Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...

, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticism, Chicago regional studies, African American intellectual history, theater and

performance studies Performance studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses performance as a lens and a tool to study the world. The term ''performance'' is broad, and can include artistic and aesthetic performances like concerts, theatrical events, ...

, and fiction.

Parneshia Jones Parneshia Jones (born 1980) is an American publisher, poet, and editor. Life Hailing from Evanston, Illinois, Parneshia Jones grew up visiting her neighborhood library frequently. When she was in sixth grade, she wrote her first poem, about her ...

is director of the press. It is a member of the

Association of American University Presses The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is an association of mostly, but not exclusively, North American university presses. It is based in New York City. Until December 2017, it was known as the Association of American University Presses ...

History

Founded in 1893, Northwestern University Press was initially dedicated to the publication of legal periodicals and scholarly legal texts. In 1957, the Press was established as a separate university publishing company and began expanding its offerings with new series in various fields.

Notable Publications, Imprints, and Series

Northwestern University Press publishes a wide range of titles. In 1963, the Press published

Viola Spolin Viola Spolin (November 7, 1906 — November 22, 1994) was an American theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be ...

's landmark volume, ''Improvisation for the Theater: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques'', which has sold more than 100,000 copies since its publication, and Northwestern's theater list includes works by Tony and Academy Award winners such as

Mary Zimmerman Mary Zimmerman (born August 23, 1960) is an American theatre and opera director and playwright from Nebraska. She is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the Manilow Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinoi ...

Tracy Letts Tracy S. Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for '' August: Osage County'' (2007), for which he received ...

, Bruce Norris, and

Horton Foote Albert Horton Foote Jr. (March 14, 1916March 4, 2009) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received Academy Awards for his screenplays for the 1962 film ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name ...

, as well as playwrights

David Ives David Ives (born July 11, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is perhaps best known for his comic one-act plays; ''The New York Times'' in 1997 referred to him as the "maestro of the short form". Ives has also written ...

, Craig Wright, and

Ike Holter Ike Holter (born 1985) is an American playwright.

Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, (SPEP)

SPEP is a series of scholarly monographs and translations founded by James M. Edie and published by Northwestern University Press since the early 1960s, including works by

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...

Paul Ricoeur Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, and

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

. The current series editor is

Anthony Steinbock Anthony J. Steinbock is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, New York. He is the Director of thPhenomenology Research Center editor-in-chief of '' Continental Philosophy Review'' and a co-editor-in-chief ...

. The series was founded as a collaboration with the

Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) is a philosophical society whose initial purpose was to promote the study of phenomenology and existentialism but has since expanded to a wide array of contemporary philosophical pursui ...

, and has been described as "one of the high watermarks in the society’s development."

TriQuarterly Books

In 1990, Northwestern University Press established a fiction and poetry imprint under the imprint name

TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books, both operating under the aegis of Northwestern University Press. The journal is published twice a year and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, liter ...

, the name of an influential literary journal founded at the university in 1958 and operated by the press from 1964 to 2009. Writers such as

Nikky Finney Nikky Finney (born Lynn Carol Finney on August 26, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina) is an American poet. She was the Guy Davenport Endowed Professor of English at the University of Kentucky for twenty years. In 2013, she accepted a position at t ...

Karla F.C. Holloway Karla Francesca Holloway (née Clapp; September 29, 1949) is an American academic. She is James B. Duke Professor of English & Professor of Law at Duke University, and holds appointments in the Duke University School of Law as well as the univer ...

Christine Schutt Christine Schutt, an American novelist and short story writer, has been a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She received her BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MFA from Co ...

, A. E. Stallings, Patricia Smith,

Bruce Weigl Bruce Weigl (born January 27, 1949, Lorain, Ohio) is an American contemporary poet whose work engages profoundly with experience of both Americans and Vietnamese during and after the Vietnam war. Biography Weigl enlisted in the United States Arm ...

, and

Angela Jackson Angela Jackson (born July 25, 1951) is an American poet, playwright, and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson became the Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020. Biography Angela Jackson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the fifth of nine c ...

have published titles in the imprint, including works that have won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

Whiting Awards The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard ...

, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and the

Hurston-Wright Legacy Award The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program honors Black writers in the United States and around the globe for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organizatio ...

Melville

In the 1950s, the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

(MLA) established the Center for Editions of American Authors (CEAA), which proposed to organize textual editing and publication projects for major American authors. Melville scholar Harrison M. Hayford engaged Northwestern University Press to publish definitive editions of Melville's body of work, which would be established through analysis and review of Melville works at the

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

. The library contained 6,100 items, including at least one copy of every printing of each of Melville's books published in his lifetime, since Melville made textual changes. Completed in 2017, the series includes fifteen volumes.

Studies in Russian Literature and Theory (SRLT)

Founded by Slavicist

Gary Saul Morson Gary Saul Morson (born 1948) is an American literary critic and Slavist. He is particularly known for his scholarly work on the great Russian novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. Morson is Lawren ...

, Studies in Russian Literature and Theory (SRLT) "provide perspectives on Russian literature from all periods and genres, as well as its place in the broader culture. Authors whose works the series explores include

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

, Zamyatin, Pasternak, and

Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

. More than a hundred monographs have been published in the series since 1989. Awards in the series include Jenny Kaminer's ''Women with a Thirst for Destruction: The Bad Mother in Russian Culture'' winner of the Heldt "Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian women's studies" prize.

Curbstone Books

In 2010, Northwestern University Press acquired the publisher of international literature and Latin American voices,

Curbstone Press Curbstone Press was an American publishing company founded in 1975 in Willimantic, Connecticut by Judith Doyle and Alexander “Sandy” Taylor that specialized in fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and poetry that promote human rights, social ...

. The imprint includes works by Luis Rodríguez,

Martín Espada Martín Espada (born 1957) is a Puerto Rican-American poet, and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he teaches poetry. Puerto Rico has frequently been featured as a theme in his poems. Life and career Espada was born ...

Gioconda Belli Gioconda Belli (born December 9, 1948 in Managua, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan author, novelist and poet. Early life Gioconda Belli grew up in a wealthy family in Managua. Her father is Humberto Belli Zapata and her brother is Humbe ...

Claribel Alegria Claribel, Clarabelle, Clarabell or Clarabel may refer to: People *Claribel (1864-1929), one of the Cone sisters, socialites and noted art collectors *Claribel Kendall (1889-1965), American mathematician *Clarabelle C. B. Lansing, flight attendant ...

Salah Al Hamdani Salah Al-Hamdani ( ar, صلاح الحمداني), born in 1951 in Baghdad, is an Iraqi poet, actor, and playwright. Imprisoned as a political dissident in the 1970s, he began writing in prison. Some of his writing was published in clandestine j ...

Ana Castillo Ana Castillo (born June 15, 1953) is a Chicana novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Considered one of the leading voices in Chicana experience, Castillo is known for her experiment ...

Wayne Karlin Wayne Karlin (born June 13, 1945, Los Angeles) is an American author, editor, and teacher. His books include ''A Wolf by the Ears'', ''Wandering Souls'', ''Marble Mountain,'' ''War Movies: Journeys to Vietnam'', ''The Wished-For Country'', ''Pr ...

, E. Ethelbert Miller,

Sergio Ramírez Sergio Ramírez Mercado (; born 5 August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who was a key figure in 1979 revolution, served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice president of ...

, and Le Clézio.

Honors

The Press has received many accolades, including major translation awards for

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's ''Writer's Diary: Volume I, 1873–1876'', translated by Kenneth Lantz;

Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki (3 February 173514 March 1801), from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia (in German, ''Ermland'') and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno (thus, Primate of Poland), was Poland's leading Enlightenment poet"Ignacy Krasic ...

's ''Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom'', translated by Thomas H. Hoisington; and

Petra Hůlová Petra Hůlová (born 12 July 1979) is a Czech writer. Early life and education Hůlová was born in Prague. She holds a degree in culturology from Charles University in Prague. She lived in Mongolia for one year as an exchange student after h ...

's ''All This Belongs to Me: A Novel'', translated by

Alex Zucker Alex Zucker (born September 1, 1964) is an American literary translator. Life and career Zucker was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From ages 4 to 17, he lived in East Lansing, Michigan. He attended college at University of Massachusetts Amh ...

. In 1997 the Press won the

for Poetry for William Meredith's ''Effort at Speech'', followed by a 2011 win for

's ''Head Off & Split''. Several of the Press's titles, including ''Fording the Stream of Consciousness'', ''Still Waters in Niger'', and ''The Book of Hrabal'', have been named Notable Books by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

''. The Press published two novels by the winner of the 2002

Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

, Hungarian author

Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...

. ''Florida'', a novel by

, was a finalist for a National Book Award in 2004. Northwestern University Press published

Herta Müller Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...

's novel ''Traveling on One Leg'' which won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. NU Press's "Forest Primeval" won the 2017

Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards are a pair of American prizes based at Claremont Graduate University. They are given to poets for their collections of poetry written in the English language, by a citizen or legal resident alien of the ...

, and Patricia Smith's ''

Incendiary Art ''Incendiary Art'' is a collection of poems written by American poet, Patricia Smith. It was published on February 15, 2017, by TriQuarterly Books, an imprint of Northwestern University Press. This collection was written as a response to the vio ...

'' won the same award in 2019. . Also for "Incendiary Art",

Patricia Smith (poet) Patricia Smith (born 1955) is an American poet, spoken-word performer, playwright, author, writing teacher, and former journalist. She has published poems in literary magazines and journals including '' TriQuarterly'', ''Poetry'', ''The Paris ...

won the

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

for poetry in 2018.

Distributed Presses

Northwestern University Press is the distributor for

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts i ...

Press and Tia Chucha Press.

References

External links

Official website of Northwestern University Press
{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Illinois University presses of the United States Northwestern University Publishing companies established in 1893 1893 establishments in Illinois