About Us

Who We Are

The University of Akron Press is a small publisher of scholarly, literary, and general interest books. Since 1988, we have published compelling works with regional and national significance. We are committed to the idea of scholarship as a public good and work collaboratively with our authors to produce books that meet the highest editorial and design standards. The Press is overseen by an editorial board of University of Akron faculty. 

The University of Akron Press is a member of the Association of University Presses. 

What We Publish

The University of Akron Press maintains distinctive scholarly publishing strengths in Ohio history and culture; politics and elections; the history of psychology; dance; interdisciplinary law; poetry; and poetics.

We publish the following series:

The Akron Series in Poetry was founded to bring to the public writers who speak in original and compelling voices. Each year, The University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of their book. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet.  

The Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics publishes scholarship on trends in contemporary poetry from the U.S. and around the world, with a particular interest in innovation. Books in this series have strong appeal for working writers, independent scholars, cultural critics, literature enthusiasts, academics in numerous types of institutions, and beginning writers who wish to learn more about contemporary poetry. Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics titles are ideal for course adoption in creative writing and literature classrooms at multiple levels.

&Law is published in cooperation with The University of Akron School of Law. Each book in the series is centered on an important and timely legal or newsworthy topic. Drawing upon different expert perspectives, individual titles will detail the opinions of all stakeholders across a variety of disciplines. &Law editions are intended for a broad audience and can also be used in many interdisciplinary university-level courses.

The Bliss Institute Series, a collaboration with The Bliss Institute, focuses on Ohio politics, including elections, government institutions, issues, and political figures. While some of the books are contemporary in focus, others are more historical, covering events and personalities of the twentieth century.

Center for the History of Psychology Series is a unique collaboration between the University of Akron Press and the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP). The main focus of the series is publishing historically significant primary sources in book form. 

The NCCAkron Series in Dance is a joint-collaboration between the University of Akron Press and NCCAkron, the second national choreographic center of its kind in the country. The series' main focus includes highlighting marginalized American voices in dance from the twentieth century as well as acting as a bridge to highlight dance artists working today.

Series on Ohio History and Culture brings vivid stories of Ohio's past and present, written for a general audience but supported by serious scholarship. From riverboats in Cincinnati to the rubber factories of Akron, from the glacial formation of the landscape to the brawny beginnings of professional football, these books cover a variety of topics concerning the Buckeye State. 

For general inquiries/media requests or with questions regarding a publishing project, please email us at uapress@uakron.edu.

Editorial Board

Philathia Bolton
English

Elisha Dumser
Art

Kevin Kern
History

Melanie McGurr
University Libraries

Andrew Thomas
Marketing

Travis Hreno
Philosophy

Joseph Urgo
Retired