author interview

Amy Cook (“Building Character”) on the Oscars

by Kathryn Beaton March 1, 2018

Our author Amy Cook, an Associate Professor of English and Theatre Arts at Stony Brook University, recently answered some questions about her new book, Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting. Films play a prominent role in your book’s examination of casting choices. When you look over the list of nominees for this year’s Academy Awards in acting, what casting choices stand out as exceptional? Some of these actors originated the roles they are in: there was no other Lady Bird or Elisa Esposito before Saoirse Ronan and Sally Hawkins were cast in those roles. Other actors are […]

“Academic Ableism” Author Interview–Part 2

by Kathryn Beaton December 15, 2017

Check out Part 2 of our interview with Jay Timothy Dolmage. He’s an Associate Professor of English at the University of Waterloo and author of the newly released book Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, which argues that inclusiveness allows for a better education for everyone. We are proud to offer a large selection of disability studies books, and feel that they are essential to dispelling misconceptions. Find Part 1 of the interview here. You write about how, for many years, “disability has been constructed as the antithesis of higher education, often positioned as a distraction, a drain, a problem to […]

“Academic Ableism” Author Interview–Part 1

by Kathryn Beaton November 8, 2017

This University Press Week, we’re featuring an interview with Jay Timothy Dolmage. He’s an Associate Professor of English at the University of Waterloo and author of the forthcoming book Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, which argues that inclusiveness allows for a better education for everyone. Today’s theme is “producing the books that matter,” and the larger theme of UP Week is #LookItUp: Knowledge Matters. We are proud to offer a large selection of disability studies books, and feel that they are essential to dispelling misconceptions. Hang tight for Part 2 of the interview when the book releases in December! You […]

Interview: Francesca Coppa, “The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for the Digital Age”

by Kathryn Beaton August 29, 2017

Our author Francesca Coppa recently answered questions from our editorial director, Mary Francis, about her new book The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for the Digital Age. When I first got the manuscript for this book I couldn’t stop reading: some of these writers are just great storytellers. Was it hard to choose among the fanfic you know and love? Oh, it was brutal, actually; there’s so much terrific fanfiction out there you wouldn’t believe it. And there’s no way anyone can read all of it. So I had to set rules very quickly. Length was a big one: these stories […]

Interview with William Cheng, winner of the 2016 AMS Philip Brett Award

by Sam Killian November 11, 2016

We at University of Michigan Press are pleased to share that William Cheng’s new book, Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good, received this year’s Philip Brett Award from the American Musicological Society. Philip Brett (1937–2002) was a beloved professor and a pioneer of queer music scholarship. The book, an urgent treatise on the ethical stakes of contemporary musical scholarship and citizenship, was celebrated during the AMS annual meeting. During this meeting (which happened to take place this year in Cheng’s hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia), the Society praised Just Vibrations, calling it “a nuanced and intersectional work that meets concerns […]

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