Elisa Gabbert’s “On Poetry” column features a wonderful look at cloud imagery in poetry and the poems of Reginald Shepherd are featured, along with the cover of The Selected Shepherd. “Reginald Shepherd is also a cloud-spotter. Almost every poem in THE SELECTED SHEPHERD (University of Pittsburgh Press, $30) mentions clouds, the way almost every painting in a landscape gallery mentions clouds. (There are paintings of clouds, and those that only mention them in passing.) Shepherd isn’t quite writing “nature poems,” as we might say of Wright. But no poem about the world escapes nature, and clouds often enter as pure image:…

Listen to a special interview of Johann Egvall, author of The State as Investment Market by Sean Guillory on Sean’s Russia Blog. In it, he describes the model of corruption in Kyrgyzstan that is endemic not only to the region of Central Asia, but also to Russia, the Ukraine, and elsewhere. Sean Guillory also gives special mention to University of Pittsburgh Press’ Central Eurasia in Context Series, edited by Douglas Northrop, that has published numerous book on the region of Central Eurasia.  The State as Investment Market  Kyrgyzstan in Comparative Perspective Johan Engvall                Johan Engvall is a…

Chuck Noll: A Man for All Seasons In a conversation with Pittsburgh Magazine’s Mike Prisuta, MacCambridge provides a glimpse of how this long-awaited biography came to be. Book Excerpt: Head of the Class Noll’s affinity to educate — ‘Play the way you’ve been coached’ — leads to a super start. Immaculate Misconception Biographer Michael MacCambridge reveals Noll to be a thinker, a private family man, a connoisseur and a consummate leader — as four Super Bowl wins attest. View the FULL PDF.

“Poetry and Race in America: How the Humanities Engage with Social Problems,” sponsored by University of Pittsburgh Press (UPP) and the new Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP), featured poetry readings by Toi Derricotte, Ross Gay, Rickey Laurentiis, Nate Marshall, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, and Afaa Michael Weaver, and a moderated discussion with the panelists by Terrance Hayes. The event took place on March 21, 2016 at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland, on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Photos by Aimee Colabine Beattie.

For those of you who weren’t able to join us and those of you who want to relive this special evening, here is the full video of the landmark event, Poetry and Race in America. Please wait a few seconds for the video to load.   You can also watch the video full screen here.