Bookseller Honored As an Advocate for University Presses
Veteran bookseller Paul Yamazaki of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco is the recipient of this year’s Stand UP Award from the Association of University Presses (AUPresses).
The Stand UP Award honors those who through their words and actions have supported, championed, and celebrated the university press community and mission.
This year’s award announcement coincides with University Press Week (November 9-13), an annual event that celebrates the character, contributions, and collective vigor of university presses around the world.
“This year’s UP Week theme, Power UP, is particularly apt when thinking about Paul’s unflagging support for university presses and their authors,” said AUPresses executive director Peter Berkery. “Collaborative and creative partnerships with Paul and so many other indie booksellers definitely enable university presses to amplify their authors’ voices to inform our current moment and shape our future.”
Plans are currently underway for an award presentation during the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute in Minneapolis in February.
“Throughout his career, Paul has been a tireless champion of university presses,” said Allison K. Hill, CEO, American Booksellers Association. “He’s supported them at City Lights and shared his contagious enthusiasm with generations of independent booksellers across the country, including me. Paul’s generosity has multiplied his impact, ensuring that many more readers have discovered the wonderful books these presses publish. I’m thrilled to see Paul’s support, passion, and influence honored with the AUPresses Stand UP Award, and I know I’m joined in celebrating by independent booksellers everywhere and everyone at ABA.”
“I know of few booksellers who have consistently supported university press books as Paul has,” said nominator John Sherer, Spangler Family Director of the University of North Carolina Press. “Not just in his vocal advocacy, which has been admirable. But in his commitment to investing precious inventory dollars in carrying our books. Like us, he knows it sometimes takes a little longer to find the right reader. But he finds them because he’s cultivated a community where those readers know they will be rewarded.”
Paul Yamazaki has been a bookseller at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco since 1970 and has been the store’s principal buyer for more than 40 years. He has worked with the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund, Ford Foundation, American Booksellers Association, Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, Creative Work Fund, and many others.
Yamazaki received the 2023 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation and has served on the board of directors of several literary and community arts organizations, including the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses.
“I am deeply honored to accept this award on behalf of myself and my dedicated colleagues at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers,” said Yamazaki. “University presses are central to what City Lights considers its responsibility to the reading community. I share this award with the dedicated publisher sales representatives, past and present, whose deep knowledge of the titles under consideration, combined with their understanding of individual bookstores, has been essential to building strong and enduring relationships between City Lights and university presses.”
Read more about the Stand UP Award and past winners here. The 2025 recipient was Brett Bobley, former Office of Digital Humanities Director with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
About the Association of University Presses
The Association of University Presses is an organization of more than 165 international nonprofit scholarly publishers. Since 1937, the Association has advanced the essential role of a global community of publishers whose mission is to ensure academic excellence and cultivate knowledge. AUPresses holds intellectual freedom, integrity, stewardship, and equity and inclusion as core values. AUPresses members are active across many scholarly disciplines, including the humanities, arts, and sciences, publish significant regional and literary work, and are innovators in the world of digital publishing.
About City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
Founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, City Lights is a landmark independent bookstore, internationally known for its expert selection of titles and commitment to free intellectual inquiry. In 1955, Ferlinghetti launched City Lights Publishers with the now-famous Pocket Poets Series. Today, City Lights has well over four hundred titles in print—including poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, international and local authors—with a dozen or so new titles being published each year.
About the American Booksellers Association
The American Booksellers Association is a national trade association that supports and advocates for the success of independent bookstores. ABA provides members with education, networking opportunities, advocacy, resources, and technology. Its more than 3,400 members, with more than 3,700 bookstore locations, support local schools through book fairs, donations, and author visits; promote literacy; provide inclusive community centers; connect readers and books; add character to neighborhoods; champion and center diverse and new voices; and contribute to the local economy.