The Stories Still Need to Be Told: A Message for Our University of Minnesota Press Community

We believe telling the stories of Minnesota, the US, and the world is more crucial now than ever. It is our mission to do just that and we are committed to bring you our stories through, and to the other side of, this crisis. It’s the people—your engagement, your scholarship, and your ideas—that animate our work and make publishing books rewarding and important, at any moment in time.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

We believe telling the stories of Minnesota, the US, and the world is more crucial now than ever.

Minneapolis, MN

Press Release Date: 2020-03-25T16:00:00


Dear U of MN Press community, friends, authors, scholars, and readers:

To call these times unprecedented in our country and our world does not do justice to the level of disruption, difficulty, and genuine peril at our doorsteps. As with most of you, the emergency arrived swiftly at the Press. First, highly anticipated travel and events were canceled. Next, we relocated our entire staff home to function remotely and safely. Now, we settle in and get back to the vital work of publishing.  

Although we are not attending academic conferences this spring, we are eager to learn about your new projects. Connect with our acquisitions editors to discuss and perhaps share a cup of coffee, even if it’s from afar. We are participating in virtual book exhibits when possible and hosting sales on our website. Please visit us there! The critical work of imagining the world to come begins now.

Our warehouse, the Chicago Distribution Center, is temporarily closed but still ships many UMP books from an alternate location. If your order is not immediately available to fulfill, they will send it as soon as they reopen. Most UMP books are for sale from retailers and major ebook vendors, and you can also order, direct from our website, ebooks of our popular Forerunners titles for just $5.00.

As an independent, nonprofit press, we are in solidarity with our friends in the bookselling business and encourage you to buy books from your local indie stores. Many offer free or reduced shipping and will even deliver books to your car. The U of MN Press is responding to the need for digital access to books by instructors, students, and researchers by making our books available in the JSTOR free eBook collection. Select books are also available free at manifold.umn.edu.

Follow our social media (Twitter | Instagram | Facebook) and sign up for the e-newsletter to keep in touch with the creative ways we continue to promote new titles. Most of our spring list will be released as planned. Watch for updates and the Fall 2020 catalog announcements, coming soon.

We believe telling the stories of Minnesota, the US, and the world is more crucial now than ever. It is our mission to do just that and we are committed to bring you our stories through, and to the other side of, this crisis. It’s the people—your engagement, your scholarship, and your ideas—that animate our work and make publishing books rewarding and important, at any moment in time.

Thank you for your continued support.

—Doug Armato, Director,
and the staff of U of MN Press