Writing is no simple task! The process is arduous and requires what can feel like a lifetime of editing and rewriting. Even so, writing a book is only the first step on a long journey to publication. Here at OSU Press, as at all university presses, every book we publish is first subjected to a rigorous peer review process.
When an author submits a proposal or manuscript, our acquisitions editor sends it out to several experts in the field for peer review. If the response is positive, the project is then submitted to our editorial board for approval. The board may approve the proposal or manuscript as is, or they may request revisions and additional peer review. Once the board recommends publication, a publishing contract is offered, the manuscript is delivered, and the book begins its long journey through the editing, design, and production process. Authors must wrestle with such non-writing-related chores as indexing and obtaining photo permissions, all while working through multiple rounds of editing and page proofs before the book obtains its final form and is sent off to the printer.
One of my favorite parts of working for the OSU Press is when the books come back from the printer. I’m so excited when the boxes come and I open them to see the brand new printed books. This is it: the book is ready for others to enjoy.
Our authors create something amazing that doesn’t end with the writing, something that most of us can only dream of doing. With appreciation and awe, we would like to introduce the authors of our Spring 2016 books:
Author: Hob Osterlund
Book: Holy Mōlī: Albatross and Other Ancestors
Release Month: April
Website: http://www.albatrosskauai.org/wp/
Occupation: Photographer, Comedian, and Founder of the Kaua’i Albatross Network
Quick Fact: Osterlund founded Hawaii’s first inpatient pain management program at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. She was a Principal Investigator for the Comedy in Chemotherapy Study where she and her colleagues conducted trials demonstrating the positive impact comedy has on cancer and chemotherapy symptoms.
Author: Judith L. Li
Book: Ricky’s Atlas: Mapping a Land On Fire
Release Month: May
Website: www.ellieslog.com
Occupation: Retired, associate professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University.
Quick Fact: Li studies stream and riparian food webs. Her first children’s book, the award winning Ellie’s Log, was based on her experiences at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Oregon Cascades. She spent many summers studying stream bugs and fish on the “eastside” where Ricky’s Atlas takes place.
Author: Michael J. Yochim
Book: A Week in Yellowstone’s Thorofare: A Journey Through the Remotest Place
Release Month: June
Occupation: Retired from the National Park Service
Quick Fact: Yochim worked in the Yellowstone National Park for over two decades, and for five years in Yosemite. As a planner for the National Park Service, he researched parks’ histories and drafted management plans to resolve ongoing controversies. Yochim is an avid hiker; he walked all 1200 miles of Yellowstone’s trails and most of those in Yosemite and several other national parks.
Author: George Poinar Jr.
Book: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Hidden World of Pacific Northwest Dunes
Release Month: June
Occupation: Courtesy Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Retired from the University of California, Berkley.
Quick Fact: Poinar Jr. received his PhD from Cornell with emphasis in entomology, botany, plant pathology, and vertebrate zoology. He has taught at the University of California at Riverside, the University of California at Berkeley, and at Oregon State University.
Author: Patricia Whereat-Phillips
Book: Ethnobotany of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians
Release Month: May
Occupation: Linguistic and Cultural Consultant for Confederated Tribes Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians.
Quick Fact: Whereat-Phillips holds a BS in biology from Oregon State University and a MA in linguistics from the University of Oregon, where her studies focused on the Hanis Coos language. She has worked with the US Forest Service in Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and Mt. Hood National Forest and served as the Cultural Resources Director for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians from 1997 to 2001. Subsequently she has worked as a consultant to the Tribes on traditional language, storytelling, and ethnobotany.
Author: Kem Luther
Book: Boundary Layer: Exploring the Genius Between Worlds
Release Month: May
Occupation: Retired
Quick Fact: Naturalist and writer Kem Luther moved from a home on Ontario’s Grand River to the southern tip of Vancouver Island in 2004. While in Ontario, he was Associate Dean of Sheridan College’s joint program in Communication, Culture, and Information Technology with the University of Toronto. Kem grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills, studied at Cornell, the University of Chicago (PhD) and University of Toronto (MSc), and taught at Eastern Mennonite University, Sheridan College, York University, and the University of Toronto.
Author: Brian Lanker
Book: From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker
Release Month: January
Quick Fact: Brian Lanker was a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and a documentary film director. Lanker was the photographer of the highly acclaimed book and international exhibition of portraits titled I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America and the book Shall We Dance. Lanker was twice named Newspaper Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association. His photography frequently appeared in LIFE, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated magazines as well as many international publications.
Author: Floyd J. McKay
Book: Reporting the Oregon Story: How Activists and Visionaries Transformed a State
Release Month: April
Quick Fact: McKay was a leading journalist at the Oregon Statesman in Salem, and a news analyst at KGW-TV in Portland. For his work as a reporter and producer of documentaries, he won the DuPont-Columbia Broadcast Award, the “Pulitzer Prize of Broadcasting.” He holds a PhD in media history from the University of Washington. He was a Neiman Fellow in journalism at Harvard University and taught journalism ay Western Washington University.