Taking a good idea from our colleagues at Columbia University Press, we thought you’d enjoy a roundup of what we’re reading from other social university presses and what goes on in our corner of the publishing world.  Dare we ask the question?:  SUP friends?  And be sure to check out our list of SUPs in the left nav bar of our blog!

An interview with the editors of Poetry of the Taliban is featured at Columbia University Press in which they discuss why they believe the book is so important, the content of the book, and the controversy that has resulted from the book’s publication.

In a feature on artist Prudence Wittlesey Duke University Press describes the way she is able to absorb the atmosphere of a lecture and the aura of the speaker to create paintings that represents the speaker in a watercolor painting.

The religious beliefs of actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry are featured over at NYU Press. The article features commentary on how Perry’s films have highlighted some radical topics like female ministers and divorce.

Harvard University Press has a piece that reviews Alison Bechdel’s memoir Are You My Mother? The review features a response by Bechdel on a passage that references Harvard University’s Press’ own title by Adam Phillips.

A radio interview with Norbert Karpf is featured over at Indiana University Press. Karpf talks about his newest collections of poems, Songs in Sepia and Black and White.

The Civil War is the topic for guest blogger Benjamin G. Cloyd at the LSU Press. Cloyd discusses a non-traditional Memorial Day speech and the reactions to its content.

At Temple University Press the topic of discussion is the changing world of academia. Power and money are two of the main reasons cited in a new book for this change from a faculty-focus to an administrative-focus.

The changing society due to digital culture is a feature at the Oxford University Press blog where they examine how Americans are now dealing with loneliness. Citing mobility of American culture and the tendency to turn to technology rather than people, they explore the increased loneliness of the American public.

The Princeton University Press focuses on FDR, his historic presidency, and the reason it all worked in Roosevelt’s Lost Alliances: How Personal PoliticsHelped Start the Cold War. The book focus on key members Roosevelt’s inner circle of advisors and friends.

Over at The Chicago Blog a group of British thinkers is profiled. These thinkers had a wide variety of ideas and were influential in many different fields.

We join MIT Press in mourning the loss of Elinor Ostrom. Ostrom’s work on how individuals must overcome inherent selfishness to be able to govern won her the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009.

The University of Georgia Press focuses on Craig Claiborne this week and a new biography of the food critic. It explores his southern roots and the influence this left on Claiborne and is food.

Patrick M. Erben discusses the importance of learning a foreign language at University of North Carolina Press. He argues that language helps to increase our understanding of other culture and humans in general.

Culture and theater are this week’s topic in an article at the University of Hawai’I Press. Catherine Diamond explains the historical and cultural backgrounds of the lesser known theaters in Southeast Asia.

The University of Nebraska Press features a new video on the environmental trend. The video from author Ozzie Zehner can be found on his Amazon author page.

At the University of Kentucky Press they are featuring an interview with filmmaker David Cronenberg on his new film.  Cronenberg has released a wide variety of films including The Fly (1986) and A History of Violence (2005).