Ooligan Press Announces Upcoming Release, Pairs with Oregon 150 Commission to Mark Sesquicentennial

Transcription

1 Portland, OR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Natalie Emery Marketing Manager Announces Upcoming Release, Pairs with Oregon 150 Commission to Mark Sesquicentennial Portland, OR, January 6, 2009 announces the upcoming title Oregon at Work: , releasing April Oregon at Work: looks at three eras in Oregon s history: mid-1800s, early 1900s, and 1950s to the present. Using personal stories passed down from generation to generation, historical data, and photos, we learn what it was like to work and live in these very different periods of the state s history. ISBN pages 100 black & white illustrations 8½ x 11, paperback $21.95 US Publication Date: April 2009 Award-winning journalist Tom Fuller and Oregon s top economist Art Ayre use meticulous research and historical data to examine cultural diversity and gender roles that have shaped work in Oregon. The book includes a foreword by Governor Ted Kulongoski. Oregon at Work: is an official partner project with the Oregon 150 Commission to commemorate the state s sesquicentennial. In addition, it has received endorsements from the Oregon Employment Department, Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, and the Oregon Small Woodlands Association. Ooligan is a general trade press rooted in the rich literary life of the Pacific Northwest. We publish books that honor the cultural and natural diversity of the region. Founded in 2001, Ooligan is a teaching press in the Department of English at and is dedicated to the art and craft of publishing. The press is staffed by students pursuing master s degrees in an apprenticeship program under the guidance of a core faculty of publishing professionals. For more information, visit or ooliganmarketing@pdx. edu. (503)

2 Oregon At Work by Tom Fuller and Art Ayre Oregon at Work: looks at three eras in Oregon s history: the mid-1800s, the early 1900s, and the1950s to the present. Using personal stories passed down through generations, historical data, and photos, we learn what it was like to work and live in these very different periods of the state s history. If you had searched the want ads in 1859 Oregon, what kinds of jobs would you have found? What sort of hours would you have worked? What would you have done? And how much money would you have made? The character of work has changed much during Oregon s 150 years of statehood, but the seeds planted by Oregon s pioneers are still bearing fruit today, producing jobs and wages to keep Oregon families growing and prospering. This meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book brings the stories of real Oregonians to life. A foreword by Governor Ted Kulongoski is included, as well as over one hundred photographs and artifacts. This project has received support and endorsement from the Oregon Employment Department, Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, Oregon Small Woodlands Association, and others. Oregon at Work is a partner project of the Oregon 150 Commission, celebrating the state s sesquicentennial. Oregon at Work is the twentieth title from, the nation s only fully studentrun general trade press. As part of s Masters in Writing program, is dedicated to teaching the art and craft of publishing, while producing highquality books in a variety of genres. (503) About the authors Tom Fuller, a published journalist, was a television reporter for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon, from and for KTVL- TV in Medford, Oregon from Tom is currently the Communications Manager for the Oregon Employment Department. His awards include an Emmy and an Associated Press Award. Art Ayre is the State Labor Economist for the Oregon Employment Department. Art researches and writes reports for the Oregon Employment Department, and publishes articles in Oregon Labor Trends and Oregon Business Magazine. Local media frequently interview him for his perspective on Oregon s economy. ISBN pages 100 black & white illustrations 8½ x 11, paperback $21.95 US Publication Date: April 2009

3 About the Authors Oregon at Work: Art Ayre In his role as State Employment Economist, Art Ayre has been interviewed extensively by a number of Oregon news outlets, including The Oregonian, the Portland Business Journal, and radio stations KEX, KXL, and KPAM. Additionally, he has written articles appearing in the Journal of Forestry, Oregon Labor Trends, and the Oregon Employment Department website, QualityInfo. org. Journalist Tom Fuller approached Ayre with the idea for Oregon at Work, and Ayre was quickly convinced that it was a worthwhile project. While Fuller was in the field interviewing descendants of Oregon pioneers, Ayre and a team of three co-workers scoured government data sources, previously published works, and the internet for information about the past 150 years of employment history in Oregon. The information they compiled became the book s statistical backbone. Born in Alaska in 1956, Ayre grew up in California before moving to New Hampshire in In 1983, he received a BS in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire and moved to Oregon. He currently lives with his family in Corvallis and enjoys gardening, hiking, and reading. Tom Fuller Tom Fuller, a published journalist, was a television reporter for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon, from and for KTVL-TV in Medford, Oregon from Tom is currently the Communications Manager for the Oregon Employment Department. His awards include an Emmy and an Associated Press Award. Tom drew on his experiences both as a Communications Manager and as a journalist to write Oregon at Work. Tom thought of the idea for the book while in a meeting of the Employment Department s Executive Team and worked with Art Ayre to gather the economic information that became the statistical base for Oregon at Work. In the spirit of his experience as a television reporter, Tom then went to the homes of descendants of Oregon pioneers to collect old family photos and listen to stories passed from one generation to the next about the work values of pioneers that still shape the lives of their descendants, 150 years later. Tom was born in California in 1959 where he earned his BA in Speech Communications in 1981 from the University of California, Santa Barbara before moving to Oregon in the same year. In addition to his work in journalism and communications, Tom is also the Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Newberg and is a member of Oregon Christian Writers. Tom and his wife, Margaret, live in Newberg, Oregon and have three adult children. In his spare time, Tom enjoys writing, reading, and music. About the book Oregon at Work: explores three eras in Oregon s history: the mid-1800s, the early 1900s, and the 1950s through the current era. We learn about these very different periods from personal stories passed down generation-togeneration, historical data, and photographs. The changing roles of women and the evolving ethnic makeup of the workforce demonstrate the diversity of labor in Oregon s past 150 years. Oregon at Work illustrates what has driven the state s economy from both an individual level and a wide-lens view. ISBN pages 100 black & white illustrations 8½ x 11, paperback $21.95 US Publication Date: April 2009 (503)

4 Oregon at Work: Press article by Maggie Jones T he word Oregonian calls to mind some iconic images a grizzled lumberjack, perhaps, posing in his plaid shirt and beard, wielding a crosscut saw beside a freshly fallen tree; or a pioneer in a covered wagon, driving his team of oxen along the Oregon Trail. The stories of these classic characters are etched deep in our collective consciousness; we conjure them effortlessly. But American history has lately been revising itself to make room for different, more nuanced kinds of stories, ones that are not so easy to imagine. Voices that have been silenced for centuries are now being brought to the forefront of our country s narrative. Tom Fuller and Art Ayre s new book from, Oregon at Work: is part of this new storytelling tradition. In celebration of Oregon s 150th birthday, Fuller and Ayre have compiled a comprehensive, lively history of the jobs both gainful and otherwise that Oregonians have done since The book opens with a man splitting wood (familiar enough), but soon plunges us into less familiar territory. Now was the time to carve out new lives, we read in the first section, which details the work of Oregon s white pioneers. But the authors are quick to note that these families were hardly the first inhabitants of the land: The ancestors of [the Native Americans] had migrated to Oregon thousands of years before this new wave of settlers arrived. A section of the book called The Original Settlers, is, surprisingly, not about the pioneers, but the fifty tribes who had occupied the land before them. Fuller and Ayre do not mince words concerning the decimation of these tribes, nor do they paint the natives as tragic, noble heroes. Instead, we are given rich descriptions of the daily lives growing food, hunting, cooking, craft making of the Rogues, Nez Perce, Shoshone and Chinook. The story does not end with their banishment to reservations designated by the government; the often-unacknowledged role of tribal members in Oregon s work force is frequently referred to, and a section on tribal casinos pulls their history into the present. A similar treatment is given to other members of Oregon s minority population, both past and present. The authors openly discuss the racism and discrimination that Chinese and Hispanic pioneers faced, prejudices that delegated them to the mines and fields and made land ownership impossible for them. Though slavery was made illegal shortly after Oregon became a state in 1859, Fuller and Ayre make no pretenses that life was easy for African Americans. The economic and political climate in Oregon at that time was extremely unfavorable for people of African descent, we read. The Oregon Donation Land Act prohibited a non-white from obtaining land, and the Exclusion Laws actually sought to purge blacks from the state altogether. Finally, the voices and stories of women are carefully recorded by Fuller and Ayre, despite the fact that for the greater part of Oregon s history, women did not technically work. Three segments of the book are devoted to their labor, one for each fifty-year period. These portions illustrate the magnitude of the work done by women during the homesteading years, their contribution to the war efforts, and the variety of jobs that they held and still hold today. An interesting piece describes the sexism women faced on the shipyards of the 1940s, as well as the pride these women took in their labor. Even more notably, Fuller and Ayre devote pages to the specific stories of women like Augusta Clawson, a World War II welder, and Ann Ngo, a Vietnamese immigrant who opened her own salon in Portland in Oregon at Work faces our history head-on, acknowledging both the good and the bad, the inspired and the oppressed. Rather than bombard readers with wide-ranging generalizations and broad summaries, Fuller and Ayre approach 150 years of history through a single specific channel. By focusing on the changing nature of jobs in Oregon, they make the past less distant and more relevant to Oregonians today. As Fuller and Ayre write, The history of labor in Oregon is a history of Oregonians. Furthermore, by including the stories of all types of people, readers are empowered not only to see the way in which their own stories are part of history, but also to extend that significance to the stories of others. (503)

5 What is? Ooligan is a general trade press rooted in the rich literary life of the Pacific Northwest that publishes books honoring the cultural and natural diversity of the region. Founded in 2001, Ooligan is a teaching press in the Department of English at and is dedicated to the art and craft of publishing. The press is staffed by students pursuing master s degrees in an apprenticeship program under the guidance of a core faculty of publishing professionals. New Releases Do Angels Cry?: Tales of the War by Matko Marušić In 1991, war broke out in Croatia. The short sories of Matko Marušić offer a human perspective on the war that is not told in history books. Each story illuminates the love and dedication the Croatian people have for their country, and their struggle to find purpose and meaning in the midst of tragedy. Publication date: January 2009 Oregon at Work: by Tom Fuller and Art Ayre Oregon At Work: looks at three eras in Oregon s history: mid-1800s, early 1900s, and 1950s to the present. Using personal stories passed down from generation to generation, historical data, and photos, we learn what it was like to work and live in these very different periods of the state s history. Publication date: February 2009 A Heart For Any Fate: Westward to Oregon, 1845 by Linda Crew Seventeen-year-old Lovisa King leaves Missouri for the Oregon Territory in A Heart for Any Fate, based on the history of a company of real pioneers, tells the story of the King family, whose careful plans are challenged by the harsh, unforeseen realities of overland travel. The family makes the unfortunate decision to follow guide Stephen Meek, who leads them into blistering weather, drought, and treacherous river crossings along the Terrible Trail. Publication date: April 2009 The Best Dancer by Christoph Keller Determined to live outside the confines of his disabled body, author Christoph Keller puts his life into perspective through wit and imagination. In this colorful memoir, Keller shows us that moments of great weakness can be moments of great happiness. Publication date: Spring 2009 As a teaching press, Ooligan makes as little distinction as possible between the press and the classroom. Under the direction of professional faculty and staff, the work of the press is done by students enrolled in the Book Publishing graduate program at PSU. Publishing profitable books in real markets provides projects in which students combine theory with practice. students, having already received important real world training while at the university and in various internship positions in the greater Portland area, are ideal candidates for jobs in the country s growing community of independent publishers. The Master s in Writing with a Concentration in Publishing An M.A. or M.S. in Writing with a concentration in book publishing combines a core publishing curriculum with courses in the student s individual areas of interest. The degree requires 48 credit hours, 20 of which are in the publishing core. Courses are open to both graduate and undergraduate students with priority given to master s candidates. Applicants should follow the general guidelines for admission to the graduate school and the M.A. or M.S. in Writing. Details are available at Hiring an Ooligan Graduate Do you need a book marketer, publicist, editor, or designer? Portland State University s publishing program graduates have the training you need and the hands-on experience to back it up. To find out how to hire an Ooligan graduate, contact Program Director Dennis Stovall at stovall@pdx.edu. Ooligan? The name Ooligan is adopted from the Native American word for a smelt otherwise known as the candlefish. The Ooligan was an abundant natural resource in Pacific Northwest rivers. It may well be the word from which the name Oregon was derived. During the trade of the valuable fish oil to tribes east of the Rockies, the L in Ooligan was replaced with the R, giving us the sound Ooregon. Gradually, this usage became the name of a place, and assumed its current spelling of Oregon in the course of history. We like this story so much that we named our publishing company., (503)

6 Our Interests As a general trade press, Ooligan seeks to publish the finest works of literary, cultural, and social value. We publish a wide variety of books, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and books for young adults (we aim to publish one young adult book and one work of poetry each year). We gladly accept submissions from writers living in the Pacific Northwest, writers whose work has a strong Pacific Northwest connection, and writers within the Portland State University community. We are particularly interested in local nonfiction and regional fiction, as well as the following: New or rediscovered works with a Pacific Northwest connection. Works that give a voice to the region s underrepresented. Works on the craft and teaching of writing, editing, publishing, and book arts. Previously unpublished English translations of foreign works. To save postage and time, please note that we do not publish: Children s picture books Middle grade books Science fiction or fantasy Self-help books How-to manuals Mass-market books in the following genres: romance, erotica, science fiction, westerns, and fantasy Poetry chapbooks Additional Information When preparing a query letter or book proposal, we encourage prospective authors to look at examples of previously published Ooligan books and in-progress works at: /books.html Publishing with Our Submission Guidelines Query letters through mail or When submitting a query for consideration, please follow these guidelines: Include a brief summary of your manuscript, a description of the intended audience and potential market, and a short paragraph about yourself and your publishing history. Include your contact information, but only include your address if this is an acceptable way to contact you. Electronic queries can be ed to: ooliganacquisitions@pdx.edu Proposals and manuscripts through mail only When submitting a proposal or manuscript for consideration, please follow these guidelines: Include a cover letter with a summary of your work, projected page count, your intended audience, marketing ideas for your work, and a list of published works that compare to your writing. Include a table of contents, if appropriate. Include at least four of your best consecutive chapters if your work is a full-length fiction text. (If interested, we will request the full manuscript for consideration.) Include a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for the return of your manuscript. Mail all of the above to: Acquisitions Committee, c/o,,, Portland, OR Poetry Submissions We are interested specifically in works by Pacific Northwest authors or works that have specific value to that community. We are open to all forms of style and verse; however, we give special preference to prose poetry and traditional verse. Although spoken word, slam, and rap poetry are of interest to the press, we will not consider such work if it does not translate well to the written page. Ooligan does not publish chapbooks. Young Adult Submissions Our primary interest is in manuscripts that have a social, literary, or educational value, as well as new or rediscovered works with a Pacific Northwest connection. While our current focus is on historical fiction, we are open to general fiction. We do not publish picture books or middle grade books. We cannot accommodate science fiction or fantasy at this time., (503)