UPDATE 3/21: A note about web orders, events, and conferences during the Covid-19 pandemic

Most author events through mid-May have been cancelled. We will update this space as we receive more information.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Orders from our website will be delayed; most author events through mid-May have been cancelled. We will update this space as we receive more information.

Press Release Date: 2020-03-21T11:30:00


During the COVID-19 outbreak, University of Minnesota Press is operating remotely and all departments remain open for business. Books are available for sale online through your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon, and on our website www.upress.umn.edu (please note: our Press warehouse at Chicago Distribution Center is currently closed and availability is limited). Thank you for your support.

Here are a few further updates and details:

MARCH 21:

We’ve received notice that our distributor, the Chicago Distribution Center, is closing its warehouse starting Monday. The decision is in accordance with the state of Illinois’ shelter-in-place directive, which goes through April 7. 

E-book orders will still be fulfilled immediately. Please note that the Forerunners series e-books (z.umn.edu/forerunners) are available at $5 apiece. Some select titles will ship from remote locations and will be fulfilled. All other orders will be back-ordered until the facility opens. During this time, our books are also available from your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. We will update this space as soon as we know more.

Thanks very much for your understanding and support.


MARCH 13:


In light of fast-unfolding news of cancellations around the globe related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we wanted to update our community on how University of Minnesota Press operations are affected.

The World Cup cross-country ski races (and pre-race events including the Fastenal Parallel 45 Festival) that were slated to take place March 14-17 in Minneapolis have been cancelled. Author Jessie Diggins (Brave Enough) was behind the monumental effort to bring the event to her home state. To those who have spent months, years, decades working so hard on this event, our thoughts go out to you, and we send thanks and gratitude to The Loppet Foundation for prioritizing the health and safety of our community.

The Brave Enough book launch event formerly scheduled for April 5 at Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota is cancelled per recommendations made by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the CDC. If you purchased a signed copy via Eventbrite, it will be available for pickup at ArtReach St. Croix beginning March 18 (contact info@artreachstcroix.org with questions). An alternate event is in the works.  

In line with university declaration, all local events through the end of the semester (mid-May) have been cancelled unless otherwise noted. Please note that we are continually updating our website’s Events calendar to reflect these changes. If you are unsure, please double-check with the hosting venue on remaining events. We will keep this space updated as we learn more about the status of other author events locally and beyond.

Additionally, the University of Minnesota has suspended all non-essential university-funded international and domestic travel through April 30. Taking this into account with the cancellations of many academic conferences, the Press will no longer be attending the following meetings:

The London Book Fair, Olympia, London, March 10–12.

Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Denver, CO, April 1–5.

American Association of Geographers, Denver, CO, April 6–10.

Western Political Science Association, Los Angeles, CA, April 9–11.

American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 17–21.

Society of Architectural Historians, Seattle, WA, April 29–May 3.

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Toronto, Canada, May 7–9.

Wordplay, Minneapolis, MN, May 9. (virtual meeting)

For London Book Fair attendees, please note that our International Rights Catalog is available online. For academic conference attendees hoping to connect with editors onsite, please refer to our website for information on how to contact the acquisitions editor in your field. We will be offering our conference discounts online. In the meantime, our Humanities & Arts catalog sale has been extended, with sales in other subject areas forthcoming.

We will continue to update this space with more information as we receive it. We remain fully committed to supporting our authors and their works as best we can during this period, while doing what we can to minimize risk for our community. Thank you.