September 8, 2020

The Unprecedented 1827 Osaka Incident

By Kate Wildman Nakai, Mark Teeuwen, and Fumiko Miyazaki

“Christian Sorcerers on Trial is a model of consummate scholarship and at the same time a gripping narrative which will be of great interest not just to students of Japanese religion and history, but to anyone curious about Japan in the...

September 3, 2020

Van C. Gessel on Endō Shūsaku’s Sachiko

“An extraordinary novel by one of Japan’s literary masters, Sachiko is a testament to shared experiences, cruelty, loss, and the persistence of love and faith.” ~Foreword Reviews, starred review September is National Translation Month. Today, we present a guest post...

September 2, 2020

Q&A: Claire Seiler on Midcentury Suspension

“It is impossible not to be impressed by the highly accomplished results on offer in Claire Seiler’s reconfiguration of early postwar transatlantic literature in terms of the concept of the “midcentury” and the forms of temporal and theoretical suspension she...

September 2, 2020

New From Our Distributed Presses! The Great Smog of China, Mainstreaming the Global Radical Right, Transgressive Truths and Flattering Lies and More!

Our weekly list of new books is now available! Association for Asian Studies From the Asia Shorts series The Great Smog of China A Short Event History of Air Pollution Anna L. Ahlers, Mette Halskov Hansen, and Rune Svarverud The...

September 1, 2020

Translation Month! Celebrating Works of Literature and History from Japan, Korea, and Russia

September is National Translation Month, and we’re ready to celebrate! This year’s featured books take us back to unsettling times in Japan, Korea, and Russia. Peruse the list and book excerpts below, and check back every Tuesday for a guest post....

September 1, 2020

New Book Tuesday! Little Lindy Is Kidnapped and Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

Our weekly list of new books is now available! From the Russian Library series Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow Alexander Radishchev Translated by Andrew Kahn and Irina Reyfman Alexander Radishchev’s Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most...

August 29, 2020

Columbia University Press Supports Independent Bookstores

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns all over the world, Columbia University Press wanted to show its support for the literary community. With independent bookstores and publishers, already constantly challenged by corporate behemoths, facing an uncertain future, our director Jennifer...

August 27, 2020

Q&A: Ch’oe Yun and Chungmoo Choi on There a Petal Silently Falls

“Ch’oe is a versatile writer who cloaks stark perceptions of individual and social trauma with elegant craft, poignant metaphor, and occasional, sardonic flashes of humor.” ~Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Seattle Times We’re closing out Women in Translation Month with a Q&A...

August 25, 2020

Announcing our 2020-2021 Politics and International Affairs Catalog

Letter from the editors: The year 2020 has been one of unprecedented political challenges, and we are pleased to offer here some new books that may help make sense of them. Our political theory list features some timely books that...

August 25, 2020

The Timeliness of Julia Kristeva’s The Enchanted Clock

By Armine Kotin Mortimer

“Kristeva deftly weaves together multiple strands of a narrative that links a presently degraded state of France, Europe, and the world, in the grip of violence, fanaticism, rigid identity politics, anti-intellectualism, a general loss of quality of life, to the...

August 25, 2020

New Book Tuesday! One UP, The Future of Us, Social Appearances, and More!

Our weekly list of new books is now available! One Up Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games Joost van Dreunen One Up offers a pioneering empirical analysis of innovation and strategy in the video game industry to explain...

August 24, 2020

Q&A: Natural Disaster Recovery Experts on Responding to COVID-19

COVID-19 has presented new challenges for leaders at all levels, forcing many to reconsider their emergency management processes. What are the impacts of the current public health crisis on disaster preparedness and community planning, and what will it take to...