By Leah Myers, Graduate assistant Reading well-constructed prose is one of life’s joys. Sentences that convey the author’s beliefs and ideas accurately and concisely are a wonder to me. Alex Myers’ Supporting Transgender Students is full of this kind of writing, and it was difficult to not be caught in the words as I was […]
On Maryam Rafiee and Humanizing the ‘Big Enemy’
Alex Myers’ Guide to Supporting Transgender Youth in Schools & Beyond
By Chelsey Shannon, editor After months of staying away from UNO’s campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I recently had the opportunity to do an on-campus shoot for the Press’s upcoming virtual event, “What Langston Did.” We engaged videographer Weenta Girmay to capture an in-person (outdoor, socially distanced) interview between myself and Kalamu ya Salaam. […]
“The old folks used to say, when you enter a room, speak to the people who are already there…” – Kalamu ya Salaam, Cosmic Deputy: Poetry & Context, 1968-2019 By Chelsey Shannon, editor Whenever his name comes up, Kalamu ya Salaam regularly claims Langston Hughes as his patron saint of writing. From a young age, […]
The Publishing Journey of the Greatest Anthology to touch my desk By Abram Shalom Himelstein, editor-in-chief Everything seemed to be lining up. The University of New Orleans Press was moving into the Earl K. Long Library, just two floors below the Marcus Christian Collection. And Kalamu was on the phone, talking about revisiting Christian’s iconic […]
Honoring the Legacy of an Austrian Poet in Exile
“It is the parade to end all parades—St. Joseph’s Day raised to a level of magnificence never envisioned in Sicily or old New Orleans. Through Super Sunday, the genius of Black New Orleans culture has spun off from the old Catholic holiday to produce its own altar of ever-nourishing spiritual and celebratory bread.” — Tom […]
UNO Press at PEN Oakland 2019 By Chelsey Shannon, editor Many attending the “Blue Collar PEN” ceremony back in December expressed surprise at my coming all the way from New Orleans to collect Kalamu ya Salaam’s award—as if the Bay Area was a cozy hamlet my cosmopolitan self had only deigned to visit. But in […]
Books Worth the Trees They're Printed On