University of Washington Press

University of Washington Press Mission-driven nonprofit publisher committed to the idea of scholarship as a public good, serving intellectually curious readers everywhere for over 100 years.

The University of Washington Press is the oldest and largest publisher of scholarly and general interest books in the Pacific Northwest. We publish compelling and transformative work with regional, national, and global impact. We are committed to the idea of scholarship as a public good and work collaboratively with our authors to produce books that meet the highest editorial and design standards.

We value and promote equity, justice, and inclusion in all our work. As a university press, every book we publish is peer reviewed (vetted by experts in the field) to ensure the originality and importance of the research or argument. Our faculty press committee, with representatives from all three UW campuses, approves every book we publish. We publish distinguished books in the following core academic areas:
• American Studies
• Anthropology
• Art History / Visual Culture
• Asian American Studies
• Asian Studies
• Critical Ethnic Studies
• Environmental History
• Native American and Indigenous Studies
• US History
• Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

We also publish vibrant nonfiction about the Pacific Northwest and beyond, often in partnership with museums, cultural organizations, and Indigenous nations and communities.

01/09/2026

Recent Pacific Northwest Book Awards winner Coll Thrush shares more about WRECKED and what the award means to him. Join us for a celebratory event on Thursday, February 5, 7:00 pm at Elliott Bay Book Company: https://ow.ly/rWc750XTe6n

Congratulations to Coll Thrush whose book WRECKED was named a 2026 Pacific Northwest Book Awards winner! Read more on ou...
01/07/2026

Congratulations to Coll Thrush whose book WRECKED was named a 2026 Pacific Northwest Book Awards winner! Read more on our blog: https://ow.ly/ORYW50XT7qK

Big thanks to the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and kudos to all the deserving winners for this recognition of literary excellence in our region.

For her MS Now podcast, Burn Order, Rachel Maddow drew on a wide range of books about Japanese American incarceration. E...
01/06/2026

For her MS Now podcast, Burn Order, Rachel Maddow drew on a wide range of books about Japanese American incarceration. Explore the full visual bibliography, including works by UW Press authors Frank Abe and Lorraine K. Bannai, as well as Miné Okubo's groundbreaking graphic memoir CITIZEN 13660, reprinted in our Classics of Asian American Literature series.

A visual tour of books used in researching Japanese-American internment for the podcast

01/02/2026

New year, new books!

Check out what's coming up, including a powerful memoir about Japanese American incarceration and a daughter’s grief, a journey across remote islands in search of elusive seabirds, and a sweeping history of photography by Chicano artists in the US from our publishing partners at Riverside Art Museum / Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum.

Plus, legendary bookseller Peter Miller Books's classic LUNCH AT THE SHOP finally back in print!

Elizabeth Ferrer (LATINX PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES) shares more about her upcoming exhibition at the Cheech Marin...
12/31/2025

Elizabeth Ferrer (LATINX PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES) shares more about her upcoming exhibition at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, "the first to fully survey photography by Chicanos from the Chicano Civil Rights Era to the present day." Read the Q&A on Glasstire:

Joseph R. Wolin speaks with curator and art historian Elizabeth Ferrer about her decades-long interest in and scholarship on Latinx art.

For a year-end booklist with a point of view, check out CounterPunch's "Best of 2025," featuring THE TREES ARE SPEAKING ...
12/26/2025

For a year-end booklist with a point of view, check out CounterPunch's "Best of 2025," featuring THE TREES ARE SPEAKING by Lynda V. Mapes, an urgent call to rethink our relationship with forests.

America, América: A New History of the New World Greg Grandin (Penguin) Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea Marcus Rediker

12/23/2025
Happy holidays from the University of Washington Press! Thank you to all of our authors, readers, supporters, and champi...
12/23/2025

Happy holidays from the University of Washington Press! Thank you to all of our authors, readers, supporters, and champions of university presses for another fulfilling year of independent publishing.

Megan A. Smetzer's PAINFUL BEAUTY "brings the cultural contributions of Northwest Coast Indigenous women to the fore," w...
12/22/2025

Megan A. Smetzer's PAINFUL BEAUTY "brings the cultural contributions of Northwest Coast Indigenous women to the fore," writes a reviewer in The BC Review. Read the full review by Katy Dycus:

Katy Dycus reviews Painful Beauty: Tlingit Women, Beadwork, and the Art of Resilience, by Megan A. Smetzer (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2025) $34.95 / 9780295754086

Our Spring 2026 catalog has arrived! 📚 We’re excited to share a first look at upcoming books being published in January ...
12/17/2025

Our Spring 2026 catalog has arrived! 📚

We’re excited to share a first look at upcoming books being published in January 2026 and beyond. Browse the catalog and preorder your favorites: bit.ly/UWPressSpring2026.

Use code WINTER25 at checkout to receive 40% off plus free domestic shipping.

Which upcoming books are you most excited to read?

Cover image: "Jen 4rom the block," Watts, Los Angeles, 2022. Photograph by Thalía Gochez from CHICANO CAMERA CULTURE, edited by Elizabeth Ferrer.

"Thrush spent six years combing through archives, oral histories and ship logs to unearth tales of sinking and survival,...
12/08/2025

"Thrush spent six years combing through archives, oral histories and ship logs to unearth tales of sinking and survival, exploitation and tragedy."

Read more about WRECKED by historian Coll Thrush in UW Magazine. (via UW Alumni Association)

Coll Thrush brings a fresh lens to shipwrecks, connecting colonial ambition and Indigenous presence.

Art lovers, take note of these new and forthcoming books from our museum publishing partners. Whether you're planning a ...
12/05/2025

Art lovers, take note of these new and forthcoming books from our museum publishing partners.

Whether you're planning a visit or experiencing from afar, these beautifully produced art books offer deeper insight into the works and themes explored in the accompanying exhibitions.

British Museum, Fowler Museum at UCLA, The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Joslyn Art Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, The Power Institute, The Block Museum

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