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Clara Totten

@tottencs

Director at Kent State University Press. Library enthusiast. Cats and plants, too. (she/her)

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18.08.2023
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Latest posts by Clara Totten @tottencs

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The Ruthless Benevolence of a Great Editor Ann Godoff, who died this week, cared passionately about her writers—and much less about her own ego.

"The essence of editing is ethics; it’s the act of caring for the expression of the thoughts of another as if they were your own."

27.02.2026 01:12 👍 21 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 0
Five rows of colorful books on a conference table, face up.

Five rows of colorful books on a conference table, face up.

KSUP is pleased to welcome the @aupresses.bsky.social Book, Jacket, & Journal Show! Congrats to all of our colleagues on the publication of beautiful books that push design in innovative directions. Not pictured: all the books that KSUP staff have swiped and moved to the top of their TBR lists . . .

26.02.2026 00:00 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

I'm in the middle of this book right now and, friends, it is SO GOOD. The writing is exquisite in the best need-to-read-passages-aloud-to-my-partner-because-I'm-bursting-to-share-it kind of way.

25.02.2026 15:20 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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Pope Leo Will Spend July 4 Visiting Migrant Crossing Island Pope Leo has spoken out against the treatment of migrants in the United States several times over the last year.

“Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life"
- Pope Leo XIV
time.com/7380294/pope...

22.02.2026 00:22 👍 62 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 1
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Opinion | In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans

Wonderfully written NY Times piece by a local dad involved in the resistance, really echoes with a lot of what we’re feeling: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o... (gift link)

18.02.2026 14:19 👍 321 🔁 118 💬 9 📌 22
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Wow.

17.02.2026 03:59 👍 35962 🔁 16657 💬 1304 📌 2476

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

12.02.2026 20:38 👍 12630 🔁 4473 💬 208 📌 113

This looks like it'll be excellent! Publishing in a series can be a great option, from the built-in credibility to getting to work with highly knowledgeable series editors in your field.

12.02.2026 16:36 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

are rotisserie chickens the new avocado toast?

11.02.2026 16:26 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

10.02.2026 20:18 👍 31327 🔁 13768 💬 970 📌 1689

I swear every dev team for Microsoft products was like, "let's make it have *almost* what users need but not quite, leaving out just enough critical functionality that they'll have to find other tools. And let's make it so they don't realize what's missing until they've sunk a few hours in lolz"

09.02.2026 18:42 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Backlist spotlight: Celebrating Black History Month with “American Abolitionism and Antislavery” February is Black History Month, and to mark the occasion we’re pleased to spotlight our book series American Abolitionism and Antislavery, edited by John David Smith. The series presents the…

February is Black History Month, and to mark the occasion we’re pleased to highlight our book series American Abolitionism and Antislavery, which presents the best scholarship on antislavery activism and abolitionism in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century United States.

07.02.2026 13:07 👍 4 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

Same goes for humanities scholars! Editors love quick responses, even "no," as much as we love suggestions!

06.02.2026 14:57 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Christopher Briem on a Pittsburgh Beyond Steel - Pittsburgh Review of Books To the outside world, Pittsburgh is invoked as a symbol of American industrial might, of catastrophic decline, of improbable reinvention. The storyline is

And new, an interview in the Pittsburgh Review of Books
pghrev.com/christopher-...

03.02.2026 16:55 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

My kids now recognize the smell of water treatment facilities thanks to NEORSD's Clean Water Festival tour <3

03.02.2026 16:38 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Books for Understanding ICE in Minnesota - University of Minnesota Press The surge of ICE and CBP enforcement in the Twin Cities and Minnesota has deeply impacted staff at the press, our families, and our neighbors. For those interested in learning... READ MORE

Books for Understanding ICE in Minnesota from @uminnpress.bsky.social. Been thinking about our publishing friends in the Twin Cities, proud to be in community with presses doing this kind of work and sending lots of support www.upress.umn.edu/books-for-un...

03.02.2026 15:55 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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I talked to the brilliant @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social about the sentence he has been repeating for months, "I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win." We discussed anti-Trump organizing and the important of sharing resistance successes. newrepublic.com/article/2059...

30.01.2026 17:20 👍 256 🔁 62 💬 3 📌 2
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January news and reviews Cleveland Scene wraps up 2025 with the list “10 Cleveland Novels the Book Lover in Your Life Actually Would Like For Christmas”—including KSU Press’s edition of The Coming of Fabr…

Kent State’s books and authors kicked off the new year with attention in Cleveland Scene, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, New Books Network, and more. See all the latest in our January roundup.

26.01.2026 15:25 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

28.01.2026 17:02 👍 97501 🔁 40890 💬 4302 📌 5362

sources say your mom had to make a call on the land line, so the modem had to be disconnected

21.01.2026 16:44 👍 38 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 1
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Brazil’s Bolsonaro finds novel way to reduce 27-year sentence: reading books Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

Great job, Brazil.

"Bolsonaro . . . is unlikely to appreciate the approved reading list. It includes Brazilian works on Indigenous rights, racism, the environment and the violence meted out by the country’s 1964-85 dictatorship – a regime Bolsonaro openly supported."

16.01.2026 14:51 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Did the Wolf Finally Leave? - Pittsburgh Review of Books In early 2014, colleagues in the media relations department at the University of Pittsburgh forwarded to me a voicemail they said was from an independent

“Future prospects for greater Pittsburgh are decoupled from the prospects of the steel industry, a reality... difficult to accept for a region identified for so long with the once monolithic industry.”

From BEYOND STEEL by @chrisbriem.bsky.social (@ksupress.bsky.social). pghrev.com/did-the-wolf...

12.01.2026 14:57 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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Jan. 6, 2021: A visual archive of the Capitol attack NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.

NPR built a visual archive of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of the people who were there. In Chapter 5, we look at how Trump’s pardons, political messaging and use of power reshaped the public story.

09.01.2026 14:07 👍 766 🔁 285 💬 18 📌 17
Text: rust belt studies
171
A Journal of Public and Emplaced Humanities
Issue 1 | 2025

with a stylized image of a cityscape including towers, bridge, and water

Text: rust belt studies 171 A Journal of Public and Emplaced Humanities Issue 1 | 2025 with a stylized image of a cityscape including towers, bridge, and water

Big news: @rustbeltlab.bsky.social has launched “Rust Belt Studies"! We're proud to see KSUP represented in the inaugural issue, which has @jlauck1941.bsky.social's essay from “Where East Meets (Mid)West,” plus a review of Deborah Fleming’s “Ghosts of an Old Forest.”

www.rustbeltstudies.org/journal

13.12.2025 13:10 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
On a backdrop of books on bookshelves, the text: "Poetry & Essays
Afterglow by Adrian
Schnall
Ghosts of an Old Forest:
Essays on Midwestern
Rural Heritage by
Deborah Fleming
How Donating a Kidney
Fixed My Jump Shot by
Jim Sollisch
We Look Better Alive by
Ali Black
Self-Help & Wellness
Kinship Medicine by
Wendy Johnson
Own Your Career by
Annette Garsteck
Kids
Diego Fuego the Firefighting Dragon and Unique Like You by Ilison and Rafael Rozo
le Ghost Whiskerers
oy Thom Zahler
Go Tell It by Quartez Harris
Maya's Holi by Thrity Umrigar"

On a backdrop of books on bookshelves, the text: "Poetry & Essays Afterglow by Adrian Schnall Ghosts of an Old Forest: Essays on Midwestern Rural Heritage by Deborah Fleming How Donating a Kidney Fixed My Jump Shot by Jim Sollisch We Look Better Alive by Ali Black Self-Help & Wellness Kinship Medicine by Wendy Johnson Own Your Career by Annette Garsteck Kids Diego Fuego the Firefighting Dragon and Unique Like You by Ilison and Rafael Rozo le Ghost Whiskerers oy Thom Zahler Go Tell It by Quartez Harris Maya's Holi by Thrity Umrigar"

Big thanks to @clevelandmag.bsky.social for including Deborah Fleming’s “Ghosts of an Old Forest,” published this year by KSUP, on their list “50 Cleveland Book Releases We Loved in 2025”!

clevelandmagazine.com/articles/50-...

10.12.2025 21:06 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Image of characters from the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries paired with fonts

Image of characters from the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries paired with fonts

Consider this a book publisher's very important contribution to the ongoing font discourse #FontDebate

10.12.2025 20:00 👍 6 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

I saw this come across my feed and smiled- I'm so very glad you're here. Hoping for peace and wellness and rest for you in the days ahead.

01.12.2025 19:29 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Friends, calling this number will warm your heart. You need this today.

27.11.2025 01:07 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Book Launch: ‘Artisans and Designers’ with Rebecca Jumper Matheson The School of Graduate Studies and the MA program in Fashion and Textile Studies invite you to celebrate the publication of Artisans and Designers: American Fashion Through Elizabeth and William Ph…

Thanks to @fitgradfts.bsky.social for highlighting Rebecca Jumper Matheson‘s book “Artisans and Designers,” new in our series with the Costume Society of America. If you’re in New York, don’t miss the author’s signing at FIT on December 1 at 5:30PM.

26.11.2025 14:04 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

These cookbooks are delightful, as lovely objects to hold in your hand and as purveyors of great recipes. I've got Biscuits, Pickles & Preserves, and Buttermilk. Highly recommend.

25.11.2025 22:15 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0