lsu press |

the southern review

AnnuAl report2013 – 2014

From the DirectorLast year we expanded our role with several initiatives, published wonderful writers, and moved into our new offices on LSU’s campus. As we launch celebrations marking our 80 years of service to LSU, our state, and beyond, we maintain a commitment both to high-quality, affordable print versions of our work and to continued increases in our digital reach. By undertaking new arrangements for electronic distribution, such as The Southern Review’s joining Project Muse, we have added subscriptions to the journal in libraries across the world. Additionally, LSU Press books are available in e-editions in public and research libraries via a variety of industry partners, and ebooks still reign as the fastest-growing sector of the publishing market.

Publicity for books, especially through prizes and awards, also increases our visibility. Matt Rasmussen’s compelling Black Aperture: Poems received a National Book Award finalist nomination—always a thrill—and many other LSUP and TSR authors received awards and prizes for their work (see next page).

Though modern publishing brings challenges as well as rewards, our com-mitment to producing great work continues. We could not have succeeded in our goal, however, without a variety of subventions and donations, totaling over $200,000, that helped us offer quality books and a journal at a reason-able price and reach the widest possible audience.

If you made a donation, bought our books, subscribed to The Southern Re-view, or encouraged your friends to, we thank you for your ongoing support. We have sought out and published the best writing for the past 80 years, and we look forward to fulfilling that mission for the next 80.

LSU Press and The Southern Review Advisory Council

Elaine D. AbellJames Lee BurkeAugusten BurroughsJohn BurtJim ClintonCathy CoatesBilly CollinsGresdna DotyRita DoveKathryn GrigsbyAva Leavell HaymonJudy KahnSabrina KingAlex LemonDavid Madden

Jill McCorkleBarry MoserVirginia NolandStewart O’NanJayne Anne PhillipsOliver G. Richard IIIMichael D. RobinsonAyan RubinElizabeth SpencerMary Ann SternbergJack R. Van LopikJames E. Yeldell

Press Oversight Committee, 2013–2014

Gaines M. Foster, Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, LSU, chair

Richard Koubek, Dean, College of Engineering, LSUL. Robert Kuhn, CFO, LSU

LSU Faculty Press Committee, 2013–2014

Mandi J. Lopez, Associate Professor, Veterinary Medicine, chair

Larry Crumbley, Professor, AccountingGerald M. Knapp, Associate Professor, Industrial

EngineeringTara Laver, Curator of Manuscripts, Special CollectionsKent Mathewson, Professor, Geography and AnthropologyRobert Peck, Associate Professor, MusicJoseph Powers, Associate Professor, Oceanography and

Coastal SciencesJudith Sylvester, Associate Professor, Mass Communication

MaryKatherine Callaway

Selected Reviews and Prizes for LSU Press

REVIEWSGavin Cologne-Brookes, Rereading

William Styron—Times Literary Supplement

Anna Journey, Vulgar Remedies: Poems—The Rumpus

Susan Larson, The Booklover’s Guide to New Orleans—Huffington Post

Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture: Poems—NPR

Porter Shreve, The End of the Book: A

Novel—Chicago TribuneAudrey Ronning Topping, China Mission:

A Personal History from the Last Imperial Dynasty to the People’s Republic—Los Angeles Review of Books

John Wirt, Huey “Piano” Smith and the Rocking Pneumonia Blues—Philadel-phia Inquirer

Art Shiver and Tom Whitehead, Clementine Hunter: Her Life and Art—ARTNews

PRIZESLinda Barnickel, Milliken’s Bend: A Civil

War Battle in History and Memory, A. M. Pate, Jr., Award in Civil War History

Kathryn Stripling Byer, Descent: Poems, Roanoke-Chowan Award

Mark R. Cheathem, Andrew Jackson, Southerner, Tennessee History Book Award

Ron Houchin, The Man Who Saws Us in Half: Poems, Weatherford Award in Poetry

David Huddle, Blacksnake at the Family Reunion: Poems, Appalachian Writers Association’s Book of the Year Award

David Kirby, The Biscuit Joint: Poems, Florida Book Awards

W. Caleb McDaniel, The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists and Transatlantic Reform, Merle Curti Award

David Middleton, The Fiddler of Driskill Hill: Poems, Louisiana Literary Award

Amy Griffin Ouchley, Swamper: Letters from a Louisiana Swamp Rabbit, Out-standing Interpretive Book of 2013

Richard K. Popp, The Holiday Makers: Magazines, Advertising, and Mass Tourism in Postwar America, American Journalism Historians Association Book of the Year Award

Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture: Poems, National Book Award (longlist)

Audrey Ronning Topping, China Mission: A Personal History from the Last Imperial Dynasty to the People’s Republic, PROSE Award in Media and Cultural Studies

Jeannie Whayne, Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South, Arkansi-ana Award

Honors for The Southern ReviewThe Best American Poetry 2014 included: Shara McCallum, “Parasol,” Summer 2013; Corey Van Landingham, “During the Autopsy,” Spring 2013.

The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014 included: Laura van den Berg, “Opa-Locka,” Summer 2012.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2014 included: James Lee Burke, “Going across Jordan,” Spring 2013.

The Pushcart Prize XXXIX nominated fourteen TSR pieces, both prose and poetry.

Ignatius Turns 35

Hailed widely as the masterwork of a comic genius upon its publication by LSU Press in 1980, John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981—a singular feat for a university press. Published with an initial print run of just 2,500 copies, little fanfare, and the modest expectations typical for a novel by an unknown first-time author, A Confederacy of Dunces went on to sell a staggering 3.5 million copies worldwide. The book is now available in twenty-seven transla-tions and has been optioned by Hollywood for a film (though sadly not yet made into a movie, despite the efforts of a litany of notable directors and actors). Consistently recognized by critics on every “best of ” list imaginable as one of the most important novels

of the twentieth century, A Confederacy of Dunces remains one of the most revered comic works in the modern canon. LSU Press’s 35th Anniversary Edition celebrates A Confederacy of Dunces with a new depiction of the novel’s iconic anti-hero by Claire Bischoff on its jacket and a redesign of the book’s interior.

• Toole submitted his work to several trade houses but received only rejections.

• Toole committed suicide at age 31, and after his death, his mother, Thelma, found the manuscript in his effects and badgered the novelist Walker Percy into reading it. Percy recommended the manuscript to his contacts at LSU Press.

• Today, pristine copies from the small first printing are listed for sale at prices up to $10,000.

• Fans of the book are legion and include readers as diverse as David Bowie and Caroline Kennedy, both of whom cite it as a favorite book.

• A Confederacy of Dunces has appeared on the UK’s list of “Top Ten Comic Novels of All Time,” one of only two books on that list by American authors.

• It has been translated into over 27 languages in 40 editions, including Turkish, Norwegian, Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, and Finnish. (They particularly love it in France.)

• Goodreads’ site shows 121,665 ratings for A Confederacy of Dunces and 8,676 reviews.

• A stage version is in the works for next year: www.facebook.com/ ConfederacyofDuncesPlay

LSU Press / TSR LSU Students

LSU Press and The Southern Review have a continuing tradition of collabora-tion with the students of LSU. MaryKatherine Callaway gave a well-received Publishing Seminar this year to graduate students in the English Depart-ment. We also benefited immeasurably from the hard work and energy of our student workers, interns, and assistants.

Student Workers for the 2013–14 academic year:

Christian Connell, Senior

Morgan Matchett, Senior

Hayley Nicolich, Junior

Christina Leo, JuniorCaroline Byrne, Fresh-

manIsabella Connell,

FreshmanBenton Troxclair,

Freshman

Hayley Lynch

We are proud of our recent LSU student interns who obtained employment in the industry during the past year:

James Ayers Production Editor, University of New Mexico Press

Amanda WicksAssistant Acquisitions Editor, University of Illinois Press

Hannah Hebert Editorial Assistant, Pennsylvania State University Press

Interns for the 2013–14 academic year:

James Long (Acquisitions and TSR)Brandon Kyle (Acquisitions)

Hannah Burson (Manuscript Editing)Matthew Starlight (Marketing)

Alexandra DeLee (Marketing)Kelsey Wilkins (Marketing)

Melissa Rushing (Production)Blair Thompson (Production)Joshua Koenig (TSR)

TSR graduate assistant for the 2013–14 academic year:

Hayley Lynch

Melissa Rushing

Caroline Byrne Benton Troxclair

Brandon Kyle

Matt Starlight

LSU Press Development in Review

2013–2014 brought growth and advancement in our development program. LSU Press and The Southern Review expanded their endowments and gar-nered more support than ever before. We would like to recognize two newly established endowments:

The Noland Fund, John & Virginia NolandJames Dudley Wells Memorial Endowment, Drs. Ed & Linda Green

Please visit www.lsupress.org/thankyou, where we recognize many indi-viduals and organizations that have joined us in our efforts. On behalf of our staff and readers everywhere, thank you for your support of publishing that matters.

For more information on how you can help, please contact Tori Gill, Associ-ate Director of Development, at 225-578-6416 or vgill2@lsu.edu.

We are grateful for the grants and subsidies that have assisted us as we continue to publish the finest scholarly and creative work while maintaining high standards of quality. Books supported by grants and subventions in FY14 include:

James Applewhite, Cosmos—University of VirginiaJohn H. Baron, Concert Life in NineteenthCentury New Orleans—American

Musicological Society and Tulane UniversityDana Nunez Brown, Using Plants for Stormwater Management—Sea GrantRobert F. Brzuszek, The Crosby Arboretum—Gammill Family FoundationGavin Cologne-Brookes, Rereading William Styron—Bath Spa UniversityScott Eastman, Preaching Spanish Nationalism across the Hispanic Atlantic—

Spanish Ministry GrantKelli Scott Kelley, Accalia and the Swamp Monster—Atlas GrantDavid A. Messenger, Hunting Nazis in Franco’s Spain—Jewish Federation of

Greater HartfordTison Pugh, Queer Chivalry—University of Central Florida

Supported by V. Ray Cardozier Fund:

John McKee Barr, Loathing LincolnDavid L. Crosby, ed., The Complete Antislavery Writings of Anthony BenezetJeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie, Freedom’s SeekersBrian Steel Wills, Confederate General William Dorsey Pender

Supported by Sea Cliff Fund for Poetry:

Ron Houchin, The Man Who Saws Us in HalfAnna Journey, Vulgar RemediesDavid Middleton, The Fiddler of Driskill HillDavid R. Slavitt, Civil Wars

Supported by French History Support Fund:

Stephen L. Harp, Au NaturelGeoff Read, The Republic of Men

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your gifts in support of LSU Press and The Southern Review. Your contributions over the years have allowed us to publish award-winning works and provided opportunities for readers across the world to enjoy thought- provoking writing. Our mission to inform, educate, and entertain readers is made possible by your generosity. You have helped to underwrite production costs, support our marketing efforts, and encourage professional development opportunities for our staff members. Last year we received more support than ever, and we plan to continue that momentum. Thank you for being a part of this effort. As we move into the next 80 years of bringing the best scholarly and creative work to publication, we are grateful for readers like you who have shared our commitment to publishing great writing. Thank you in advance for all you do and will do in the years to come!

Sincerely,

Tori GillAssociate Director of DevelopmentLSU Press and The Southern Review

LSU

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