UPM director Leila Salisbury recently spoke to
Northside Sun staff writer Anthony Warren about her first year at the Press, challenges we are facing, and UPM's expansion to digital printing.
Some excerpts of the interview are below. Read the full Q & A style interview
here.
Why do you think that the press here is doing better than many others throughout the nation?
“We have a coheseive book program and have had great titles in the last several years that have helped. The staff brings in wonderful books, designs good-looking covers and works hard to market the books.”
How many books does the university press have available for download on electronic devices?
“We have 240 books for the Kindle and are converting 112 more by the fall. We’re in the middle of a big fund-raiser to convert more of our titles to digital. We also purchased a digital asset management system so we can create our own electronic files. Basically, it will act as an electronic warehouse to store our books once we convert them.”
Tell me about the press’ fund-raising efforts.
We’re working with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi to publish a Mississippi encyclopedia.” It will have 1,500 entries on almost everything you ever wanted to know about Mississippi. It will have entries about people, places and events, and 30 introductory essays on overarching topicsof the state, including art, business, argiculture, history, music and civil rights. The encyclopedia will be very inclusive.
Saturday, August 29th marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the gulf coast. Yesterday, WWL-TV in New Orleans spoke with three storm victims turned authors, including UPM's Ian McNulty (A Season of Night). These memoirists all offer unique angles to a common experience.
