Columbus State University Press
History
The Donald L. Jordan Endowment was established in 2016, in part, to facilitate the formation of Columbus State University Press, which was officially formed in 2021. CSU Press is pleased to recognize Mr. Jordan as the founder of the press, which serves as the publishing venue for the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence, and DLJ Books has been installed as a permanent imprint at the press. Mr. Jordan’s foresight made CSU Press a reality, and we are grateful for his generosity. Mr. Jordan passed away on May 15, 2023 after a very successful business career. The author of literary novels, short stories, and works of non-fiction, he was also particularly interested in helping other writers attain publication.
Mission
The mission of the CSU Press is to support and enhance the University’s reputation as a national and globally connected institution by publishing judged or peer-reviewed creative and scholarly works from a diverse body of authors. In addition to publishing work by writers from across the nation or from other countries, the press is also deeply interested in publishing titles about our state and the Southern region.
Staff
- Director/Editor
- Dr. Allen Gee
- Associate Editor
- Dr. Carey Scott Wilkerson
Interns for 2023
John Mitchell
Lennox Dodd
Samira Hibbler
Sarah Woessner
John Pollock
Administration
CSU Press is overseen by Dr. Annice Yarber-Allen, Dean of the College of Letters & Sciences, and Dr. Judith Livingston, Chair of the English Department.
Accounting
Royalties and other author considerations are handled by CSU‘s Advancement staff.
Board Members
- Travis Chambers
- Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers
- Alan Harkness
- Director, Chattahoochee Valley Libraries
- Sandra Okamoto
- Retired, Columbus Ledger TV Book Editor and Arts Writer
- Melissa Pritchard
- Author, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University
- Tyler Townsend
- Managing Partner, Townsend Wealth Management
Internships
Internships for those interested in learning about publishing are available for CSU undergraduates in the English Department and for other students. Assignments are usually made in the fall. Please contact Dr. Allen Gee at gee_allen@columbusstate.edu.
Rights and Permissions
Please contact the Director/Editor, Dr. Allen Gee
Partners
- The University of Georgia Press
- The Oxbow Environmental Center
- CSU English Department
- Carson McCullers Center
Useful Links
Forthcoming Spring 2024: Beware the Tall Grass by Ellen Birkett Morris
We‘re thrilled to be publishing Ellen Birkett Morris‘s novel, Beware the Tall Grass, which won the 2023 Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence.
Beware the Tall Grass weaves the stories of the Sloans, a modern family struggling with their young son Charlie’s troubling memories of a past life as a soldier in Vietnam, and Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of mid-sixties America who is sent to Vietnam. Eve Sloan struggles as a mother to make sense of Charlie’s increasing references to war, and her attempts to get to the bottom of Charlie’s past life memories threaten her marriage, while Thomas struggles with loss and first love, before being thrust into combat and learning what matters most. Beware the Tall Grass explores the power of love and mercy with grace and artful sensitivity in a world where circumstances often occur far beyond our control.
Forthcoming Spring 2024: Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment by Renata Golden
We‘re delighted to announce that Renata Golden‘s Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment is the inaugural title for DLJ Books‘ Longleaf Nature Series.
Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment brings us close to the Chiricahua Mountains and explores the fascinating lives of humans and other creatures. These finely crafted essays focus on our need to be attentive in heart and mind, and to ponder natural sites on broader scopes, confronting migration, extinction, land ownership, and who we are at this crucial juncture in history. As Golden shares her personal and ethical challenges in a harsh and isolated environment, lessons are evoked on the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. This is essential reading for those who seek to know more about “thin” places, helping us to better understand our place in an increasingly fragile world.
While It Lasts by Scott Nadelson
CSU Press’s second publication is Scott Nadelson‘s short story collection, While It Lasts, which won the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence in 2022. The publication date is March 15, 2023
This award-winning short story collection brings us moments of tenuousness, in which characters seek out or struggle to hold on to what’s most precious in the face of change and loss. The stories take us from suburban New Jersey to prewar Vienna to Western Oregon, chronicling the lives of, among others, a suburban teenage boy taking revenge with a stolen Revolutionary War bayonet; a woman adrift, literally and figuratively, amid a workplace affair; a nearly forgotten and destitute musician attempting to reclaim his creative spark; and a young Mark Rothko finding his way after several early failures. While It Lasts speaks to how we are all bound by limited time to achieve what we must despite our own knowledge of how everything is fleeting.
Close-Up by Michelle Herman
CSU Press’s first publication is Michelle Herman’s novel Close-Up, which won the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence in 2020. The publication date is March 15, 2022.
Close-Up artfully renders how the lives of a young magician, and his father, a famous novelist, intertwine with the lives of a young poet and the single poet who raised her. Close-Up reveals what drives and complicates and undermines our most important relationships. This is a robust novel about friendship, romance, marriages and the ties between parents, children, and grandchildren. The novel follows five fully rendered characters—Jacob, Martin, Caroline, Jeanie, and Jill—through their rifts and reconciliations, as their whole story brings us through loneliness, longing, missed connections and grievances, and ultimately to a desirable place of understanding.
