by Mo Daviau
I feel protective of the university press. They are bastions of truth and beauty! An institutional gem! Sure, most of what university presses publish is academic work, but there are plenty of titles that are of interest to the general reader, especially works of fiction and creative nonfiction that are heady and risky and interesting. After joining the WVUP family, I’ve made it a point to seek out books from university presses to share with friends and the customers at the bookstore where I work.
Here is a short but sweet list of the non-WVUP university press books that caught my eye and dazzled my heart in 2025, plus few I’m looking forward to in 2026.
OUTSIDE WOMEN by Roohi Choudhry (University Press of Kentucky) A gorgeous and soulful braided novel about two Pakistani women in two different periods of history—one sent to South Africa to be a servant in the 1890s and one in modern times who flees Peshawar for New York City in the aftermath of violence. Feminism, colonialism, and two women’s searches for justice.
FUJI: A MOUNTAIN IN THE MAKING by Andrew Bernstein (Princeton University Press) Bernstein traces this history of Japan’s most famous mountain in this beautifully illustrated book from Princeton University Press.
THE EXTREMITIES by Samantha Kimmey (University of Iowa Press) A strange and strangely compelling novel about chronic pain and trying to find the root of the problem. https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/extremities
AMERICAN BLOODLINES: RECKONING WITH LYNCH CULTURE by Sonya Lea (University Press of Kentucky). Lea confronts the past in her family’s hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, where the last documented public lynching took place in 1936. Painstaking research blended with personal and family history.
GOATS IN AMERICA: A Cultural History by Tami Parr (Oregon State University Press). Literally the history of goats in America! Often overlooked next to the cow or the horse, Parr seeks an understanding of the goat as part of American culture. This title was a big hit at my bookstore over the holidays.
THE ODYSSEY by Homer, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn (University of Chicago Press) This one was selling like hotcakes (Greek hotcakes) at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association book fair last September. A new Odyssey translation? Hot!
THE HOURS ARE LONG, BUT THE PAY IS LOW: a Curious Life of Independent Music by Rob Miller (University of Illinois Press). This is Miller’s “gonzo memoir” about independent record label Bloodshot Records, the Chicago music scene, and the local indie music community.
WAITING FOR GODÍNEZ by Daniel A. Olivas (University of New Mexico Press). A modern retelling of Waiting for Godot, but with two Mexican immigrants as Estragon and Vladimir.
EVERY PLACE ON THE MAP IS DISABLED (Northwestern University Press) An expansive and important anthology of poetry and essays by Disabled authors.
Forthcoming in 2026:
WORK TO DO by Jules Wernerbach (University of Iowa Press). The story of the Guadalupe Street Co-op in Austin, Texas, and its years as a community hub and grocery undone by the passage of time and capitalism. Fun fact: Jules was my first bookstore boss at BookPeople in Austin years ago.
THE UNITED STATES OF REJECTION by Alison Kinney (University of Georgia Press) A sociological and historical discussion of that most painful of human catastrophes: rejection.