West Virginia University Press

West Virginia University Press
Parent companyWest Virginia University
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationMorgantown, West Virginia
DistributionChicago Distribution Center[1]
Publication typesBooks, academic journals, digital media
Official websitewww.wvupressonline.com

West Virginia University Press (WVU Press) is a university press and publisher in the state of West Virginia. A part of West Virginia University, the press publishes books and journals with a particular emphasis on Appalachian studies, history, higher education, the social sciences, and interdisciplinary books about energy, environment, and resources.[2] The press also has a small but highly regarded program in fiction and creative nonfiction, including Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, winner of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction,[3] winner of the Story Prize 2020/21,[4] winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction,[5] and a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2020.[6] John Warner wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "If you are wondering what the odds are of a university press book winning three major awards, being a finalist for a fourth, and going to a series on a premium network, please know that this is the only example."[7] In 2021, another of WVU Press's works of fiction, Jim Lewis's Ghosts of New York, was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.[8] WVU Press also collaborates on digital publications, notably West Virginia History: An Open Access Reader.

In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Rachel Toor described the press as "a new publishing heavyweight."[9] The press has also been described as "a small but intellectually ambitious press that prides itself on placing regional issues in dialogue with global concerns."[10] Writing in the New York Times, Margaret Renkl cited two titles from West Virginia University Press as evidence that "University Presses Are Keeping American Literature Alive."[11]

West Virginia University Press is part of the Association of University Presses.[12][13]

West Virginia University Press maintains Booktimist, a blog about books and culture, at https://booktimist.com/.

  1. ^ "Publishers served by the Chicago Distribution Center". University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
  2. ^ "WV Book Team: WVU press releases, from politics to pepperoni rolls". Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  3. ^ "The Secret Lives of Church Ladies | The PEN/Faulkner Foundation". Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  4. ^ "The Story Prize". The Story Prize. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  5. ^ "L.A. Times 41st Book Prizes Winners Announced". Los Angeles Times. 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  6. ^ Charles, Ron (October 6, 2020). "The 2020 National Book Awards finalists are a strikingly fresh group". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  7. ^ Warner, John. "Opinion: Deesha Philyaw's 'Secret Lives of Church Ladies' best publishing story of the year, but who else is going unrecognized?". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  8. ^ "100 Notable Books of 2021". The New York Times. 2021-11-22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  9. ^ "Scholars Talk Writing: A Big Book From a Little Press". www.chronicle.com. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
  10. ^ Blanchette, Alex; LaFlamme, Marcel (2019). "Introduction: An Anthropological Almanac of Rural Americas". Journal for the Anthropology of North America. 22 (2): 52–62. doi:10.1002/nad.12119. ISSN 2475-5389. S2CID 213600208.
  11. ^ Renkl, Margaret (2022-11-14). "Opinion | University Presses Are Keeping American Literature Alive". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  12. ^ "Our Members". Association of University Presses. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  13. ^ "WVU Press voted into prestigious national association". WVUToday. Retrieved 2016-06-14.