Few things make us happier than university-press authors engaging wide audiences with the help of television's reach. So we were thrilled, this week, to see @ninamandell.bsky.social (and her book "A Fraction of a Point") on Cleveland station WKYC.

So pleased with the way Pittsburgh continues to come through for books and authors. This Q&A from public radio station @wesa.fm joins attention for Chris's book at @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social, @post-gazette.com, @ryandeto.bsky.social at Axios, White Whale Books, and others in this bookish city.

WESA: New book by Pittsburgh economist challenges the region’s steel story (what book?) www.wesa.fm/economy-busi...

The big rollout for @ninamandell.bsky.social's “A Fraction of a Point” continues today with a radio appearance at Ideastream Public Media! Congrats to the author, and to the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees, who recently won their 23rd consecutive state title.

Excited to share our newest project: a comic about the many ways Cleveland has played a central role in our democratic experiment! You can read more and see the full art here: clereviewofbooks.com/cleveland-la... @natepowell.bsky.social @katietrostel.bsky.social @valentinolzullo.bsky.social

Buy my book and spread the word!

Congrats to @newsguy.bsky.social, whose book “Behind the White House Curtain” is now available in a paperback edition with new material reflecting unfolding events at Voice of America. Find this “vivid” book (Columbus Dispatch) wherever you shop, and revisit our author interview on the blog.

I think I’m going to take a trip down to Pittsburgh within the next couple weeks to get this. I could easily just order online, but I think it’s way more appropriate to visit the subject of this book.

So proud of my former @usatodaysports.usatoday.com colleague and fellow Northwestern Wildcat Nina Mandell on the publication of her wonderful and important new book: A Fraction of a Point. I was honored to blurb it. @medillschool.bsky.social

“Where a lesser essayist might go on to ruminate about mortality and burial rites, LeMay’s focus stays with the stand of trees awhile, a spot that ‘looks very much alive.'” @rebeccamoonruark.bsky.social on the work of Eric LeMay. pghrev.com/finding-love...

Spending time with this offering from @ksupress.bsky.social. #truecrime

Attention for @chrisbriem.bsky.social's book "Beyond Steel" continues to build, now with a substantive writeup in Governing Magazine. "Pittsburgh has reinvented itself into a high-tech, knowledge-economy success. If Pittsburgh can do it, can other places?"

Congrats to KSUP author Nina Mandell, who’s in @theguardian.com today with a piece drawn from her new book “A Fraction of a Point.” We’re so pleased that this sensitive portrait of Ohio high school athletics is getting wide attention.

@ksupress.bsky.social Calling the essay-curious: You're going to love Eric LeMay's super inventive fifth book, The First 649 Days: Essays and Other Acts of Love, out from Kent State University Press in April. (Get your pre-order on.) My review: pghrev.com/finding-love...

Congrats to Nina Mandell, whose book "A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line" (coming 3/10 from KSUP) is named one of "The 10 Best New Books of March" by Bustle. "If there’s an Olympics-sized hole in your heart, 'A Fraction of a Point' is not one to be missed."

Stunned by the kind words re my book, "Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many," by @jtauber.com and Alan from @prancingponypod.bsky.social on this week's episode (#402). Beyond stunned they compared it to Verlyn Flieger's work. megaphone.link/GLSS8237391111 @ksupress.bsky.social

New book review: Sanders on Megelsh, Michael J.: _Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America_. Kent State University Press, 2024. Published by H-War. Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20142975

KSUP is pleased to welcome the @aupresses.bsky.social Book, Jacket, & Journal Show! Congrats to all of our colleagues on the publication of beautiful books that push design in innovative directions. Not pictured: all the books that KSUP staff have swiped and moved to the top of their TBR lists . . .

Happy Birthday Toni Morrison! Save the date for August 5, as we honor this literary titan.

Missed the book launch? Mark your calendars. This is for next month Downtown at the HYP Club on Thursday, March 26th @6pm. Free and open to the public, but registration may be retired. AHYP History Series: Beyond Steel - Pittsburgh's Reluctant Reinvention www.eventbrite.com/e/ahyp-histo...?

Another big month for KSUP authors, including @chrisbriem.bsky.social, Nina Mandell, Martin Bush, and others. See all the latest news and reviews in our February roundup.

Thanks to @clevelandscene.bsky.social for previewing Nina Mandell's book “A Fraction of a Point,” coming in March: www.clevescene.com/arts/local-s...

For local peeps who couldn't make the book launch. No Brian O and likely a smaller event, but a week from Friday (see below). Menu includes fish, so knock out your fish fry for the day.

Currently reading 👇

Love seeing our author’s book in the window of a great indie! If you missed @chrisbriem.bsky.social's launch event for “Beyond Steel” and still want a signed copy, head over to White Whale in Pittsburgh.

Excited to highlight Eric LeMay’s forthcoming book “The First 649 Days” (with praise from Caryl Pagel) in the new issue of n+1. Watch for LeMay’s “largehearted exploration of love’s capacities,” coming in April (and thanks to our friends at Vesto PR for space in the ad).

The paperback edition of 'Behind the White House Curtain' will be released early next month with new material about the destruction of the Voice of America. You can pre-order today at your favorite bookstore or online. bookshop.org/p/books/behi...

Big thanks to @aaronrenn.skystack.xyz for talking with @chrisbriem.bsky.social about his book "Beyond Steel," new from Kent State.

February is Black History Month, and to mark the occasion we’re pleased to highlight our book series American Abolitionism and Antislavery, which presents the best scholarship on antislavery activism and abolitionism in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century United States.

From the Wick Poetry Center: "Finish the polishing touches on your manuscripts because the 2026 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, judged by Camille Dungy, is open for submissions! Visit our website for full eligibility and submission guidelines." www.kent.edu/wick/stan-an...

Axios/Pittsburgh: New book explains how Pittsburgh moved "Beyond Steel" www.axios.com/local/pittsb...

So I’m not sure if I want you to read this extensive review of my book lest you then feel there is no reason to buy your own copy. Bateman/Real Clear Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh’s Permanent (and Incomplete) Transformation www.realclearpennsylvania.com/articles/202...

Thanks to everyone who came to White Whale Bookstore for the launch of @chrisbriem.bsky.social's “Beyond Steel”! Missed the event? There’s a new Q&A with the author in the @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social: pghrev.com/christopher-...

"In BEYOND STEEL: PITTSBURGH AND THE ECONOMICS OF TRANSFORMATION, Briem argues that Pittsburgh’s transformation was neither sudden nor inevitable—and that the city’s most persistent problem may be its refusal to let go of steel as destiny." — Aakanksha Agarwal. pghrev.com/christopher-...

Thank you @ksupress.bsky.social! A wonderful box of treasure awaited me when I came home from work today. I don’t quite know where to begin!

A big review for @chrisbriem.bsky.social's "Beyond Steel"! If you have access to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, be sure to read the full rave at the link below. And don't miss the author at Pittsburgh indie White Whale Books on Tuesday. www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/202...

Kent State’s books and authors kicked off the new year with attention in Cleveland Scene, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, New Books Network, and more. See all the latest in our January roundup.

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate the publication of Rebecca Jumper Matheson‘s “Artisans and Designers”—new in our series with the Costume Society of America—at author talks this fall and winter. Pictured here: events at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Bard Graduate Center.

We're kicking off a yearlong statewide celebration of Toni Morrison on February 18, 2026! Spread the word, sign up for our newsletter, and join in the celebration. ohiocelebratestonimorrison.org

New in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: @chrisbriem.bsky.social, author of Kent State's upcoming book "Beyond Steel," on why steel isn't coming back to Pittsburgh: www.post-gazette.com/opinion/insi...

Pleased to share the news that the latest issue of our journal "Civil War History"—edited by @jimdowns.bsky.social, and featuring articles by @legg.bsky.social, @nielseichhorn.bsky.social, and others—is now available at @projectmuse.bsky.social: muse.jhu.edu/issue/56267

The audiobook version of “Behind the White House Curtain” is now available. www.audible.com/pd/Behind-th...

Last chance... almost full. Where else do you want to be on a Tuesday evening in Pittsburgh?

“Future prospects for greater Pittsburgh are decoupled from the prospects of the steel industry, a reality... difficult to accept for a region identified for so long with the once monolithic industry.” From BEYOND STEEL by @chrisbriem.bsky.social (@ksupress.bsky.social). pghrev.com/did-the-wolf...

Big thanks to @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social for sharing an excerpt from @chrisbriem.bsky.social’s much-anticipated book “Beyond Steel.” We're excited for the official launch event at White Whale Bookstore on February 3.

We are saddened to learn of the death of Cleveland sportswriter Bill Livingston. KSU Press is proud to be the publisher of several of his books, including "The Promise of LeBron James." www.msn.com/en-us/sports...

Coming in March: Journalist Nina Mandell tells the story of Ohio’s celebrated Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School gymnastics team in “A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line”: www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2025/a-fract...

For today's PG, Stephen Karlinchak, @ZackTanner.com and I look back at the first quarter of this century and some of Pittsburgh's big stories. I helped cover many of them. For this I got to talk with @chrisbriem.bsky.social. Stories and timeline here: newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/pittsburgh-t...

Ha… yunz have pushed it up to #4. It’s a curious list.

Grateful to @academiclife.bsky.social for the great podcast episode with Rebecca Jumper Matheson, whose book "Artisans and Designers" is new in our series with the Costume Society of America. Listen here: newbooksnetwork.com/artisans-and...