Power UP reading list announced
The Association of University Presses (AUPresses), a global organization of 169 mission-driven publishers, is proud to announce that the 15th annual University Press Week will be held Nov. 9 to 13.
University Press Week was launched in 2012 as part of the association’s 75th anniversary celebration. Every year since then, it has raised awareness about the work that university presses do to advance scholarship and trusted research around the world. U.S. President Jimmy Carter had proclaimed the first U.S. University Press Week in 1978. Carter welcomed the association’s plan for an annual event in 2012, saying, “The special character and contribution of university presses should be better known and better supported.”
This year’s University Press Week reading list includes 94 books and journals as well as three initiatives that embody this year’s Power UP theme. The week’s activities will also include dozens of in-person and virtual talks by university press authors and a tour of posts on member presses’ blogs that share insights into the work that university presses do.
“This year’s reading list showcases books and journals that amplify authors’ voices to inform our current moment and change the way we understand and interact with the world.,” says AUPresses executive director Peter Berkery, “These publications lend power to scholars’ intellectual freedom and readers’ wide-ranging curiosity.”
The books and journals in this year’s reading list, curated by AUPresses members in nine countries, present thought-provoking concepts, inspiring ideas, and cutting-edge scholarship in a variety of topics — from politics and current events to the environment, education, Black studies, history, memoirs, Indigenous studies, poetry and fiction, and more.
One of the most notable books in this year’s reading list is a book by Pope Leo XIV, published by Catholic University of America Press. Entitled Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, the work considers the grandeur and dignity of being human during this time of profound change.
Other books in this year’s Power UP reading list include:
- What Is Immigration Policy For? (Bristol University Press/Policy Press)
- American Occupation: Dispatches from Minnesota’s Resistance to ICE (University of Minnesota Press)
- The Postliberal University: Governance, Leadership, and Partisanship in Higher Education (Harvard Education Press)
- P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (Duke University Press)
- From Insight to Impact: How 20 Executives Transformed Business Through Research (City University of Hong Kong Press)
- J. K. Rowling and the Anti-Trans Panic (Ohio State University Press)
- Offshore Oildom: America’s Energy Expansion into the Ocean (Louisiana State University Press)
- On Deservingness: The Stories and Systems that Sustain Inequality (University of British Columbia Press)
During this year’s University Press Week, the Association will also be celebrating a new digital series that it has developed in partnership with PBS Books. Entitled Uncovered, this year-long series invites audiences to explore the outstanding books, distinguished authors, and compelling ideas published by AUPresses’ member presses. Episodes will consider a different topic each month; for example, the first episode, streaming on Sept. 15, focuses on Hispanic heritage and culture. Additional topics will include popular science in October, Native American heritage in November, Librarians’ Favorite University Press Picks in December, and more. The episodes will stream on the PBS Books website, YouTube, and Facebook platforms and on the PBS app.
“University presses don’t just publish books — they advance powerful ideas,” says AUPresses president Stephanie Williams, director of the Wayne State University Press. “We’re proud of the hard work that our member presses do in concert with a global community of authors, libraries, and bookstores to help these ideas get out into the world.”
Full information about this year’s University Press Week and a look back at previous years’ celebrations can be found here: https://upweek.up.hcommons.org/celebrate/university-press-week-2026/.