Wesleyan University Press

History and overview

Founded (in its present form) in 1957, the press publishes books of poetry and books on music, dance and performance, American Studies, and film. In 1965, Wesleyan sold its American Education Publications, a division of the press that published My Weekly Reader, but the university retained the scholarly division. All editing occurs at the editorial office building of the press on the Wesleyan campus. Publishing (printing) now occurs through a consortium of New England college academic presses.

Wesleyan University Press joined The Association of American Publishers trade organization in the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit which resulted in the removal of access to over 500,000 books from global readers.

The press is notable among prestigious American academic presses for its poetry series, which publishes both established poets and new ones. The press has released more than 250 titles in its poetry series and has garnered, in that series alone, awards including five Pulitzer Prizes, a Bollingen Prize, three National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, and an American Book Award. According to The New York Times, university presses with bigger endowments, with financial backing from the state, or with large graduate programs do not enjoy the same status in the field of poetry that the Wesleyan University Press enjoys, nor have they won a comparable array of prizes in poetry. The press also has garnered Pulitzer Prizes, American Book Awards, and other awards in its other series.

Norman O. Brown and John Cage were two of the prominent early authors whose work was published by the press. In the mid-1950s, William Manchester, who would become a long time writer-in-residence and professor at the university, served as an editor at the press. Donald Hall, a future Poet Laureate of the United States, served as a member of the editorial board for poetry at the press from 1958 to 1964. In the 1960s, T.S. Eliot served both as a roving editor for the poetry series and special editorial consultant of the press. In the former capacity, Eliot's responsibilities included finding rising English and European poets for the press.

Wesleyan is the smallest college or university in the nation to have its own press, and the Wesleyan University Press has the second-oldest poetry series in the nation. Approximately 25 books are published each year.

Authors and poets published by the press include John Luther Adams, Rae Armantrout (including her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Versed), Samuel R. Delany, James Dickey (18th U.S. Poet Laureate), Brenda Hillman, Paul Horgan (including two Pulitzer Prize-winning books), David Ignatow, Yusef Komunyakaa (including his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Neon Vernacular), Justine Larbalestier, Heather McHugh, Juliet McMains, Farah Mendlesohn, Alice Notley, Leslie Scalapino, Louis Simpson (including his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection At The End Of The Open Road), Richard Slotkin, James Tate (including his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection James Tate: Selected Poems), Jean Valentine, Gerald Vizenor, Charles Wright, James Wright (including his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Collected Poems). Recently, Wesleyan published a new edition of poetry from Jack Spicer, which went on to win a 2009 American Book Award, contributing to the resurgence of a poet who died in public obscurity (of acute alcoholism) in 1965.

References

References

1. "Contact Us". Wesleyan University Press.
2. Moss, Hilary. (1 February 2005). "Tamminen named press director". The Wesleyan Argus.
3. "About Us". Wesleyan University Press.
4. McDowell, Edwin. (9 August 1989). "Book Notes". The New York Times.
5. "Call for Papers - Sounding the Body: Improvisation, Representation and Subjectivity". Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice.
6. "Wes through the Years". Wesleyan University.
7. "Why are so many books listed as “Borrow Unavailable” at the Internet Archive – Internet Archive Help Center".
8. "Our Members - AAP".
9. Gordon, Jane. (16 October 2005). "The University of Verse". [[The New York Times]].
10. "Richard Wilbur: Biography and General Commentary". Department of English, University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign.
11. "Wesleyan University Press Home". Wesleyan University Press.
12. (12 March 2010). "Faculty poet honored for new collection". University of California.
13. Gordon, Jane. (16 October 2005). "The University of Verse". The New York Times.
14. (1 April 2010). "Award Winning Wesleyan Books". Wesleyan University Press.
15. (1993). "The Wesleyan Tradition: Four Decades of American Poetry". Wesleyan University Press.
16. Pottle, Justin. (29 January 2010). "University To Unveil William Manchester Writings Amid Return of JFK Manuscript". Wesleyan University Press.
17. "A note on Donald Hall". Waywiser Press.
18. "Wes through the Years". Wesleyan University.
19. Finch, Zack. (November–December 2008). "Listening to Poetry: Jack Spicer's My Vocabulary Did This To Me". Boston Review.