Ohio University Press is an academic unit that reports to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. The scholarly publishing arm of Ohio University, it operates under the guidance of an Editorial Advisory Board composed of some of the most engaged and acclaimed scholars on the Athens campus.
Originally incorporated in 1947 and formally organized in 1964 by President Vernon Alden, Ohio University Press is the largest scholarly press in the state of Ohio. With a staff of twelve, it publishes fifty titles a year and generates more than one million dollars in annual book sales.
In terms of the number of books published annually, its peer group includes the University of Arizona Press, Brookings Institution Press, Northwestern University Press, University of Notre Dame Press, University of Georgia Press, Temple University Press, and University of Virginia Press. There are approximately 600 active titles in the OUP catalog.
Ohio University Press has a tangible product that it sends out into the world. Last year, for example, 65,000 books, all bearing the Ohio imprint, were sold to individuals, booksellers, and libraries both domestically and internationally. These books have been carefully edited and produced and are made to endure. Over the course of their existence, they will be touched by many hands. Each book carries with it the scholarly reputation of Ohio University, reaffirming Ohio University’s commitment to the fruits of research and creative endeavor.
By recruiting authors from different universities and institutions around the world, the Ohio University Press also extends the reach of the university’s contribution to scholarly activity beyond the limits of its own faculty.
In recent years, Ohio University Press has published authors from New York University, Texas Christian University, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Dalhousie University, University of Victoria, Harvard, Northwestern University, Cardiff University, Cambridge, University of the Witwatersrand, National University of Singapore, Waseda University in Tokyo, University of Costa Rica, and the University of Michigan, among many others. By publishing their research and scholarship with Ohio University Press, these scholars can be rightfully claimed as members of the Ohio University family, and their work is part of Ohio University’s endowment to the greater educational community.
The Ohio University Press generates coverage for its activity in local, regional, national, and international outlets year after year in both professional journals and public venues.
Among the publications of general interest in which Ohio University Press books have been reviewed or written about in the past few years are
The scholarly publications in which Ohio University Press books have been reviewed are too numerous to list, but they number in the hundreds. The cumulative effect of these reviews and articles is an increased visibility for Ohio University throughout the world as a purveyor of serious, interesting, and useful work.
The Ohio University Press is an established leader in a number of areas in which it publishes, particularly African studies and Victorian studies. It also has a recognized list in formal poetry, and it is making a name for itself in Midwestern studies, environmental history, and Appalachian studies. As well, it is one of the very few presses that publish high-quality books on Ohio culture and history.
The Ohio University Press brings several significant elements to the discussion of diversity. Demonstrating the Press’s commitment to multicultural scholarship, the following is a partial list of the numerous series that the press sponsors as part of its publishing programs:
Other series that the press publishes include
Over the past ten years, the Ohio University Press has developed partnerships locally and nationally to produce books with a number of institutions and associations.
These partners include
Within Ohio University, the press has been involved in cooperative projects with the Center for International Studies, the Contemporary History Institute, and the College of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as the dean’s offices on the campuses of Chillicothe and Zanesville.
Unique among university presses is Ohio University Press’s affiliation with Swallow Press. Swallow Press is a distinguished literary press founded in the 1940s by poet, professor, and publisher Allan Swallow. Over the years Swallow Press has published many leading literary lights, including Allen Tate, Yvor Winters, Janet Lewis, J. V. Cunningham, Anaïs Nin, and Frank Waters. Through an arrangement with the owners of Swallow Press, Ohio University Press has managed the acquisition, production, and distribution of Swallow Press titles for over twenty-five years, creating a balanced publishing program that appeals to a diverse mix of readers, from the professional scholar to the educated generalist. This partnership gives Ohio University Press real distinction as a publisher of fine books.
Working with its Editorial Advisory Board and through the good offices of the Executive Vice President and Provost, it continues to adhere to its mission and to receive recognition as one of the most interesting and dynamic university presses in the Midwest.
A Short History of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
In the accessible and concise A Short History of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Terri Ochiagha asks new questions and brings wider attention to unfamiliar but crucial elements of the story, including new insights into questions of canonicity, and into literary, historiographical, and precolonial aesthetic influences.
Pursuing Justice in Africa
Competing Imaginaries and Contested Practices
Pursuing Justice in Africa focuses on visions of justice across the African continent, featuring essays that engage with topics at the cutting edge of contemporary scholarship across a wide range of disciplines including activism, land tenure, international legal institutions, and post-conflict reconciliation.
Appalachian Mushrooms
A Field Guide
From one of the region’s foremost mushroom hunters, Walter E. Sturgeon, comes a long-overdue field guide to finding and identifying the mushrooms found in the Appalachian mountains. This guide is destined to be an indispensable authority on the subject for everyone from beginning hobbyists to trained experts, throughout Appalachia and beyond.
Enchanted Ground
The Spirit Room of Jonathan Koons
In a fascinating work of religious history and cultural inquiry, Hatfield brings to life the true story of a nineteenth-century farmer-spiritualist, Jonathan Koons, whom thousands traveled to Ohio to see. As heirs to the second Great Awakening, he and his followers were part of a larger, uniquely American moment that still marks the culture today.
Yellow Stonefly
A Novel
Haunted by her past and the deaths that marked it, Sandy Holston wields her fly rod with uncanny accuracy as her life plays out along a tight line between herself and a fish on the other end. In this rare fly fishing novel with a female protagonist, Tim Poland weaves suspense and introspection into an unforgettable read.
