Humboldt State University Press Celebrates First Year Anniversary with Third Printing of Kamome

Humboldt State University Press launched its first publication on November 5, 2015, with the bilingual Japanese-English children’s book The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome: A Tsunami Boat Comes Home. In its first year, the wildly successful book has gone through two printings with a third to be released this month. Before the end of the year, a Japanese–Spanish version of the book will be released, and more translations are in the works.

For the past year, authors and illustrator HSU emeritus Professor Lori Dengler, Amya Miller and Amy Uyeki have given readings and presentations about the book in California, Oregon, Washington and Japan. Earlier this year, the California Seismic Safety Commission awarded funds to develop web-based activities for the book. The book is available in Humboldt County and Del Norte County bookstores and is also available on Digital Commons @ Humboldt State University and on Amazon. For more information, see humboldt.edu/kamome.

Humboldt State University Press has built on the success of The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome with new releases such as Võ Phiến and the Sadness of Exile about the life and work of a literary giant in the Vietnamese diaspora; The Maasai Dictionary, a rare English-to-Maasai dictionary compiled in the 1930s and 1940s; and a beautiful reprint of the 19th century Pinetum Britannicum: A Descriptive Account of Hardy Coniferous Trees Cultivated in Great Britain.

The success of the press has been due to its great involvement with HSU students and faculty. The Spanish translation of The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome was provided by student Hector Flores and reviewed by Rosamel Benvides-Garb and his Advanced Spanish Translation class. Journals published by the press include CouRaGeouS Cuentos, the powerful creative writing of students from the HSU CRGS Department; ideaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Humboldt State University; and Toyon, a historic multilingual journal of literature and art edited and produced by HSU students. All books and journals are supported by Library Scholar Internships which introduce students to advanced research, scholarship and publishing.

About Humboldt State University Press
Humboldt State University Press publishes a broad scope of open-access print and electronic publications which showcase CSU research and scholarship. All electronic publications are available on the Digital Commons @ Humboldt State University platform, a network which brings together free, electronic scholarly texts from hundreds of universities and colleges around the world.