Indiana University Press blog

"It's My Job": Reflections on a Photojournalist’s Life

Guest post by Steve Raymer, author of Somewhere West of Lonely

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I never set out to be a photographer of conflict and tragedy—famines in Bangladesh and Ethiopia and wars on five continents at last count. In my early twenties, I saw enough blood, heard enough lies from military and civilian officials, and lost close friends while serving as an officer in the United States Army in Vietnam. Back home and finishing graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971, I turned down a desk job in Saigon, capital of the former South Vietnam, as a picture editor with the Associated Press, the world’s largest news gathering agency. To my mind, if I was to ever again experience the constant fear of being killed, at least it would be looking through the lens of my Nikon cameras.

My work for National Geographic Magazine in places like Cambodia, where I was wounded in 1974, and in embattled corners from the world— the Middle East, Afghanistan, South Asia, Northern Ireland, and El Salvador—was often part of reporting larger global issues. For example, genocidal Khmer Rouge guerrillas fired rockets and mortars at innocent Cambodians receiving American food aid and I was in the middle of the mayhem, following a shipment of California rice for a story about the world hunger crisis. Fifty years on, we forget that Cambodia by 1974 was starving as the war in neighboring Vietnam spilled across its border, creating tens of thousands of refugees.

In another instance, I traveled the globe with the International Committee of the Red Cross, keepers of the Geneva Conventions, to document its humanitarian world in some 14 war zones. In El Salvador, about to return home after two weeks in the middle of the most violent conflict in the Western Hemisphere during the 1980s, the ICRC chief asked if I wanted to accompany doctors and nurses on a mission into the contested jungle to bring out a wounded Communist guerrilla fighter to a government hospital. She had a bullet in her brain. No one at National Geographic would have ever known if I had turned down this invitation of uncertain promise of more or better pictures. But it was my job. As it was, our convoy of Red Cross vehicles was fired upon by a Salvadorian or American helicopter, held up at rebel checkpoints, and twice forded a river seeded with mines.

That phrase—“it’s my job”—has been a constant beacon as I have looked at the dying in International Red Cross hospitals in Ethiopia in 1985 or at hundreds of children in Vietnam, born with heart-wrenching deformities as the result of residual dioxin in the environment—the active ingredient of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange that we Americans sprayed to deny Communist soldiers their jungle sanctuaries. In these and many other cases, it was my job, or calling, to take an unblinking look at the world’s heartaches. Or as I tell students, to be society’s professional eyewitness.

The author flying in a US Air Force F-16 fighter jet.

That drive to be a faithful eyewitness to some of the world’s headlines did not come naturally for a young man from a small town in Wisconsin. My first mentor, the late University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Wilmott Ragsdale—himself a former war correspondent—used to tell students, “Be bold and move toward the action.” In those days, the “action” was often violent anti-Vietnam War protests on the streets of Madison, but the lesson stuck. As I learned more about the great photojournalists of the twentieth century, another name stuck with me—Robert Capa. A Hungarian Jew born Endre Friedmann who took the nom de guerre Robert Capa, he moved from conflict to conflict—from Spain and China to North Africa and through Western Europe—until his beloved Paris was liberated from the Nazis. As I recount in Somewhere West of Lonely, Capa landed in the surf of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, with the first assault troops of the US First and Twenty-Ninth Infantry Divisions, which would suffer nearly four thousand casualties that fateful morning. Capa’s name and reputation for courage live on, in part through his famous aphorism that I have silently repeated to myself in some of the most difficult situations of my professional life: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

I tell students that the best foreign correspondents have a low threshold for injustice. It has been my privilege to work with a few and meet many. In Vietnam, Gloria Emerson of the New York Times wrote with what her newspaper called an “angry dignity.” She once nailed a general who asked subordinates to write him up for awards of valor for a battle that never happened. The author Frances FitzGerald reported the war first-hand for The Atlantic and the New Republic, then wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning history, Fire in the Lake, after researching modern Indochina in four languages. From both women, I learned to never, ever trust the government’s version of events without seeing things for yourself.

In my experience, it is not the pay or the awards that motivate war correspondents, but a sense of moral outrage at the obscenities of our times. I dedicated Somewhere West of Lonely to friends and colleagues to have been killed telling the stories of the world, including wars. These men and women accepted the risks “to help citizens be free and self-governing,” in the words of journalism textbook authors Tom Rosensteil and Bill Kovach. And to my mind, those few eloquent words summarize what our work should be about—to help citizens be free and self-governing.

 

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Steve Raymer is a former National Geographic photojournalist who has captured it all through the lens of his camera. The National Press Photographers Association and the University of Missouri named him Magazine Photographer of the Year—one of photojournalism’s most coveted awards—for his reporting on the global hunger crisis. He has also been honored by the Overseas Press Club of America for international reporting requiring exceptional courage and is the winner of numerous first-place awards from the National Press Photographers Association and the White House News Photographers Association. His books include Redeeming Calcutta: A Portrait of India’s Imperial Capital. His new book, Somewhere West of Lonely, will be available in April.

Discover the Healing Power of Quilts

In their new book, Quilts and Health, Marsha MacDowell, Clare Luz, and Beth Donaldson explore the healing power of quilts and quiltmaking and the deep connections between art and health. From Alzheimer’s to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Lou Gehrig's Disease to Crigler-Najjar Syndrome, and for nearly every form of cancer, millions of quilts have been made in support of personal well-being, health education, patient advocacy, memorialization of victims, and fundraising. Quilts and Health brings together over one hundred health-related quilts—with imagery from abstract patterns to depictions of fibromyalgia to an ovarian cancer diary—and the stories behind the art, as told by makers, recipients, healthcare professionals, and many others.

To celebrate Worldwide Quilting Day, we’re sharing a few of our favorite quilts from this gorgeous book.

Fighting Breast Cancer, One Breast at a Time, Marie, Clarice, and Lucille (last names not identified), Lansing, Michigan, 2010. 38.5" × 51.5". Collection of the Michigan State University Women’s Imaging Center. Photo by Marsha MacDowell, February 2016.

 

Whatever It Takes: An Ovarian Cancer Diary, Phyllis Tarrant, Mint Hill, North Carolina, 2003. 50" × 58". Collection of Michigan State University Museum. Photo by Phyllis Tarrant.

 

Giant Cell III, Aafke Swart Steenhuis, Ithaca, New York, 2004. 20" × 19.5". Collection of the artist. Photo by Cascadilla Photography.

 

All Alone and Blue, Cynthia St. Charles, Billings, Montana, 2004. 36" × 37". Collection of the artist. Photo by Michelle Shumaker.

 

Post Traumatic Stress Demons, Patricia Anderson Turner, Punta Gorda, Florida, 2014, detail. 

 

First Star I See Tonight, Susan Schrott, Shelter Island, New York, 2004. Collection of the artist. Photo by Susan Schrott.

 

Learn more about Quilts and Health on our website, and pick up your copy of Quilts and Health wherever books are sold.

Revisiting Amy Lowell, the Rival Imagist: A Closer Look at JML 40.2

This post is part of a series that takes a closer look at the scholarship behind IU Press Journals. Primarily written by journal editors and contributors, posts may respond to articles, provide background, document the development process, or explain why scholars are excited about the journal, theme, or article.

Paul Bradley Bellew’s article, "At the Mercy of Editorial Selection: Amy Lowell, Ezra Pound, and the Imagist Anthologies,” from Journal of Modern Literature’s newest issue is now available on JSTOR & Project MUSE. Below, Paul elaborates on the life and work of erotic love poet Amy Lowell.

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I first took notice of American modernist Amy Lowell’s poetry in a PhD seminar. Two of her works particularly caught my attention: “New Heavens for Old”—a fascinating description of the gender politics of the modernist poetry scene, a must read for any scholar of the period—and the love poem “A Decade,” a short piece packed with erotic energy. The latter poem part of a series of love poems in her 1919 collection Pictures of the Floating World that, in my opinion, is some of the finest erotic love poetry in English. 

So who was Lowell? She was a lesbian from a wealthy family who dominated free-verse poetry in the late 1910s and early 1920s. She went on tours regularly, poetry readings and lectures that usually sold out. (That’s right, sold-out poetry lectures!) By all accounts, she was a bit of a legend in her own time. But today, unfortunately, many people don’t really know her.

The night I first mentioned to some fellow graduate students that my dissertation would have a chapter focused on Lowell, one of them responded, “Oh, the ‘hippo-poetess’!” She was the only one in the group who had heard of Lowell at all, and only the notorious fat joke, first coined by the poet Witter Bynner and repeated often by Ezra Pound. 

This is actually emblematic of Lowell’s place in the modern canon—or, historically, her absence from it. For if there's anything that she is best known for, it’s her conflicted relationship with Pound—the man who popularized the joke. 

In short, Lowell and Pound were nemeses. Their conflict is rooted in the history of Imagism, often described as the first modernist poetry movement. Pound was essentially the founder of the movement, and Lowell, a latecomer, took over after he left for his next project. The narrative we typically read in literary studies is that she “stole” control of the movement from Pound, diluted its experimental nature, and exploited it for money. This story comes straight from Ezra Pound himself because, well, he won the fight. And in the end, it’s the winners who write literary history. 

There are a few reasons Lowell lost to Pound: she was a woman, she was fat, she was queer, she was popular (real poetry doesn't appeal to the masses, it was said), and, sadly, she died first—during the height of modernism in 1925. Pound lived on to publish more works, build a larger following and a more notable (and politically notorious) reputation. It’s not surprising that Lowell was forgotten for decades.

Lowell’s reputation has gradually recaptured some of its past grandeur, particular in the late twentieth century rise of queer studies. And in contemporary studies of middlebrow and celebrity modernism, she is gaining even more traction. So perhaps we can begin to revise the old story of Lowell as the thief of Imagism. 

I don’t think we should forget the old anecdote, even if it’s wise to stop believing it. Because—to use the old adage—where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Whether it’s just a mean-spirited joke or a gossip about conflict in a poetry movement, when particular stories have dominated an era of literary history, there’s likely something more there. The tales of insults and intrigues work to simplify a story that was certainly more complex, and it’s our job as readers, scholars, and lovers of modern literature to figure out what realities have been hidden.

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Paul Bradley Bellew is Assistant Professor of Humanities at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey. His research focuses on American modernism, poetry and poetics, material and archival studies, and queer theory.

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More from the Journal of Modern Literature 40.2

REVISITING MODERNIST CLASSICS

 • READ FOR FREE • 
“At the Mercy of Editorial Selection”: Amy Lowell, Ezra Pound, and the Imagist Anthologies 
Paul Bradley Bellew

Empires of Enlightenment: On Illumination and the Politics of Buddhism in Heart of Darkness
Avram Alpert

Ham and Eggs and Hermeneutics: Re-reading Hemingway's “The Killers”
Oliver Harris

A Strangeness in Common: Trespass, Drift, and Extravagance in Robert Frost
Christopher Patrick Miller

Absolute Music and the Death of Desire: Beethoven, Schopenhauer, Wagner and Eliot's Four Quartets
Aakanksha Virkar-Yates

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Absolutism, Relativism, Atomism: The “small theories” of T.S. Eliot
Jeffrey Blevins

Newsreels, Novels, and Cybernetics: Reading the Random Patterns of John Dos Passos's U.S.A.
Heather A. Love

The Death of a Gramophone in Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September
Susanne S. Cammack

A Non-Euclidean Novel: Christine Brooke-Rose's Such and the Space-Age Sixties
Joseph Darlington

Bad Networks: From Virus to Cancer in Post-Cyberpunk Narrative
Christopher D. Kilgore

BOOK REVIEWS

The Disruptive Power of Ordinary Things
Stuff Theory: Everyday Objects, Radical Materialism by Maurizia Boscagli
Review by: Andrew Epstein

Asking Zombies about Zombies
This Year's Work at the Zombie Research Center by Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe, eds.
Review by: Sarah Juliet Lauro

Quilts of Southwest China

Recently published IU Press book Quilts of Southwest China is currently being featured as part of an exhibit at the Mathers Museum of World Culture in Bloomington, Indiana. To learn more about the book and the unique quilts presented at the exhibit, IU Press recently spoke with co-editor Lijun Zhang about the quilts, the art of quilting, and what quilts represent in Chinese culture.

IU Press: Quilts are often broadly understood or thought of as a sort of an “Americana”-type thing, but this book and display show that quilts are a worldwide phenomenon. What makes them so accessible?

Lijun Zhang: Quilts, especially those quilted multi-layered textile used on bed, are thought of as typically Western. However, the techniques associated with the textiles known as quilts such as piecing, patching, and appliquéing fabrics together as well as binding layers of fabric together exist in different cultures around the world. In China, the techniques of quilting have been practiced in different locales for centuries. Nowadays, the commonly used word for quilt in Chinese is pinbu although many communities in China where quilting is practice may not use the term in their culture. For instance, people in a lot of Han communities make bedcovers or clothes for a new born child out of pieces of fabric contribued by relatives and friends. Such items are called baijiabei, or “one hundred families” bedcovers and baijiayi or “one hundred families” clothes. A quilt, as a distinctive form of textile, perfectly combines function with art. Quilts, with the patterns made by the quilting techniques I introduced above, is highly decorative while being functional in our daily life. I think this is one of the major reasons that contribute to its accessibility around the world. In addition, a lot of quilts convey important meanings and symbols in different cultures. For instance, grandmothers makes baijiabei or baijiayi for their new born grandchildren to show their love and protection towards the babies. There are similar practice in the United States. Now quilting became a form of intangible an tangible cultural heritage both in China and in the United States.

IUP: What will people who come to see the quilts at the Mathers Museum recognize? What will surprise them?

LZ: Most of our audience would be American who are more familiar with Western style of quilts. I think the exhibition would broaden their conceptions of quilt. For the displayed items in the exhibition, the quilted bedcovers are different from traditional American quilts. They are single-layer comforter cover with blocks of pieced patchwork and appliqué on the top layer, mostly for design and decoration purposes. I think what will surprise them is not only the very different style of quilting but also the very rich cultural meanings and symbols express quilt artists expressed through the displayed items.

Many quilt artists incorporate auspicious designs in their work that reflect their tradition and beliefs. Auspicious designs include patterns representing wishes for happiness, prosperity, longevity, high social status, fruitfulness, protection from evil, etc. Some designs are also intertextualized with folk literature; the quilt artist sometimes conveys myths, legends, and folk tales through her choice of symbols.

On the exhibition panels and in the book, we have introduced representative design motifs of ethnic quilts in Southwest China with illustrations of these motifs from the exhibited quilts. It is important resource for the audience to learn the aesthetic style, folk beliefs, and folk literature relating to quilts.

In the process of curating the exhibition, we try our best to convey the message and meaning the artists try to express. The Chinese curator and the American curator as well as the partner museums worked together to make sure that the labels and the layout of the exhibition are appropriate to help US audiences understand the style and the cultural meaning of the quilts, and the context in which the quilts of Southwest China are made.

IUP: What have you learned in your research and preparation for this book?

Quilts of Southwest China as a bi-national and bilingual project is a process of long-term cultural communication and cultural collaboration, which includes academic forums and conferences, fieldwork and collections-based research, professional exchanges, curating exhibition, and joint publication. Curating the exhibition and preparation for the book is a process of communication, mutual understanding, sharing, and mutual learning. As a cross-cultural project, language and terminology presented some challenges in our collaborative work. We not only need to translate the language, but also need to translate the culture. Another important feature of the exhibition project is our ling-term ethnographic field research in many different ethnic communities. The field research helped us gain a wide, in-depth, and in-person understanding the natural and social environment where the art is created. We experienced both the traditional and changing landscapes of the communities and reveal new insights about China’s intangible cultural heritage in contemporary world. We build personal and interactional contact with local artists and really get to know the person who creates the art and understands the use and meaning of the art in their daily life. The field research also enables us to provide the audience with more precise and richer interpretation of the arts.

IUP: Do you consider quilts art?

LZ: Yes, quilts are art that is highly functional in daily life. It represents quilt artists' creative ideas through the form of patterns and motifs. In the process of making a quilt, the quilt artist not only needs to master the knowledge and skills of quilting, but also has a preliminary sketch and design in their mind what the quilt is look like. And like other artists, quilt artists tries to tell people something through their art work.

IUP: Do you have a favorite quilt in the book or display?

LZ I like all of the quilts. If I have to pick one, I would highlight the quilt with triangle patterns and dog's teeth edge collected from Huang Biyu, a Zhuang quilt artist from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southwest China. Not like most of the other displayed quilts that have duplicated or similar patterns, this quilt is formed with 60 triangle-shaped pieces with 60 unique design motifs, including phoenix, butterflies, coin, and flower building which refers to the style of buildings constructed on stilts in Zhuang communities. The artists creative combine the different motifs on one quilt with beautiful presentation.

'Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo' to be featured in Eskanazi Museum of Art exhibition

Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo: Master Drawings from the Anthony J. Moravec Collection will be featured in a special exhibition at the Eskenazi Museum of Art.

The book parallels an exhibition of twenty-four drawings donated to the museum by Indiana businessman Anthony J. Moravec. The drawings date to the 18th century and were composed by Italian artist Giambattista Tiepolo and his son, Domenico.

The Tiepolo's were both master painters and printmakers, and the drawings highlighted in the book and exhibition showcase some of their greatest works. The centerpiece of the collection is a group of a dozen drawings from Domenico's New Testament cycle, focusing on religious subject matter. This group of drawings is a key addition to the Eskanazi Museum of Art, as the museum's New Testament collection is now the third largest of its kind in the world.

The exhibition runs from October 1, 2016 through February 5, 2017 at the Eskanazi Museum of Art. A related lecture and reception are scheduled for October 28.

The book, Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo: Master Drawings from the Anthony J. Moravec Collection, will be published on October 3.

Lee Mandrell reflects on 'The Great Smoky Mountains'

The National Parks Service was founded 100 years ago on August 25, 1916. They have since cared for and protected the national parks, ensuring they remain a place for exploration, education and inspiration. In a guest blog post, Lee Mandrell shares a personal reflection on his new book The Great Smoky Mountains: A Visual Journey in honor of the National Parks Service centennial. Lee is a photographer and author of Indianapolis: The Circle City (IUP 2016) and The Great Smoky Mountains: A Visual Journey (IUP 2017).

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By Lee Mandrell

For over a quarter of a century now, I have been in pursuit of capturing photos from ‘The Great Smoky Mountains’ and the surrounding areas. I remember my first Smokies trip as well as if I had just taken it yesterday. Young, dumb, and naive about a good many things, I was very much in photographer's shock and visual overload upon arrival, to say the least. Born and raised in Indiana, I had never seen anything like this first hand! I instantly wanted to photograph everything I saw. I knew immediately the mere six rolls of film I had brought for the trip were not going to be enough, nor was the small amount of time that we would be there. I wasn’t even sure where to point the camera first. The visual stimulation was overwhelming and it took a good deal of self discipline to contain my excitement for the photo opportunities that I was seeing, and not to just randomly start shooting and wasting my shots. Remember, film was a whole different beast than digital and careful consideration had to be taken not to waste a single frame. Unlike digital, there are set limits with film, and that was always torture! Trust me, there was always something else you wanted to shoot once you ran out of film. As fate would have it, the camera suffered a shutter malfunction on that very first trip and I instantly learned the importance of having and bringing backup equipment everywhere I went. Fortunately, I was able to get it going once again during the trip, and since then I have never left home without spare equipment. I learned a very valuable lesson that trip the hard way. 

Photo by Lee Mandrell and DeeDee Niederhouse-Mandrell

This particular year and trip was in January and it happened to be 70 degrees and sunny. It was just beautiful even with no leaves or snow. I don’t know how many deer I saw the next few days, but there were certainly lots of them, more than I had ever seen in one place at any given time in my life. And the rivers, the streams, the cascades and the waterfalls! Oh man! Everywhere I looked! The first drive along the Little River Road, amazing! It felt like it took two whole days! The first trip through Cades Cove left me speechless! And the actual mountains! What wonder! What sights to behold! They just kept going on forever it seemed! It was pure happiness! It’s still just as amazing to me all these years later. In fact, I think it’s more beautiful since I have grown more aware and more appreciative of it, nature and conservation, and the feelings I felt that first trip are still there every time. You can’t help but smile. You can’t help but feel at peace. You can’t help but feel the happiness that surrounds you in this place. To me, there is nothing else quite like it. Of course a person is not able to see all of the beauty in one weekend, week, or month and I strongly believe that even people that live there would be hard pressed to ever ‘see it all’ in their lifetime. 25 plus years and countless trips later I am still discovering new things and places there, and still excited about every one of them! One thing was for sure on that first trip though, I was immediately hooked on the Smoky Mountains' beauty then and there, and I have been ever since. There was no turning back because what I had seen couldn’t be unseen.

Photo by Lee Mandrell and DeeDee Niederhouse-Mandrell

Many times we were on the road at 10 p.m., 11 p.m. or midnight in order to get there in time for the sunrise and hopefully capture something inspiring. Lots and lots of coffee has kept us going more times than I can actually recall. I’d guess gallons most likely. There have been miles and miles of hikes throughout the years. Some hikes are easy of course, but some of those hikes can certainly put a person to the test and you have to really push past your limits. The payoff at the end has always been worth it in my opinion. Then there are the bears, and let me tell you about the bears. It’s a bit unnerving to happen across them on trails with no one else in sight, or have one sneak up on you and catch you unaware, and yes they can be sneaky. Luckily, they have only had a passing curiosity as to what we were doing, then quickly moved on about their business. Of course the elk need their distance as well, and also the deer. We have always treated wildlife with great respect, and taken our photos from a distance with very long lenses. With the proper equipment, you can take up close and personal photos of any wildlife and never put yourself in harm's way or be invasive to their personal space. If you don’t have the proper equipment, don’t even try it. It’s just not worth the risk. It never ceases to amaze me to see someone actually chasing after a wild animal and particularly a bear! I realize they look cute and cuddly and in need of some petting between the ears, but they are wild animals and could pose a danger to you or your loved ones if they feel threatened. You wouldn’t want someone to come into your house and chase you around, take a picture with you and try to pet you, would you? Treat them with the respect they deserve and give them their space. 

Photo by Lee Mandrell and DeeDee Niederhouse-Mandrell

Some locations hold sentiment, some hold strong emotional connections, and some are just too beautiful to accurately portray with only a photo, no matter how good the photo is. As awe inspiring as a photograph is or can be, you don’t get the sounds, you don’t get the smells, and you don’t get the feelings you had while with your spouse, kids, friends or family. Trees creaking in gentle winds, leaves rustling, and the sounds of birds chirping reach your ears. Salamanders scurry out of sight. Chipmunks scamper along a fallen tree. Water trickles over and through rocks, and is perhaps the greatest sound nature has ever given us in my opinion. The smells of the damp undergrowth, decaying vegetation, wood, and leaves fill your nostrils. The flickering light levels as you progress up a trail play peek-a-boo with your eyes. The feel of the earth as you make your way up to some unknown, hidden, magical place. The cool, flowing water as you pass through it touches and refreshes your skin. The changes in air temperatures can cool or warm you as you walk. Wildlife peeking through the forest at you with curiosity from a distance. It ignites all of the senses and lets you come alive! I don’t find any of this tiring or boring. I get so caught up in the moment and place and what’s it’s doing to my senses, I sometimes forget I am there to take pictures. There really isn’t anything else quite like it and I will never tire of its endless beauty, sounds and smells. Hopefully this collection of photos will give you as real a sense of place as is possible to do with photos and if I could bottle the smells and add the sounds, I certainly would!

Lee's The Great Smoky Mountains: A Visual Journey will be published February 17, 2017 and is now available for preorder.

 

IU Press to release “Color Your Campus” adult coloring book series this summer

Indiana University Press will release the first title in a series of adult coloring books, titled Color Your Campus this summer. Indiana University will be the first campus featured in the series with other college campuses to follow.

In a surprising move for a university press, Indiana University Press joins the adult coloring trend to the early delight of college students, parents, fans, and alumni alike. Hobbyists will take pleasure in transforming artists’ black and white masterpieces into colorful flagship campuses while indulging in the comfort of a childhood stress reliever.

“We’re always looking for new, creative ways to engage readers and tell stories,” said Gary Dunham, Director of Indiana University Press. “With our Color Your Campus adult coloring books, readers become artists, remembering and celebrating their alma maters in the bright, colorful ways they choose.”

Illustrators will consist of locals and university graduates—those who are able to encapsulate the spirit of the university through their own personal experiences.

“As an Indiana University graduate and Bloomington native, I’m very excited to be working on this project,” said Issy Mueller, illustrator of Color Your Campus—Indiana University. “Coloring is fun and relaxing. I’m a preschool teacher who gets to color with kids all day but not everyone is fortunate as I am.”

Adult coloring books have become extremely popular over the last few years, with one bestseller selling close to two million copies, and coloring book parties popping up around the country.

“The recent explosion in this new coloring industry has adults turning away from technology, away from yoga, and toward crayons.” said Mandy Hussey, editor of the series. “This will be the first series published by a university press and we’re excited to be the press doing so.”

For media requests, contact Mandy Hussey, Trade Marketing and Publicity Manager, mlclarke@indiana.edu

Special discount on A Legacy of Armenian Treasures

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, during which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives under the Ottoman Empire's rule. Several organizations around the world are dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the Armenian people, including the Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum in Michigan. This museum holds the largest and most representative gathering of Armenian art and artifacts outside Armenia, including illuminated manuscripts, early printed books, rugs and carpets, sacred vessels and vestments, textiles and embroidery, ceramics, metalwork, paintings, coins, and objects from the ancient kingdom of Urartu. One hundred and sixty of the museum's most vital and beautiful pieces are featured in our book A Legacy of Armenian Treasures. Ronald Grigor Suny of the University of Michigan credits the book for "bring[ing] to us a vivid portrait of a people whom no empire was able to extinguish." Essays by nine scholars of Armenian art and artifacts shed light not only on the artistic significance of these objects but on their cultural context as well.

Now through May 8, save 30% on the A Legacy of Armenian Treasures by using code WMG3XX at checkout. Learn more about the book in this excerpt:

 

Four IU Press books win awards

This has been a good week for IU Press and book awards! Following the news that we received two awards at the African Studies Association meeting, we learned that these four books also earned prizes:

Jonathan Smolin

Jonathan Smolin was presented with the 2014 Carl Brown AIMS Book Prize in North African Studies for his book Moroccon Noir at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) meeting in Washington, DC, last week. This book prize is awarded annually to the outstanding book in the area of North African studies.

Picturing History at the Ottoman Court by Emine Fetvaci was awarded the 2014 Koprulu Book Prize by the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association. This annual prize is given to the best book in the area of Turkish and Ottoman studies published in the previous year. The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Assocation held its annual conference and awards presentation in conjunction with the MESA meeting last week.

Music in Kenyan Christianity won the Nketia Book Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). This prestigious award, offered bi-annually, recognizes the most distinguished book or monograph on the topic of African and African diasporan music, published over the previous four years. Author Jean Ngoya Kidula received the prize at SEM's annual meeting earlier this month.

Shelby Balik's book Rally the Scattered Believers won the 2014 Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Award. Each year Phi Alpha Theta gives this award for books published in the field of history.

Congratulations to all our authors on these awards! 

William Forsyth exhibit opens today at Indiana State Museum

An exhibit on Indiana artist William J. Forsyth (1854-1954) opens today at the Indiana State Museum. "William Forsyth: Only the Strong Persist" showcases the work of the most award-winning member of the Hoosier Group, who was known for his volatile personality as well as his artistic versatility. The exhibit runs through March 29, 2015.

The exhibit is curated by Rachel Berenson Perry, who is author of William J. Forsyth: The Life and Work of an Indiana Artist. In this book, Perry draws on Forsyth's personal letters and other sources to offer fascinating insights into his personality, his relationships with his students, and his lifelong devotion to teaching and educating the public about the importance of art. Learn more about the book on our website.