12 or 20 (second series) questions with Susan Stewart / @uchicagopress.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2026/06/12-o...

Remembering Morris Philipson (1926-2011) on what would have been his 100th birthday. The formidable and formative director of the University of Chicago Press from 1967 to 2000, Morris gave it an editorial personality that, through many changes since, it still carries. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Today's Feature: "In the Dark" by Susan Stewart from Bramble published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social Read here: poems.com/poem/in-the-...

This spring, our critics take on fascism at home, revolution in Black bookstores, climate change in augmented reality, gentrification as metaphor, and more, including a posthumous book by the historian James C. Scott. Read the latest edition of Bookshelf, our seasonal book review roundup:

Nathan's "Action Without Hope" really is a great book, and one committed to the values of critical thinking and scholarship despite the temptation (around us all the time) to solutionist cliche. I learned from it, argued with it, admire it.

New in the Thinking Literature series: Benjamin Saltzman's sweeping account the ancient gesture of "Turning Away" and Anastasia Eccles's "Perverse Attachments," a brilliant dissection of frustrated agency in the novel. @b-a-saltzman.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social

“if nations lasted forever, we probably would not mark their birthdays,” I review BICENTENNIAL by Marc Stein @uchicagopress.bsky.social for @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2093...

Mary Beard signing copies of her new book, Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old, before a bravura talk at the Chicago Humanities Festival @uchicagopress.bsky.social @wmarybeard.bsky.social

Three @uchicagopress.bsky.social books—including Ray Madoff’s THE SECOND ESTATE and Jens Ludwig’s UNFORGIVING PLACES—on the year-end list of record

Great interview with George Lakoff and Srini Narayanan (computational neuroscientist at Google DeepMind) on how brains and AI think differently. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ever...

Oh, wow! Thrilled by this, and a huge thanks to both @longreads.com, which has done so much to make the web a place for good writing, and @placesjournal.bsky.social, which is one of the preeminent venues for anything even remotely related to place, landscape, space, architecture, etc.

#ACLA2025 may be ending, but our virtual exhibit is still open! Browse our virtual exhibit and get 30% off and free domestic shipping using code EX58016: bit.ly/UCPEXACLA.

Wonderful in-depth piece, with historic California coast photos. The seas are coming for us, every one, you ladies and you gentlemen

Celebrate Daniel Mendelsohn's landmark new translation of one of the greatest epics of all time, THE ODYSSEY. Join him in person for events around the country this spring to honor this work & his magnificent feat of translation, acclaimed by poets & classicists alike.

New in the Thinking Literature series: Jennifer Soong’s SLIPS OF THE MIND: POETRY AS FORGETTING and Robert Scott’s READING HEGEL: IRONY, RECOLLECTION, CRITIQUE. 30% off with code #UCPNEW on the UChicago Press website @jennifersoong.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Great piece on university presses now: “The publishers who don’t run away.”

In ON CLOSE READING, John Guillory addresses two puzzles: why the New Critics, who supposedly emphasized close reading, rarely used the term, and why scholars struggle to define it. Guillory explains how these puzzles are connected on our blog. Read more here: https://buff.ly/40pR0bL

Thinking of Shirley Hazzard, who would have been 94 today. This picture is from my last visit with her, in 2014: she is holding her 1963 portrait by Sam Falk. Savor at least a paragraph today from her great novels, Transit of Venus and The Great Fire.

Congratulations to Jesse McCarthy, author of THE BLUE PERIOD, which has been longlisted for the National Books Critics Circle Awards in Criticism. Part of our Thinking Literature series, THE BLUE PERIOD investigates Black writing in the Cold War era.

Thrilled that My Dark Room (University of Chicago Press) has been awarded an honorable mention for the MLA’s 2023 James Russell Lowell Prize! 💫✨💫 www.mla.org/content/down...

Cover reveal — Allison Carruth’s “Novel Ecologies: Nature Remade and the Illusions of Tech” unmasks the tech industry’s quasi-religious faith in environmental engineering. Forthcoming in January. Preorder now with code UCPNEW for 30% off: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

John Guillory’s “On Close Reading” is here! See also Scott Newstok’s companion website, Close Reading Archive: www.closereadingarchive.org Orders placed directly with Chicago are shipping now (30% off with promo code UCPNEW): tinyurl.com/4ew4tm6h

I will make my usual comment about pardons: Any executive who has pardon power and does not specifically commit at least a portion of their time to regularly, expeditiously reviewing and acting on pardon requests from nobodies is failing a very clear moral test.

Anyone else waiting to see if the CMOS shop is going to maybe have a cyber Monday sale tomorrow? Just me? Because new edition means new merchandise and yellow just happens to be my favorite color.

Such a nice shoutout for my #Homer #Odyssey —and from such an unexpected quarter: nytacrostics.com/nyt-acrostic...

New this fall, the 11th and 12th books in Chicago’s Thinking Literature series: Julia Jarcho’s “Throw Yourself Away: Writing & Masochism” and Leah Middlebrook’s “Amphion: Lyre, Poetry, & Politics in Modernity.” @uchicagopress.bsky.social

FIELD NOTES: REPAIR #4 The latest in the series, feat. words by Simon Sadler, @tamigraph.bsky.social, Nina Briggs, @kavitaurbanist.bsky.social, Aaron Cayer, Ifeoma Ebo, Elke Krasny, @johanpries.bsky.social, Kyle Spence, Phineas Harper & Gabu Heindl. Observations on repair in a broken world:

A book we published in 1955 that's trending now. Offered without need for additional comment: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Attending the American Studies meeting in Baltimore? I’ll be there and eager to see you at the UChicago Press booth. Check out our featured titles here: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/vi... @uchicagopress.bsky.social

A review of The Virtual Sentence, eight writing exercises by Kyle Booten, D. Graham Burnett, Brian Dillon, Jeff Dolven, Jan Mieszkowski, Sally O’Reilly, Mónica de la Torre, and Elena Vogman.

NEXT Weds. 11/20. Throw Yourself Away: Writing and Masochism. A Book Talk with Julia Jarcho. 4pm Pembroke Hall 305. Responses from Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in English Kevin Quashie & Asst. Professor of English Kyle C. Frisina (Holy Cross). Learn more: https://buff.ly/40iy403

Field Notes on Repair #2 is out now! This second installment in the survey series features words on repair, maintenance & care by Joan Ockman, David Theodore, Ana Miljački, David Gissen, Amber Wiley, Huda Tayob, Brett Milligan, Mireille Roddier, Nishiko, Jeremy Till, Nora Wendl & Alison B. Hirsch.

We are thrilled to share that our Spring 2025 seasonal catalog is now available! Check out more than 500 books from Chicago and our client publishers and ReadUP:

Happy to showcase a collection @uchicagopress.bsky.social authors on @bsky.app. Please follow! go.bsky.app/LhdLfcP

Job opening in the University of Chicago Press books division: I'm hiring a Senior Editorial Associate and Acquisitions Department Coordinator to work out of our office in Hyde Park (hybrid OK). Please email with any questions. Details: uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Jonathan Kramnick, author of CRITICISM AND TRUTH, on High Theory Podcast to discuss close reading-- in Kramnick’s view the shared foundation of literary studies in the university. Listen here: bit.ly/3PxXwIN

Really disappointed to read this from Ian Anderson of the band Jethro Tull: “If there is one thing in my life, I would go back and change the name of Jethro Tull to something less historical.” tinyurl.com/dndjyhb2

What makes criticism truthful? Jonathan Kramnick discusses "Criticism and Truth: On Method in Literary Studies" on the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast: newbooksnetwork.com/criticism-an...

Giovanni Tiepolo, now in a ravishing show at the Morgan Library, NYC.

Coming to Philly for MLA? Don't miss Jonathan Kramnick and Ross Wilson in conversation with Anahid Nersessian about their new books at Head House Books, Jan. 5, 6:30PM.

Michel Chaouli's forthcoming book, SOMETHING SPEAKS TO ME, probes the deepest impulses behind literary criticism. It also has a cover drawing by one of my favorite artists, Frederick Sommer. It will be gorgeous, inside and out. To be published in February by @UChicagoPress .