New York

Summer's End

As summer winds to an end, I’ll miss warm weather, swimming, and summer barbecues. However, I’m glad the pressure is off. This summer, I decided to learn how to cook. Perhaps it was brought on by that fateful viewing of Julie & Julia, or the fact that I read instructions on the spaghetti box. Every. Single. Time. The truth is I’m more of a baker. I like precise ingredients and the timer is my friend. I find it difficult to throw a couple of ingredients in a bowl, pop it on the stove top, and relax while it turns into dinner. Did that cook in 12 minutes or 17 minutes? Is it really edible? I haven’t poisoned myself with that hamburger that’s extra rare on the inside?


So in the spirit of summertime and all its laid back, Californian inspired qualities, I managed to use the grill a couple of times and not blow anything up. To my surprise, the culmination of dodging salmonella and e. coli resulted in dinner. Thanks to Kate’s (Marketing Manger, FUP) husband’s catch of fresh tuna and Fred’s (Director, FUP) home-grown zucchini, I was able to prepare a quintessential summer meal, but more importantly, a meal that represents summer in New York. The tuna was caught in the Canyons off of Montauk, N.Y. and the zucchini was grown in Copake, N.Y. (Disclaimer: I couldn’t help myself. I set the timer for four minutes a side EXACTLY on the fish.)

So, while I lament the loss of summertime (you may join in with me, as so many students returning to school already have), I also look forward to autumn when I can return to the simple ease of baking. 2 cups of flour, ½ cup of sugar, ¼ tsp of nutmeg. There are rules about making pies. 50 minutes in the oven, non-negotiable. Look for a golden brown crust. It’s comforting.

As September draws near, I’m glad I live in New York where I can feel the change of seasons. The subtle chill in the 7 a.m. air. The light sharpening across the Long Island Sound.

In a few weeks it will be time to pick apples. McIntosh are my favorite, but Golden Delicious are best for baking. My favorite place is Fishkill Farms. I wind up the Taconic and take a left a Miller Hill Road close to where my cousins grew up. Anticipation builds for apple pie or fresh apple crisp. Inevitably I get carried away and apples overflow, bouncing along the trunk of my car.

I think it’s fitting that we recently announced our Empire State Editions imprint. Autumn is when I feel most like a New Yorker. Perhaps it’s my own interpretation of the phrase “Big Apple” or the way my heels strike the pavement of Manhattan on chilly evenings as I meet up with friends for drinks or plan an afternoon at The Met. I know I am interested in All Around the Town by Paul Bunyan, (forthcoming this November) because I take New York for granted. I’ve only seen the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building from afar.

For more New York inspired activities, I recommend Going Coastal New York City by Barbara LaRocco and Slices of the Big Apple by James Freund.

Katie Sweeney

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Cornelia Street Cafe to Feature Janet Kaplan

Janet Kaplan will give a poetry performance at the Cornelia Street Cafe tonight at 6pm.  The evening will also include poetry performances featuring Alexandra van de Kamp, Joanne McFarland, and Steve Caratzas.

The Fabian Almazan Trio (pianist and composer Fabian Almazan, bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Justin Brown) will will also be performing later in the evening (8:30pm).

Janet Kaplan is the author of The Groundnote, winner of the New York/New England competition from Alice James Books; The Glazier’s Country was the recipient of the 2002-2003 Poets Out Loud Prize from Fordham University Press; and Dreamlife of a Philanthropist, winner of the Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry and forthcoming in January from the University of Notre Dame Press. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships in poetry, including a poetry fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. A fourth collection of poetry, Ephemeris Time, is in progress, as is a novel, tentatively titled “The Desire of the Line.”  She is Poet in Residence at Fordham University.

Read more

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Oxford and Fordham UPs Agree to Distribution Deal

NEW YORK – Effective January 1, 2011, Fordham University Press
print  and  electronic  titles  will  be distributed and sold in the United
States  and  Canada  by  Oxford  University  Press, Inc. (OUP USA). Fordham
University  Press  books  are  currently distributed by New York University
Press.

“We’re  very  excited  by this new partnership,” noted Fredric W. Nachbaur,
the  Director  of  Fordham  University  Press. “Oxford’s reputation, market
reach,  and  demonstrated  ability  to  sell  into  all channels will allow
Fordham  to  increase  its  sales  and  market  share  of  our  outstanding
scholarship.   I  see  this  as  an  incredible  opportunity  for  enhanced
recognition and visibility, both for FUP and our authors.”

Fordham  University  Press, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007,
publishes  primarily in the humanities and social sciences with an emphasis
on  the  fields  of  anthropology,  classics, communications, history, law,
philosophy,  political  science,  religion,  and  sociology,  ,  as well as
literature  and  the  fine arts. Additionally, the Press publishes books of
interest  to  the general public and books focusing on the metropolitan New
York  region. FUP recently announced a new imprint — Empire State Editions
– in an effort to expand and better brand the program..

“We  are  thrilled to have a university press of Fordham’s caliber become a
part  of  our  family of distributed presses,” says Colleen Scollans, VP of
Global  Marketing  at Oxford University Press. “Fordham’s commitment to the
dissemination  of  scholarship  is a perfect fit with Oxford’s own mission,
and  the  synergies  between our editorial programs are obvious. We’re also
pleased  to  represent  a  press  with  such  a  strong regional publishing
program.  Fordham’s  new  Empire State Editions imprint complements our own
list in this area very well.”

Books released prior to January 1, 2011, will ship from New York University
Press,  Fordham  University Press’s current distributor. Backlist sales and
returns  will continue through New York University Press until December 31,
2010.  All  Spring  2011  titles  will  ship from Oxford University Press’s
warehouse  in  Cary,  North  Carolina. Booksellers may contact their Oxford
University Press sales representative at:

Oxford University Press, Inc.
2001 Evans Road
Cary, NC 27513
800-445-9714
custserv.us@oup.com

“European,  African,  and Middle Eastern distribution will continue through
Eurospan  and Asian and Pacific distribution through East West Export Books
(EWEB) c/o University of Hawaii Press,” added Nachbaur.

For more information, contact:

Kate O’Brien-Nicholson
Marketing Manager | Fordham University Press
2546 Belmont Avenue | University Box L | Bronx, NY 10458
718-817-4782 | 718-817-4785 fax | bkaobrien@fordham.edu

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The Drama of St. Patrick's Cathedral

“It’s hard to top St. Patrick’s Cathedral, not only as a church, architectural treasure and municipal monument, but also as a venue of drama This applies as well to the Cathedral’s music program, which has had almost as many high and low moments as New York City itself.” Thus begins a review of Salvatore Basile’s Fifth Avenue Famous on Handing On the Faith, the blog of the Archdiocese of New York.

And it’s true–Basile’s book chronicles feuds between music directors and Cardinals, post-Vatican II changes to liturgical music programs, and vast shifts in music style. The stories behind the music are just as dramatic as the famous organ housed inside the cathedral.

Says Maureen McKew in her review, “Whether your interest is music, New York history or you simply love an inside story, you will really enjoy this book…I enjoyed [it] so much that I read it from cover to cover in one night.”

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Poets House Showcase Readings || Tuesday, July 13th @ 7pm

Things That No Longer Delight Me by Leslie C. Chang

Leslie  C. Chang, author of Things That No Longer Delight (Fordham/POL prize winner) and Julie Sheehan, author of Thaw (Fordham/POL prize winner) and winner of  the Barnard Women Poets Prize for her second book, Orient Point ( W.W. Norton) will be reading along with poets  Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon Press) and Terese Svoboda (University of Arkansas Press), in the Poets House Showcase Reading Series on Tuesday, July 13th, at 7 pm.

If the weather permits, the reading will be held outside in Teardrop Park South.

Tuesday, July 13th, 7 pm
POETS HOUSE
10 River Terrace (@ Murray Street)
N.Y.C.

Admission free

Poets House Showcase Readings are held in conjunction with the 18th Annual Poets House Showcase, a display of all the poetry books published in the last year.

The Dance of No Hard feelings

Thaw

Weapons Grade

Orient point

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Grand Concourse Considered for NYC's Next Historic District

The city is considering designating part of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx a historic district in recognition of the area’s distinctive Art Deco architecture, as well as the singular role the Concourse has played in the history of the Bronx (NYT, Cityroom Blog).

The proposed Grand Concourse Historic District in the Bronx passed a hurdle, too, completing its mandatory public hearing on Tuesday, bringing it one step closer to actual designation. Other finalized landmarks include two Bronx structures: the seven-story Haffen building in Melrose, and the Noonan Plaza Apartments on 168th Street, considered one of the best Art Deco rental complexes in the Bronx.

Traveling the Concourse today offers a lesson in architecture, history, and sociology as you see the faces and places that call it home. It is truly New York, but more important, authentically the Bronx. You can’t experience the Bronx until you travel the Grand Boulevard and Concourse, and Fordham University Press’s book, Intersections: The Grand Concourse at 100 Years gives you this opportunity.

To read more about the Grand Concourse, see the June 22, 2010 article,“As Concourse Regains Luster, City Notices”, fromThe New York Times.

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Lecture on the Lincoln Assassination

Fordham University Press invites you to a multi-media presentation

“You are there at Lincoln’s New York City Funeral”

by Richard Sloan

contributor to

The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory, A Lincoln Forum Book Edited by Harold Holzer, Craig L. Symonds, and Frank J. WIlliams.


Monday, June 14, 2010
6-8 p.m.
Fordham University
113 West 60th Street
Lowenstein Building, 12th Floor Lounge
NYC

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Announcing a Regional Imprint from Fordham University Press

All Around the Town



Readers look to Fordham University Press for fascinating books that highlight the beauty, culture, diversity, and history of New York.

Empire State Editions will embrace Fordham University Press’s longstanding tradition of publishing outstanding books on New York City and the Hudson Valley as well as extending its reach to cover western and northern parts of the state.

All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities, Second Edition by Patrick Bunyan is the first book under the ESE imprint and will be out this Fall.

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Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet haste with the hasting current

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most iconic structures in America, opened on May 24, 1883. It’s been immortalized in poetry, songs, and paintings. Today, it turns 127 years old!

Celebrate the Brooklyn Bridge with two Fordham Press titles:

Brooklyn Is: Southeast of the Island, Travel Notes is the first time James Agee’s prose poem to Brooklyn has been published in book form. The book also features a foreword by Brooklyn writer Jonathan Lethem.

Hart Crane’s ‘The Bridge’ is publishing in February 2011 and will be featured at Fordham’s booth at Book Expo America this week! Hart Crane’s long poem, “The Bridge,” debuted in 1930 and was immediately deemed an ambitious failure, a reputation that has proven difficult to repudiate.  However, many today regard the poem as one of the most influential masterpieces of the 20th century. Though its merits are now more widely appreciated, the poem is still difficult to digest. Finally, Hart Crane’s ‘The Bridge’, edited by Lawrence Kramer, offers valuable insights and resources for how to fully understand and appreciate the iconic work. The book offers all the modern student needs to elevate Crane’s poem to its intended heights.

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Reminder: Save up to 75% on White Sale Titles!

Save some serious money on these regional titles (plus many others!) in our White Sale, running until May 31st!

River of Dreams: The Hudson Valley in Historic Postcards details New York’s iconic Hudson River Valley by using 64 vintage postcards, selected by the author, George J. Lankevich.

NOW: $5.50 (was $22)

Palisades: 100,000 Acres in 100 Years celebrates the centennial of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, a body that governs the preservation of the Palisades Interstate Park, a vast collection of parklands in New York and New Jersey. Because of the PIPC, many millions of people have had the opportunity to enjoy the special beauty of the Palisades. Conservationists, developers, citizen’s groups, and politicians from throughout the country have been able to observe cooperation in action, learning from the PIPC the importance of preserving open space within a densely populated area.

NOW: $13.75 (was $55)

Slices of the Big Apple: A Photographic Tour of the Streets of New York takes the photographs of Jim Freund to show the city in all of its myriad, sometimes gritty, sometimes glamorous, glories. The book features more than 200 color and black & white photographs, from the beauty of Trinity Church to the dizzying lights of Times Square.

NOW: $5.74 (was $22.95)

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