Louisiana State University Press
Louisiana State University Press published A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole in 1980. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year. That honor placed LSU Press, operating out of Baton Rouge since 1935, in rare company among American academic publishers. The press now sends approximately seventy new books a year into the world and carries a backlist of more than two thousand titles. Three Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry still lay ahead.
The Southern Review, Louisiana State University's literary magazine, came under LSU Press management in 2010. That merger meant the press now oversees both book publishing and the journal's ongoing operations. Domestic distribution for LSU Press books runs through Longleaf Services, which is operated by the University of North Carolina Press.
Southern history, southern literary studies, and Louisiana and Gulf South studies anchor the regional focus of the list. Military history, particularly the American Civil War, sits alongside roots music and southern culture. European history, environmental studies, foodways, media studies, landscape architecture, poetry, and fiction extend the range well beyond the region. The poetry list alone would account for some of the most prestigious awards in the press's history.
Henry S. Taylor's The Flying Change won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1986. Lisel Mueller followed; her collection Alive Together: New and Selected Poems received the same prize in 1997. Mueller had already won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1981 for The Need to Hold Still, also published by LSU Press. Claudia Emerson's Late Wife earned a Pulitzer for Poetry in 2006. Beyond the poetry honors, the press has earned recognition in fields as specific as library history and the natural history of Louisiana swamps.
Wayne A. Wiegand and Shirley A. Wiegand wrote The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South. That title won the 2019 Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award from the Library History Round Table. Kelby Ouchley received the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing in 2023 for Bayou D'Arbonne Swamp: A Naturalist's Memoir of Place. Gregg Andrews also won at the John Lyman Book Awards in 2023. His Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875-1930 took the U.S. Maritime History category. Andrews' 2023 win shows the press still reaching into corners of American history few academic publishers have claimed.
Updated
Common questions
When was Louisiana State University Press founded?
Louisiana State University Press was founded in 1935 at Louisiana State University. The press publishes approximately 70 new books each year and maintains a backlist of more than two thousand titles.
What Pulitzer Prize did Louisiana State University Press win for fiction?
Louisiana State University Press published A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole in 1980, and the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.
How many Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry has Louisiana State University Press won?
Louisiana State University Press has won three Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. The winners were Henry S. Taylor for The Flying Change in 1986, Lisel Mueller for Alive Together: New and Selected Poems in 1997, and Claudia Emerson for Late Wife in 2006.
What is the connection between Louisiana State University Press and The Southern Review?
Louisiana State University Press merged with The Southern Review, LSU's literary magazine, in 2010. The press now oversees the journal's operations alongside its book publishing program.
What fields does Louisiana State University Press specialize in?
Louisiana State University Press publishes in southern history, southern literary studies, Louisiana and the Gulf South, American Civil War and military history, roots music, southern culture, environmental studies, European history, foodways, poetry, fiction, media studies, and landscape architecture.
What awards has Louisiana State University Press received for natural history and maritime history writing?
In 2023, Kelby Ouchley received the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing for Bayou D'Arbonne Swamp: A Naturalist's Memoir of Place. That same year, Gregg Andrews' Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875-1930 won in the U.S. Maritime History category at the John Lyman Book Awards.
All sources
8 references cited across the entry
- 3Client PublishersLongleaf Services
- 4FictionThe Pulitzer Prizes
- 5PoetryThe Pulitzer Prizes
- 6NBA Poetry WinnersThe National Book Award Foundation