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Did you know that “summer reading” was a 19th-century invention of the publishing industry? Donna Harrington-Lueker, author of Books for Idle Hours, was recently featured in a CNN article exploring the concept and history of summer reading.

This summer on our social media channels, we’ll be posting our favorite UMass Press beach reads. Whether you’re looking for escape, enrichment, or a combination of both, we’ve got you covered. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

In Testing Education, Kathy Greeley recounts the impact of education reform from a teacher’s point of view. Based on a teaching career spanning nearly forty years, Greeley details how schools went from learning communities infused with excitement, intellectual stimulation, and joy to sterile spaces of stress, intimidation, and fear. In this ultimately hopeful memoir, Greeley asks us to learn from the past to reimagine the future of public education.

We’ve partnered with New Books Network to have our own podcast! Search “UMass Press Podcast” on your favorite podcasting app and subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

The 50+ existing episodes feature Food Margins: Lessons from an Unlikely Grocer, Teaching the History of the Book, Everyday Reading, and much more!

This month on the blog, we’re looking inside the Fall and Winter 2024 catalog, which features a knockout biography of Malcolm X in Malcolm Before X by Patrick Parr, a stunning memoir about growing up working class on the Outer Cape in The Innermost House by Cynthia Blakeley, an exploration of a group of trailblazing women scientists in the Boston area in Our Science, Ourselves by Christa Kuljian, a look at the shifting political landscape of New England in More than Blue, More than Yankee, edited by Amy Fried and Erin O’Brien, and much, much more!

The University of Massachusetts Press and MFA for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are thrilled to announce the 2024 winners of the Juniper Literary Prizes in Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry.