By Abram Shalom Himelstein, editor-in-chief
To sit behind this computer is to have narratives come forward, asking us to amplify them: all of these narratives, all of these stories. Tell people what I do, and it often becomes an elevator pitch. Oh, they say, and then it comes out. Their narrative thread, or several, come bubbling up.
I love this part of my job, and I like to think about how their story fits in or how the story stands out—leaving the country, coming to the city. They watched history or made history. Or they are members of a community nearly gone now. When they tell these stories, talk about these worlds, these moments live again.
When they wrap up, I usually give vague encouragement or offer to read an outline or book proposal. Most of these don’t ever arrive, and the short moment we shared is often the entirety of that narrative flowering. This part of the job is one part confessional listener, one part talent scout.
But the majority of publishing is something else: writers in the thick of it who want to meet the public and show them something new, something sublime. And we work with them, editorial, graphics, promotion. We pitch these narratives to the newspapers, podcasts, and other media. That’s the real work of publishing: find something exciting and beautiful, help it become even more beautiful and articulated, then give it a cover that compels readers. Then shout about how great it is from the rooftops.
And that shouting has given birth to this newsletter—we are hoping to tell you about the beautiful work that UNO Press authors have been creating. These authors, working with UNO Press or with our amazing partners—Center Austria, Inter American Studies, the Neighborhood Story Project, and Runagate—are producing some of the most important work in the world, and we are delighted to be standing up here, with these books in hand, telling you this news.
If you’d like to get semi-regular information about what’s fresh at the Press, please sign up below!
-Abram
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Books Worth the Trees They're Printed On 