University of California Press director James H. Clark traveled to Sacramento at the end of January to accept an award from the Speaker of the state assembly honoring the press for its contribution to California culture. It was the second time in four months that UC Press was recognized for its work.
In October it was the first publisher ever to win a PEN Center USA West Award of Honor for "putting (and keeping) in print the work of authors with special expertise... in explaining California to the rest of the world," as the center's president, Jonathan Kirsch, described it. The awards were the ultimate testament to what has been an exceptional year for UC Press. Sales topped previous highs, with its books division reaching $17.2 million and its journal division $2.7 million. Retail sales accounted for the press's largest market, although online sales reached 10% of revenues. For the first time, in association with netLibrary, the press made 1,500 of its titles available in electronic form, and funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is enabling the press to experiment with creating its own electronic books, which it will make available through its Web site. Beginning this year, all its journals are being published online through CatchWord.
Last spring, UC Press launched the first of three California-focused projects, the New California Poetry series edited by past poet laureate Robert Haas, Brenda Hillman and Calvin Bedient. At the same time, it began updating the popular California Natural History Guide series, originally begun in 1959 and currently comprising 60 titles. In December, it published the first volume in a two-volume anthology, The Literature of California, edited by among others, James D. Houston (Continental Drift) and Maxine Hong Kingston.
This spring the press launches its first new journal in 20 years, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. All told, it has 3,183 titles in print and 33 journals.
