Welcome to our weekly roundup of news from university presses! There is much to share from our fellow academic publishing houses and much to learn on What SUP at the social university presses. This week we found topical discussions about Syria, the March on Washington and Labor Day, as well as some intimate accounts of creative figures such as Seamus Heaney and Harriet Cohen. What did you read this week?

Seamus Heaney, the acclaimed Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, has just died at the age of 74. The University of Chicago Press pays tribute to this literary genius with an excerpt of his reflections on one of his best-known poems, “Digging.”

Looking for something to read over the Labor Day weekend? Princeton University Press has a recommendation that will get you thinking about the history of this American tradition.

In light of the recent political turmoil caused by the chemical attack in Syria, Harvard University Press features a thought-provoking examination of politicians’ “lunatic literal-mindedness” when it comes to Obama’s “red line” comments.

Columbia University Press, too, offers a cautionary take on the prospect of U.S. military intervention in Syria, going on to list certain conditions that must be present for a military intervention to be a success.

NYU Press commemorates the 1963 March on Washington with a series of posts, discussing the role of African-American women in the fight for racial equality, the status of the protestors’ demands now, 50 years later, and the two men behind the March, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin.

Also on the topic of the March, a post on the University of Pennsylvania Press blog examines the problematic media coverage of the political rally at the time.

Over at Oxford University Press, a portrait of Harriet Cohen throws light on one of the leading British pianists of the early twentieth-century, who was also an “intense enthusiast for the music of Bach.”

Check out Taylor Mathis’ photos of unique Southern tailgating customs on the University of North Carolina press blog. Colorful vehicles, creative grills, and elaborate costumes — they’re all here.

Finally, for all you devotees to the printed book, get a behind-the-scenes look at the printing of the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2, on the University of California press blog.