said,“Resnick does an admirable job of breathing life into the story of a smalltown’s demise and its questioning of whether the disaster could have been avoided.” On April 18, Resnick was a guest on Write The Book and interviewed by Shelagh Shapiro. The interview aired in Burlington,VT on WOMM-LP 105.9 FM. Click here to listen … Continue reading Resnick on the radio

More Lisa Harper news

Lisa Harper, author of A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood, will be a guest on Cassie Premo Steele's Co-CreatingShow tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. You can even call in live to ask questions. Click here for the link to the radio show and number. In other Double Life news, Harper was also on a memoir panel with Katherine Ellison, author of Buzz, on the blog, Writers on Writing. Take a listen here.                                                             … Continue reading More Lisa Harper news

UNP author to help Major League Baseball trace its roots

University of Nebraska Press Author David Block will serve on a committee that will trace the beginnings of U.S. baseball. The committee, announced by Major League Baseball on March 15, will be made up of 12 baseball experts who will seek out the history of baseball’s very early days, along with the game’s evolution and growth. The committee will also look at the history and evolution of in various regions, cities and communities. Block, the author of Baseball Before We Knew It, which won the Seymour Medal in 2006, is in good company; other committee members include Ken Burns and … Continue reading UNP author to help Major League Baseball trace its roots

Author on Chicago radio

New this month from University of Nebraska Press is Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball by Larry Baldassaro. It is a social history of baseball, tracing the evolution of American perceptions toward those big players of Italian decent like DiMaggio, Giamatti and Piazza. It chronicles the baseball exploits that influenced those perceptions. Baldassaro conducted more than fifty interviews with players, coaches, managers, and executives—some with careers dating back to the thirties—in order to put all these figures and their stories into the historical context of baseball, Italian Americans, and, finally, the culture of American sports. Baldassaro was invited by Cubs … Continue reading Author on Chicago radio

Celebrating Wally Yonamine

Wally Yonamine was both the first Japanese American to play for an NFL franchise and the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II. He is also the subject of Robert Fitt’s biography Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball, which is the unlikely story of how a shy young man from the sugar plantations of Maui overcame prejudice to integrate two professional sports in two countries. The two-sport star died Monday at the age of 85. The San Francisco Chronicle said he “was known as the ‘Nisei Jackie Robinson’ for breaking into Japanese baseball … Continue reading Celebrating Wally Yonamine

Happy birthday, Bison Books!

John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President. Barbie gets her boyfriend, Ken. And The Supremes are signed with Motown Records. The year is 1961. For the University of Nebraska Press, the Bison Books trade paperback line was introduced as a way to bring affordable works of enduring literary merit to a mass audience. This month in Publishers Weekly, Bison Books is being celebrated for its 50th anniversary of its "groundbreaking print imprint.”   Read the full article here. Continue reading Happy birthday, Bison Books!

Book donation for young poets

Calling all poets! The Nebraska Arts Council is coordinating the state’s Poetry Out Loud program for the sixth year. This national program encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance and competition. This year 31 schools throughout Nebraska are registered and each school was invited to send their recitation winner to a regional competition. Students who advance to the state finals will receive various prizes including books donated from the University of Nebraska Press! For more information on Nebraska’s Poetry Out Loud program, click here.  Continue reading Book donation for young poets

UNP author in Foreign Affairs

University of Nebraska – Lincoln History Professor James D. Le Sueur’s article “Postcolonial Time Disorder” was featured in Foreign Affairs this week. Le Sueur, who is also a UNP author and series editor, discusses the era of when Hosni Mubarak first took power. At that time, Le Sueur writes, leaders in the postcolonial world saw a strong, repressive state as a necessary way to secure national liberty. With that era over, Le Sueur asks the question: Will the region's other autocrats now meet similar fates? He dives into the situation in Egypt and the Middle East and describes the Postcolonial … Continue reading UNP author in Foreign Affairs

Poems from an ex

Ever wonder what an ex thinks about you after the break-up? Lisa Harper, author of A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood, got an unexpected look into just that.  She wrote about the experience for the Poetry Foundation, and the piece has since been picked up by the Huffington Post, the Rumpus and elsewhere. A few years ago, Harper noticed that her ex-boyfriend had published a book of poetry, 15 years after they had broken up. Harper writes, “I bought a copy, partly out of curiosity, partly out of loyalty to a fellow writer and former friend.” It took her months to … Continue reading Poems from an ex

New book trailer

My Ruby Slippers: The Road Back to Kansas, by Tracey Seeley, is a memoir in which the author chronicles a series of visits over several years to her childhood home of Kansas.  Though Seeley left Kansas shortly after high school and redefined herself as a city girl, she discovered that even after decades away, she still felt a strong connection to the landscape — and people — from her past. Check out the book trailer below:   Continue reading New book trailer