On Friday 16 October I attended a joint conference by the Folklore Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute in London. The conference was designed to enhance collaborate between the two disciplines. Historically, membership of both the Society and the Institute have overlapped, testifying to a closeness between the disciplines that was fruitfully borne out by
What was the bestselling gothic novel of 1897? Many would guess Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but Richard Marsh’s The Beetle: A Mystery in fact beat Stoker’s novel in popularity for many years. In 1913, when the fifteenth impression of The Beetle appeared, Dracula had only reached its tenth, and Marsh’s novel was even filmed first, Alexander
University of Wales Press books were on display at the Beijing International Book Fair recently, with UWP represented by STM Publishers Services. The fair was visited by trade, local publishers and professionals on Aug 26 and 27. Book Fair catalogues including all titles displayed were circulated in advance to relevant librarians all over China.
You can’t say that the REF doesn’t provoke strong reactions. It’s been called academia’s very own “spawn of satan”, a “Frankenstein monster” and “a Minotaur that must be appeased by bloody sacrifices” – and like a recurring nightmare, there is another on the not-so-distant horizon, in the form of the 2020 iteration. While many academics
5 The 10th MA Conference for Teachers of Secondary Mathematics, Stirling University 7 Modernist Network Cymru Conference, Swansea University 7-9 International Arthurian Society, British Branch Annual Conference, University of York 8-10 ASMCF Annual Conference 2015: Myth Making, University of Hull 10 MECCSA workshop, Shared Solidarities: the interaction of parties, unions
UWP’s critically acclaimed Gothic Literary Studies series, edited by Dr Andy Smith and Professor Ben Fisher, scored a resounding victory at the International Gothic Association’s recent conference in Vancover. The Allan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize for the best book in Gothic criticism was won by Joseph Crawford for his 2014 monograph Twilight of the Gothic:
As the series editors of Gothic Literary Studies, Ben Fisher and I are delighted that Joseph Crawford’s The Twilight of the Gothic?: Vampire Fiction and the Rise of the Paranormal Romance has won the Allan Lloyd Smith prize for the best single-authored monograph published on the Gothic between 2013-2014. The book makes an important contribution to
Summer is here and conference season is upon us! Balmy temperatures and sunshine made a timely appearance for the Society of French Studies conference held at Cardiff University between 29th June and 1st July. The prestigious event provided an opportunity for UWP to showcase its publications in the field across a number of our series,
Informed by history, inspired by the Scottish revolutions, rolling debate about the future of Welsh nationalism. When was Wales, and when will it be? Opportunities for all to discuss. All welcome. Ymlaen mae Canaan! Ymlaen! #PrydBydd Mawrth, 7 Gorffennaf 7yh ABERYSTWYTH – Caffi MGs Cadeirydd: Jasmine Donahaye Noddwyr: Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Mynediad: prynwch baned! Digwyddiad
1-8 National Eisteddfod, Meifod 3-7 XVII World Economic History Congress, Kyoto International Conference Centre, Japan 27-28 ECREA Political Communication Conference 2015 “Changing political communication, changing Europe?”. University of Southern Denmark 27-29 The British Association for Victorian Studies Conference: Victorian Age(s), Leeds Trinity University
I attended the Richard Burton Centre’s annual postgraduate conference at Swansea University on the 8th of June and was very impressed by the high standard of papers delivered throughout the day. The first panel was on Writing Welsh in English, a subject area in which Swansea is of course richly endowed in terms of staff
The University of Wales Press announces a new interdisciplinary journal, The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture, launching in 2015. The journal, which is in succession to the The Welsh Journal of Religious History and Trivium, will publish articles on all aspects of the history, literature and culture of religions in all parts of
On 2 June, colleagues from UWP attended the Language Trends Launch and Routes into Languages Cymru Showcase at Cardiff University, organised by Routes into Languages Cymru, the British Council in Wales, the CfBT Education Trust, UCML Wales and CILT Cymru. Chaired by UWP’s French & Francophone Studies series co-editor Professor Claire Gorrara, the first part
2 29th Irish Conference of Medievalists, The Vintage Kitchen, Dublin 2-5 British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, Swansea University 3-4 Association of Business Historians Conference, Exeter University 6-9 International Medieval Congress, Leeds University 9-10 Medieval and Golden Age Hispanic Studies Colloquium, Northumbria University 10-11 Research Society of Victorian Periodicals 47th Annual Conference, University of Ghent, Belgium 10-11 Biennial London
The University of Wales Press is saddened to announce the death of Diane Long Hoeveler on May 14th. Diane worked at Marquette University, Milwaukee where she was Professor of English. In 2014 her The Gothic Ideology: Religious Hysteria and Anti-Catholicism in Popular British Fiction, 1780-1880 was published by the University of Wales Press as part
Open Access has been attracting lively debate in academic circles for some time now, and there are a number of pilot studies and projects being undertaken to consider the complex questions raised by this model of scholarly dissemination. Open Access means that academic works are made freely available in digital format to anyone who has access
To celebrate Dylan Thomas Day 2015, you can buy the following books in paperback and electronic formats with a 10% discount and free postage for the next week. Just click on one of the links below, choose the paperback or electronic format, click ‘Buying Options’, then ‘Buy Now’, and when prompted, use the code: DYLAN2015
Last week our Sales and Marketing Manager, Eleri Lloyd-Cresci, attended the University of Chicago Press Fall 2015 Sales Conference. UCP distributes books on our behalf in North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. There are two sales conferences a
4-5 The Medieval and Early Modern Garden: Enclosure and Transformation, Swansea University 5 Durnell Sales Conference, Cardiff 10 WBC Sales Conference, Aberystwyth 10-12 Congreso Internacional ‘Ramon Muntaner: fets, dits i ‘veres veritats’ (1265-1336)’, University of Girona 15 The launch of Pam na fu Cymru by Simon Brooks, Uwchgwyrfai History Centre, Clynnog
I attended Daniel G. Williams‘ professorial lecture at Swansea University last night. Speaking to a packed lecture theatre and delivering his lecture in Welsh, Professor Williams’ presentation was masterful, fascinating, insightful, entertaining, witty and topical. Entitled ‘Un Genedl! Pa Genedl?: Cymathu Cymru o Shakespeare i Miliband’ (One Nation! Which Nation? Assimilating Wales from Shakespeare to
Adapting Nineteenth-century France: Literature in Film, Theatre, Television, Radio and Print The Gothic and the Carnivalesque in American Culture
‘Reading México’ was the focus of this year’s London Book Fair under the dome of the magnificent Olympia, and the stand representing Mexico and its publications was suitably impressive. Built from clean lines of bleached blond wood intersected with metal cables, the Mexico stage also managed to bring with it some of that country’s sunny
The annual conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth (ASA) was held this year under azure blue skies among the botanical beauty of the University of Exeter campus. Focusing on the theme of Symbiotic Anthropologies, it asked what it means to do anthropology today, while considering the shifting boundaries – or
Speeches and Articles 1968- 2012, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. For the first time, the speeches of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales are being made available in a two volume set in a collaborative project by the University of Wales, the University of Maryland and the University of Wales Trinity Saint
This year’s AWWE conference, expertly organised by Dr Aidan Byrne (University of Wolverhampton) and Professor Diana Wallace (University of South Wales) and held as usual in the gorgeous setting of Gregynog Hall, took as its theme ‘The Country and the City: Rural and Urban Wales’. Such a thought-provoking topic was always likely to inspire diverse
Women’s Writing in Twenty-first-century France: Life as Literature (NiP) Liberty’s Apostle: Richard Price, His Life and Times Wales Unchained: Literature, Politics and Identity in the American Century
8-10 Women in French Conference, University of Leeds 9 Re-imagining the Gothic Symposium, Sheffield 14-17 International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo 20-22 Women and Ageing: New Cultural and Critical Perspectives, University of Limerick 21-31 Hay Festival, Hay on Wye 27-30 Latin American Studies Association,
The term ‘symposium’ may mean ‘idle talk’, as the Symposiarch laughingly noted; but this was certainly not the case in the recent series of inspiring lectures and discussions organised as part of the SPBS programme of events designed to promote scholarship in the field. Under the guiding title ‘Whose Mediterranean is it anyway? Cross-cultural interaction
An article, written for the Western Mail, about the rapid changes in digital technologies, and the decisions and processes involved in digitising the Press’ vast back catalogue of books. The rapid changes in digital technologies have brought as many opportunities as challenges for publishers, and the University of Wales Press is no exception. For some
Open Access Our Commissioning Editor Sarah Lewis attended an OAPEN-UK workshop in London on 20th March, the final workshop in a series of three involving publishers alongside the participation of the other two main stakeholders in the open access (OA) equation: universities and researchers. The session was designed to help all parties get to grips with
This month’s Independent Publishers Guild Spring Conference was my first, and an opportunity to see and hear from people familiar from the pages of the Bookseller and in passing at Book Fairs. The small groups in the ‘meet and greet’ session (with cocktails provided by the PLS) also revealed connections I wasn’t aware of, with
On 17 March, her Excellency, Sylvie Bermann, came to Cardiff University and very kindly gave a lecture to over 100 staff and students on freedom of expressions in the public space. It was a compelling paper and question and answer session as the Ambassador broached the constitutional and cultural differences between France and Great Britain,
William Jones and Pi Day Click here to read Gareth Roberts’ fascinating blog on the Guardian website about William Jones, a self-taught mathematician from Angelsey, who was the first person to use the Greek letter ‘pi’ for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Gareth Roberts is the author of Robert Recorde: The
We are pleased to announce that The University of Wales Press has retained its Investors in People status following the 2015 assessment. Accreditation is earned by employers who ‘embed best practice, recognise your achievements and show you value your people’. For more information, see: http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/
On Monday 9th March 2015, our Commissioning Editor Sarah Lewis attended a workshop on Understanding Administrative Justice in Wales, convened by Sarah Nason as part of Bangor Law School’s research into administrative law and devolution issues. Bangor Law School has recently been awarded a grant from the Welsh Government to bring together policy, practice and
« Faire le point : Quand la littérature fait savoir » : Mutations, Institutions, Interactions 26-28 February 2015, Louisiana State University The annual US conference of colleagues focusing on contemporary French and Francophone Studies offered a valuable opportunity to ‘gauge the temperature’ of the subject area. The conference attracted nearly 300 delegates and ranged across a
Swansea, March 2015 Dr Heather Williams (Centre for Advanced and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth) and Jamie Harris (Aberystwyth University) are this year’s winners of the prestigious M. Wynn Thomas Prize for outstanding academic work in the field of Welsh Writing in English. Once again, submissions were of a very high quality, and the judging panel (Dr
American Gothic Art and Architecture in the Age of Romantic Literature, by Kerry Dean Carso, has been named winner of the Henry-Russell Hitchcock Award 2015 by the Victorian Society in America: www.victoriansociety.org The Hitchcock award recognizes excellence in discussions centered on architecture or the decorative arts, and includes related topics such as landscape, painting, interiors, biographies of designers
Click the titles below to read more about these books: The Gothic Ideology: Religious Hysteria and Anti-Catholicism in British Popular Fiction, 1780-1880 The Twilight of the Gothic?: Vampire Fiction and the Rise of the Paranormal Romance
Click on any of the titles below to read preview extracts of these books: Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales by Janet Burton and Karen Stöber American Gothic Art and Architecture in the Age of Romantic Literature by Kerry Dean Carso Carmarthen Castle: The Archaeology of Government by Neil Ludlow Dylan Thomas by Walford Davies Revolution to Devolution: Reflections on Welsh Democracy by Kenneth O.
The New Delhi World Book Fair, held in Pragati Maidan, is India’s oldest book fair. http://www.newdelhiworldbookfair.gov.in/ This year the Fair ran from 14-22 February and UWP titles were on display at the Govinda Book House stand run by Mr Govinda Berry.
Kerry Dean Carso’s American Gothic Art and Architecture in the Age of Romantic Literature displayed prominently at the University of Chicago Press stand at the College Art Association conference book fair in New York City last week. Read more about this book here: http://www.uwp.co.uk/editions/9781783161607
During February and March, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following conferences: February 4-6 International Arthurian Society colloquium – Granada, Spain 7 Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, Cambridge University 18 American Philosophical Association, St Louis, Missouri March 4-6 IPG Conference, Oxford 6
The Place Names of Wales The North Wales Quarrymen Let’s Do Our Best For the Ancient Tongue Abbeys & Priories of Medieval Wales
Over the next eighteen months the University of Wales Press will publish digital versions of some of its classics, cited by Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol lecturers as works of particular value for teaching students through the medium of Welsh across a broad range of subjects – including Philosophy, History, Law and Science. The Press intends to
The findings of the HEFCE-commissioned Monographs and Open Access Project, led by Professor Geoffrey Crossick, have just been published. The report makes a valuable and timely contribution to the Open Access debate in HASS, acknowledging both the benefits and the challenges of the journey towards OA. Monographs are recognised as a vital and important part
The results of the 2014 REF (the Research Excellence Framework, which calibrates the quality of research produced by UK-based higher education institutions), were published on 18 December 2014 – causing great excitement in the UWP offices. All of us here were very proud to see the hard work of authors and editors who submitted their
I recently attended the one day conference organised by the Learned Society of Wales, with support from HEFCW, to discuss the future of Welsh Studies. The organisers had gathered together a distinguished list of speakers and participants, including leading academics from the fields of Welsh history and literature. Sir Emyr Jones Parry, President of the
Please click here to view our Royalties Letter and Guide
On 13 November, I attended the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG) Autumn Conference in London. Meeting lots of other independent publishers made me feel very proud of UWP’s membership of the IPG, and it was very inspiring to hear the achievements of other independents – some run by a grand total of one person! The day
The National Museum of Wales’s annual archaeology conference was held on Saturday, 15 November, and was very well attended, considering the damp weather outside. Peter Wakelin, the Museum’s Director of Collections and Research, began the day’s proceedings with an interesting talk on World Heritage Sites, in particular the three that Wales already has: the castles
On 6 November 2014, colleagues from the University of Wales Press led an insightful Publishing Clinic at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Organised by Dr Catriona Ryan, Senior Research Fellow in Art and Design at UWTSD, the event was a great success for all concerned. Set up as an initiative to guide early-career
Seventh Bangor Colloquium on Medieval Wales The lively crowd of students and academics of all ages that came together for the Seventh Bangor Colloquium on Medieval Wales last weekend attested visibly to the interest in this field in Wales at present. I was only able to attend the conference for a day, but it turned
During December, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following conferences: 4-6 Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy Conference, Melbourne 27 American Philosophical Association Conference, Philadelphia
Hispanic Studies at university have expanded and diversified greatly over the past thirty years. From an exclusive focus on Iberian languages, literature and cultural history, there has been a significant transformation in Iberian and Latin American Studies in English-speaking universities towards interdisciplinary approaches to languages, history, literature, gender and cultural studies. The trend has, of
The M. Wynn Thomas Prize is offered to celebrate outstanding scholarly work in the field of Welsh writing in English. There are two prize categories: the ‘Open’ category and the ‘New Scholars’ category. Essays submitted may be unpublished or published, in English or in Welsh. Published essays should be from 2013/14. Click here to read
During November, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following conferences: 31 Oct-1 Nov ‘Migrating Texts’: Subtitling, Translation, Adaptation, Senate House, London 6-9 American Studies Association, ‘The Fun and the Fury’: New Dialectics of Pleasure and Pain In the Post-American Century, Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles, CA 8-9 Seventh Bangor Colloquium
Gothic Literary Studies has attracted scholars from across the world. In 2009 the series was launched with the first two volumes of a four-volume ‘mini-series’ which addressed the history of the gothic from the eighteenth century to the present day, and the distinctiveness of the American Gothic tradition. The publication of these books quickly drew
IMAGE: Dr Daniel Mulhall, Irish Ambassador to Great Britain, giving the conference’s opening lecture on the war poetry of Francis Ledwidge and Thomas Kettle. A complex picture of Welsh and Irish experiences of and responses to the First World War emerged at the Ireland, Wales, and the First World War conference, held at Cardiff University on 10th
University View – How UWP is embracing modern changes in the publishing industry Publishing has undergone dramatic changes over the last few years, all driven by the digital revolution. Books were one of the consumer goods to be sold most successfully online, giving rise to that most ubiquitous of online retailers, Amazon. Digital printing
Revolution to Devolution: Reflections on Welsh Democracy K.O. Morgan Nietzsche and Napoleon: The Dionysian Conspiracy Don Dombowsky
UWP at Beijing International Book Fair The Beijing International Book Fair 2014, was held at the China International Exhibition Centre from 27-31 August. UWP was represented there by STM Publishers Services Pte Ltd.
During October, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following conferences: 1 Revolution to Devolution Launch, 6.30pm, River Rooms, King’s College, London 1 ‘Fascists! Fascists? – Plaid and the charges of extremism’, Panel Debate with Richard Wyn Jones, Robert Stradling, David Melding and former First Minister Rhodri Morgan. Ty Hywel,
2013/2014 has been a gem of an academic year for me, and most of it has been thanks to the publication of my first monograph, Galicia, a Sentimental Nation: Gender, Culture and Politics, by the University of Wales Press. The book and its primary argument –that the widespread stereotype of Galician Celtic sentimentality can be
During September, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following events and conferences: 4-6 The Fifteenth Century Conference, University of Aberdeen 5-7 British Poetry of The First World War, English Association Conference, Wadham College, Oxford 9-11 Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, Annual Conference, University of
During July, the University of Wales Press will be participating in the following events and conferences: 1-3 Irish Conference of Medievalists, University College Dublin 6-11 Australasian Association of Philosophy, Australian National University 7-10 International Medieval Congress, Leeds 10-13 22nd North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference, Washington 11-13 Joint Session of the Aristotlean Society and Mind Association, University
I attended the Gothic Networking Day at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Gothic Studies on Saturday 12th July. Funded by the Higher Education Academy, the aim of the event was to give postgraduate students and those working in the gothic a unique opportunity to learn about Gothic Studies from some of its major figures ranging from
The final installment of Lord Morgan’s publishing history with UWP. I am now publishing again with the University of Wales Press, a kind of ‘second coming’ after extensive writing for Oxford and other publishing houses. In September 2014 there will appear Revolution to Devolution, a series of essays on aspects of Welsh democracy – covering
I have had much else to do with the University of Wales Press in the fifty years since the publication of my first book with them. In October 1965 the Board of Celtic Studies asked me to edit The Welsh History Review (of which I had been assistant editor since 1961), in succession to Professor
