University of Minnesota Press

Isherwood in Transit is a collection of essays that considers Christopher Isherwood as a transnational writer whose identity, politics, and beliefs were constantly transformed by global connections arising from journeys to Germany, Japan, China, and Argentina; his migration to the United States; and his conversion to Vedanta Hinduism in the 1940s. We are here today to talk about Isherwood’s reception and history of publication in the US, as well as what we mean by the title ‘Isherwood in Transit’, which is open to interpretation and refers to the writer’s movement on a personal and spiritual level as much as geographic. Here we have book editors Jim Berg and Chris Freeman, who have coedited several volumes on Isherwood including The Isherwood Century and The American Isherwood. Berg is associate dean of faculty at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York City. Freeman is professor of English and gender studies at the University of Southern California. They are joined by University of Minnesota Press director Doug Armato. This conversation was recorded in June 2020. More about the book: z.umn.edu/intransit. A transcript of this conversation is available: z.umn.edu/t-intransit

Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna is a book that asks why so many big bluefin tuna have vanished from the Atlantic Ocean. Author Jen Telesca notes that the term “red gold” has emerged out of the exorbitant price her ruby-colored flesh commands on the global market; for reference, in January 2019, a 613-pound Pacific bluefin tuna sold at market in Tokyo for an astounding record of $3.1 million US dollars. To research this book, Telesca gained unparalleled access to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (also known as ICCAT) to show that the institution has faithfully executed the task assigned to it by international law: to fish as hard as possible to grow national economies. This interview between Telesca and editor Jason Weidemann was recorded in May 2020. More about the book: http://z.umn.edu/redgold A transcription of this conversation is available: z.umn.edu/t-redgold