Jim Johnston, author of the University of Nebraska Press title, The Long Road of War: A Marine’s Story of Pacific Combat, died earlier this month. He was 86 years old. Johnston lived most of his life in southwest Nebraska community of Wauneta, in Chase County, where he established Johnston Real Estate in 1963. His wife and three sons still live there. In 1998, the University of Nebraska Press published The Long Road of War, in which Johnston told his story of service during WWII, which he served mostly in the Pacific. The book was well received in military circles and … Continue reading Remembering Jim Johnston, Yellowstone Autumn reviewed

An interview with Terese Svoboda (author of Trailer Girl and Other Stories, which will be published as a Bison paperback in December) was featured on the arts and culture blog The Millions last week, as part of a National Poetry Month feature. In the interview, Svoboda discusses the importance of song in Sudan, something she spent time researching and translating years ago – and also something she discussed at an event in Grand Island a few weeks back. Click here for an interesting interview with a surprise coincidence. In other, more general, National Poetry Month news, ForeWord Magazine has is … Continue reading More poetry during National Poetry Month

Hédi Fried, author of The Road to Auschwitz: Fragments of a Life will be featured in the forthcoming documentary, The Last Survivor presented by Righteous Pictures. The documentary focuses on genocide awareness, prevention, and survivor advocacy and is working in efforts with the Genocide Prevention Project to promote April as Genocide Prevention month. See a short film that focuses on Hédi and her story of survival. Learn more about Hédi and the documentary in the Huffington Post. Continue reading Holocaust Survivor and UNP author featured in documentary, The Last Survivor

The perilously high Red River in Fargo is all over the news today. The National Guard is on the ground there, patrolling the 43-foot-high dike for leaks and breaches. Several neighborhoods have been evacuated, as have jails and hospitals. The river is expected to crest tomorrow. One of my coworkers said today that she can’t read or listen to anything about Fargo without thinking about Flood Stage and Rising, published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2005. The author, Jane Varley, lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota, which is also on the banks of the Red River. In 1997, … Continue reading Flood Stage and Rising

I was flipping through the March 23 issue of the New Yorker last night and happened upon a poem by Terese Svoboda, titled Mom as Fly. For those of you unfamiliar with Svoboda, she is the author of Tin God, which was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2006. Her short story collection, Trailer Girl and Other Stories, will be released as a Bison paperback this fall. And her poem is on the New Yorker Web Site. In addition, I have two interesting bits of general publishing news for our readers this Friday: 1. Publishers Weekly Online had an … Continue reading Terese Svoboda in the New Yorker, Kiyosaki book free online, and oddest book title award

Like a lot of native Nebraskans, I remember a few spring mornings when my parents woke us kids in what felt like the middle of the night and loaded us into the family minivan so we could see the Sandhill Cranes. I remember watching the sunrise from the car, and I remember how quiet it was along I-80 until we reached the birds. I remember talking to my friends at school about their own family trips to see the cranes; to grow up in rural Nebraska was to make your own family migration – perhaps not every year, but at … Continue reading The University of Nebraska Press and the Sandhill Cranes

One hundred sixty three years ago this May 12, the Donner Party left Independence, Mo., and set out toward California. I imagine that this time of year 163 years ago, the members of the Donner Party were already busily making preparations for the journey they expected would last just four months. And contrary to popular belief, the Donners were prepared for that trip. They had all the necessary staples – loads of food, good, sturdy transportation, warm clothes. Tamsen Donner, wife of party leader George Donner and the subject of Gabrielle Burton’s new book Searching for Tamsen Donner, also brought … Continue reading Searching for Tamsen Donner in the L.A. Times

College hoops fans had an exciting weekend as ‘Selection Sunday’ filled in the remaining slots of the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to enter my fav picks and participate in the fun banter and bragging rights amongst my fellow friends and colleagues. March Madness and fan culture expert Alan Jay Zaremba knows this all too well as he spent the first weekend of March Madness 2007 in Las Vegas, hopping from sports book to sports book to watch as many of the basketball games as possible, place some bets, and … Continue reading Play Begins on March 19 – Who are your picks?

Today is Friday the 13th, which means it’s either a day of good luck or bad luck, depending on how you look at it. Yes, it’s associated with bad luck, but according to various web sites I found during a short Google-fueled research session, some research shows there are fewer car accidents (and other accidents) on Friday the 13th than other days because some people are so superstitious about the date that they avoid driving (or taking part in other potentially dangerous activities). So there you have it. A number of semi-significant historical events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including … Continue reading Friday the 13th