Saturday Scribblers

Writers Group

Swap writing tips, ideas and more as we engage with new stories. This meeting we will be joined by the University Press of Kansas to talk more about the editing process leading up to publication. 

The University Press of Kansas (UPK) publishes scholarly books that advance knowledge and regional books that contribute to the understanding of Kansas, the Great Plains, and the Midwest.

Founded in 1946 and reorganized in 1967 and again in 1976, UPK represents the six state universities: Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University. The press is located on the west campus of the University of Kansas.

UPK publishes work on American politics, military history and intelligence studies, American history, environmental policy and history, American studies, law and legal history, Native American studies, and books about Kansas and the Midwest. 

Experienced editors Joyce Harrison, Thomas Fox Averill and Robert Stewart will be joining us to share some of their expertise and help answer your questions. 

More about our guests:

Joyce Harrison is editor in chief at the University Press of Kansas. She’s responsible for the Press’s publishing programs in military and intelligence studies and acquires special regionally focused projects. Joyce has acquired books in US history, military history, literary studies, religious studies, anthropology, and other fields during her nearly 40-year publishing career. Joyce is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and has an MA in musicology from the Eastman School of Music.

Thomas Fox Averill is professor emeritus of English at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where he taught creative writing and Kansas studies. He is an O. Henry Award short-story winner and author of ten books. His introduction to What Kansas Means to Me: Twentieth Century Writers on the Sunflower State (1991) was titled “Afflicted with Affection,” and he remains so. In 2010 he created the Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection at Washburn’s Mabee Library.

Robert Stewart won a National Magazine Award for editing, from the American Society of Magazine Editors, and served for many years as editor-in-chief of New Letters magazine and BkMk Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  His book of literary and personal essays A Way of Happening is forthcoming in 2026 (Serving House Books).  Other books include Outside Language: Essays (Helicon Nine Editions, finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Awards, and winner of the Thorpe Menn Award), The Narrow Gate: Writing, Art, & Values (essays, Serving House Books) and his latest book of poems, Higher, winner of the 2022 Prize Americana. 

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