Beyond just academia: U of A Press celebrates University Press Week

Tucked away in Rutherford Library South is the University of Alberta Press. The press publishes books ranging from academic books to poetry collections to memoirs. And from November 10 to 14, the Association of University Presses (AUP) is celebrating University Press Week.

While academic books are the primary category of books produced by university presses, their work extends beyond just academia and publishing.

The theme this year is “TeamUP.” Dennis Lloyd, president of AUP, said the theme centres around the ways that presses and the scholarly and local community work together. 

He said sometimes presses will partner to promote books about a community or region. Other times presses across the world will collaborate to translate a book into another language.

Lloyd emphasized that “a lot of university presses, because we’re located in Canada, as well as in the [United States (U.S.)], in places where they often end up being one of the largest publishers in that state or province. As a result, they often end up being the publisher of a lot of regional books.”

The U of A Press’ Centre for Literatures in Canada‘s Kreisel Lecture was one of the examples of community collaboration. Each year, a Canadian author delivers a lecture on their chosen topic.

The lecture is an “event dedicated to nurturing public and scholarly engagement with the pressing concerns of writers in Canada,” its website states. It has hosted authors like Margaret Atwood, Kate Beaton, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and many more.

U of A Press keeping Albertan and Canadian stories alive

Darcy Cullen, the director at the U of A Press, said that university presses are mission-driven, as opposed to being profit-driven as commercial publishers are. That mission is “to publish works that inform, inspire, and connect ideas and audiences.”

“U of [A] Press [works] with authors to produce works that enhance the intellectual and social impact of research, make information and knowledge accessible and engaging to the public, and that offer solutions to practical problems,” Cullen said.

“We want to support excellence and scholarship, making that accessible, and publishing books that will benefit the public, bringing the information and ideas to the broader public,” Cullen explained. 

One way they do that is through open access books, which allow people to access an electronic version of a book for free. The U of A Press is looking to expand its open access publishing.

And many of the books they publish are important to Albertan and Canadian identity. 

“We publish on wide-ranging topics, for example, a forthcoming biography of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a collection of stories from two generations of U.S. war resisters who crossed the border into Canada, and a book of Indigenous map making of the late 19th-century that that shows understanding of the land and naming of places in the Great Plains region,” she explained. 

“We also publish literary works that appeal to readers and contribute to the creative vibrancy of Alberta and Canada, with poetry books such as award-winning Northerny and the Wayfarer series of travel-inspired books of non-fiction.”

Along with the theme of this year’s University Press Week, the U of A Press offers internships for English and film studies students. There’s also opportunities for freelancers, whether they’re interested in graphic design or marketing.