The University of Pittsburgh Press is finishing the year strong with several announcements.

Agnes Lunch Starrett Poetry Prize: The Pitt Poetry Series announced the finalists for the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, selected by Shara McCallum: 

• “How We Keep Each Other Company,” by Talia Bloch 

• “The Living Sign,” by Colby Cotton 

• “What God in the Kingdom of Bastards,” by Brian Gyamfi 

• “Querida,” by Nathan Osorio 

The winner will be announced on December 18, 2023. Established in 1981, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, named in honor of the first director of the Pitt Press, is awarded for a first full-length book of poems. The prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press as part of the Pitt Poetry Series. 

“Auction” in the Times: The New York Times has named “Auction” by Quan Barry, published in September by the University of Pittsburgh Press as part of the Pitt Poetry Series, as one of the best poetry collections of 2023. In Auction, Barry travels the globe in her quest into the existential nature of experience. The poems in this collection explore the inner landscapes of both the human and animal realms, revealing them to be points along the same spectrum.  

New scholarly series: The Pitt Press is launching a new scholarly series: Contemporary Asian Catholics. The series will publish scholarly books that explore how the most populous continent, Asia, and the world’s largest religious organization, Catholicism, intersect and redefine each other. Through different case studies, the series aims to redefine ways of approaching and conceptualizing processes through which Asian Catholicism is produced, contested and shared.

Inquiries should be directed to William Masami Hammell, senior acquisitions editor: whammell@upress.pitt.edu. Submission information is available on the Pitt Press website: https://upittpress.org/book-submission/. Once up and running, the series aims to publish two to three books each year.