Kelly Sather of Larkspur, CA is the 2023 winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for a collection of short stories. Sather’s debut book, Small in Real Life, was selected by author Deesha Philyaw. The University of Pittsburgh Press will publish Small in Real Life this fall (on-sale date: October 3, 2023). “This compact but mighty collection explores both the heights and depths of the unsavory business of being human,” says Philyaw, National Book Award finalist and author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. “With exquisite, emotionally rich prose, every single story…

Today’s blog prompt for University Press Weeks asks who’s #NextUP in the world of bookselling. We love our local book stores, so we’re featuring an interview Anna Weber, who is the events director at White Whale Bookstore, an indie bookstore in Pittsburgh. Q: Tell us a little about White Whale Bookstore and why you enjoy working there.  A: White Whale Books is a family-owned, general interest, independent bookstore that focuses in particular on literary fiction and local writers. It’s a space that, since day one, has always had a warm vibe, and has always encouraged curiosity, conversation, and connection. The…

Today for University Press Week we are featuring an interview with Will Masami Hammell, who recently joined the Press as Senior Acquisitions Editor to build new lists in Asian Studies and Africana Studies.  Below he discusses his personal and professional background as well as his editorial process. Q; What drew you to the University of Pittsburgh Press? A: I’ve admired the gumption of the Press since my earliest days as an editor. When I was starting out in acquisitions at Temple University Press, I lost my first competitive project to the Pitt Latin American Series, and I remember my less-than-mature…

Today for University Press Week, we’re interviewing Ramona Reeves, whose debut story collection, It Falls Gently All Around and Other Stories, won the Drue Heinz Prize for Literature. Below she talks about being a first-time author with a university press. Q: Tell us a bit about your background and how you became a writer A: I’ve been writing since I was eight or nine. Until I was twelve, I grew up with my mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother. I also was the only child in my house and grew up around a lot of adults. In that environment, I frequently needed…

The University of Pittsburgh Press is pleased to announce that William Masami Hammell has joined the Press as senior acquisitions editor. Will has 20 years of publishing and editorial experience, including over a decade in scholarly book acquisitions, most recently at Cambridge University Press, where he acquired new titles and managed multiple series in African and Middle Eastern studies, focusing on history, politics, religion, and anthropology. Prior to that, he was editor and director of publications at the Harvard University Asia Center, acquiring and producing award-winning monographs in East Asian studies. He got his start in book publishing at Temple…