University of Texas Press director Robert Devens oversees the organization as it celebrates its 75th anniversary in Austin on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
If Texas were a country — once again — the University of Texas Press would be first in line to act as our national publishing house.
During its first 75 years, UT Press has released more than 4,000 books while producing 15 scholarly journals. It serves readers worldwide.
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In addition, UT Press adds immeasurably to an Austin literary scene that includes major research libraries and museums, more than a dozen independent bookstores, a statewide book festival, at least seven colleges and universities (more if you consider college branches in the area), multiple creative writing schools, active author associations, Austin-based regional and national periodicals, innumerable public readings and book clubs, commercial book publishing services, as well as a social culture that keeps literary conversations percolating day and night.
On Sept. 21, UT Press will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a free event from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Austin Central Public Library (utpress.utexas.edu). Among the speakers will be authors Sarah Bird, Stephen Harrigan, Toni Tipton-Martin, David Hillis, Michael Hurd, Lisa Keefauver and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.
“Though the world of publishing looks very different from when UT Press was founded in 1950, our guiding principles have remained steady,” Director Robert Devens says. “As the press has grown from a small operation offering a few books each year to a much larger one with authors and readers across the globe, we have always been committed to original ideas, deep research and engaging writing. Through our careful curation, rigorous peer review, thoughtful editing and design, and energetic marketing, we aim — in 2025 as in 1950 — to bring to the world the very best in scholarly and general-interest publications.”
Evolution of a Texas press
University of Texas Press director Robert Devens leads a meeting with his team at their office in Austin on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
To be fair, Texas A&M University Press, with its broad offerings on the state’s ecology, politics, science, history, arts and literature, comes in a respectable second to UT Press. Add to those publishing leaders: Arte Público Press, Cinco Puntos Press, TCU Press, SMU Press, Texas Tech University Press and Trinity University Press, for example, along with some prime indie publishing houses.
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UT Press, however, remains the state’s largest.
Its focal subjects expanded over the years from Texas and Latin America studies to food and film, art and architecture, wildlife and archaeology, the Middle East and Jewish studies, biographies and autobiographies, urban studies and rural sketches, music and pop culture, plus a little something called “Big Wonderful Thing” by Stephen Harrigan, the best-told history of Texas in decades.
In just the past six years, this “Think Texas” column has reviewed or cited too many UT Press books to count. (Sign up for the free weekly digital newsletter for Think Texas, you’ll see.)
As long ago as 1922, long before UT Press was founded in 1950, UT published works by faculty under the name University of Texas Press. It was not, however, the modern, comprehensive publishing house that we know now.
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From 1950 to 1974, Frank Wardlaw served as the founding director. In 1951, Wardlaw released the house’s first title, John and Jeannette Varner’s translation of Garcilaso de la Vega’s “The Florida of the Inca.” During his quarter century of leadership, Wardlaw put out some 700 titles. He also established presses at Texas A&M University and the University of South Carolina.
Wardlaw relied on the advice of folklorist J. Frank Dobie, historian Walter Prescott Webb and naturalist Roy Bedichek — the three thinkers whose likenesses can be found on the “Philosophers’ Rock” sculpture at Barton Springs. While their books remain in print, among the three, only Bedichek’s reputation has survived pretty much intact.
Wardlaw’s successor, Philip Jones, added scholarly journals to the press’s portfolio, making it one of the few American university presses with a journals division. Director John H. Kyle (1977–1991), foresaw the future of nonprofit publishing and established endowments to cover fellowships and, eventually, to subsidize production costs. Among the grantors to the press have been the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Foundation and the Sid Richardson Foundation.
Kyle was followed by Johanna Hitchcock, who retired after 18 years with the press in 2011.
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Under her leadership, UT Press books won more than 300 awards for content and 70 for excellence in design and production. Hitchcock expanded UT Press’s endowment program. Another profound and steady influence on the press was assistant director and editor in chief Theresa J. May, who worked there for more than three decades.
UT Press as a cultural bridge
Texas Medal of Arts honoree Stephen Harrigan wrote the best-told history of Texas, “Big Wonderful Thing.”
American-Statesman File
While the earliest efforts by the university were to publish the works of UT faculty, it continues to connect regularly with other cultural heavyweights on campus, such as the Briscoe Center for American History, Blanton Museum of Art, Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Harry Ransom Center. It tracks the work of UT faculty and graduate students through its journals and books.
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UT Press maintains close ties with Texas booksellers, including indie bookstores. During my youth, the state supported a dozen or so well-known independent publishing houses. UT Press fills some of that vacuum by encouraging literary events and putting its distribution system at the service of authors, teachers and booksellers.
The press participates in annual events such as South by Southwest and the Texas Book Festival, and produces books with partners from across the city, from architectural firms like Lake Flato and Miró Rivera, to restaurants such as Fonda San Miguel, to cultural institutions like Austin City Limits.
Their American Music Series, edited by Jessica Hopper, Charles Hughes and Hanif Abdurraqib, features titles such as: “Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music” by Franz Nicolay, “The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman” by Niko Stratis and “Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso” by Tara López.
One element that press leaders are most proud of is the innovative designs which have won many awards. The press has produced picture books with both national and Texas-focused artists and photographers, such as Dawoud Bey, Nancy Rexroth, Michael Ray Charles and Keith Carter.
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Just like any other established institution, UT Press comes under periodic criticism for the books or authors it does not publish, and sometimes for the ones it does. Inevitably, it must grapple with new state laws that discourage academic freedom and forbid diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Six must-reads from 2 UT Press leaders
Architecture honorees Miguel Rivera and Juan Miro pose for a photo on the red carpet for the Texas Medal of Arts Awards at the Long Center on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman
When I first asked the leaders of UT Press to put together a list of what they thought were the best books the publishing house had produced over the past 75 years, they demurred.
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Instead, after some hesitation, two of them thoughtfully shared some “must-reads.” Several of these books have been praised to the skies in these pages.
Robert Devens (director):
“Where Texas Meets the Sea: Corpus Christi and Its History,” by Alan Lessoff: “We love to publish books on people and places that have been studied less than they deserve. Lessoff’s very readable book helps us understand the importance of mid-sized cities like Corpus Christi, and the development of urban Texas more broadly.”
“The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality,” by Martha Menchaca: “Over 25 years, UT’s Martha Menchaca has published five books with UT Press, a great example of the kind of long-term relationship we nurture with authors. This most recent book brilliantly captures a lifetime of thinking and writing about Mexican American life in Texas.”
“Miró Rivera Architects: Building a New Arcadia,” by Juan Miró and Miguel Rivera: “In addition to my role as press director, I have the great pleasure of serving as our editor for architecture books. Our book on Miró Rivera Architects represents the kind of collaboration with storied local institutions that we love. It is a beautiful coffee-table book full of interesting ideas, photography, and plans of iconic work in Austin and beyond.”
Casey Kittrell (associate editor):
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“Loose of Earth: A Memoir,” by Kathleen Blackburn: “You might think you don’t want to read a story about extreme religious faith, cancer and forever chemicals, but those are plot-lines, not characters. The heart of this memoir, the reason it always makes me cry, is the 13-year-old girl in Lubbock you can’t help rooting for. Blackburn is a writer to watch and it’s an honor to have published her debut.”
“All I Ever Wanted: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir,” by Kathy Valentine: “One of Austin’s own, Kathy Valentine recounts coming-of-age here in the 1970s before moving to Los Angeles, breaking big with the Go-Gos, and getting sober after fame and fortune evaporated. Like Valentine’s story, our music list is rooted in Texas but has grown into an internationally recognized brand, often led by women telling their stories.”
“Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas, by Stephen Harrigan. “A book for literally anyone in Texas, or anyone outside Texas with an ounce of curiosity about this place. And because it’s Stephen Harrigan, it’s a page turner (all 944 of them). If part of our mission is to serve the people of Texas, publishing a rigorously-researched-but-artfully-crafted history of the state with one of our all-time great storytellers might be the purest distillation of that charge.”
UT Press: Quick Facts
Folklorist, teacher and widely published newspaper columnist J. Frank Dobie helped invent Texas literature.
Austin American-Statesman
Founded in 1950, UT Press has published more than 4,000 books across seven decades.
Before that, since 1922, under the name University of Texas Press, the school printed and distributed books by UT faculty or their departments.
The scholarly journals division was established in 1976.
Currently produces nearly 100 new books and 13 journals annually.
The press regularly wins top awards across various scholarly disciplines, including 60 over the past two years.
The largest publisher in the state, and you’d have to travel far to encounter another academic publisher of similar size.
Produced two New York Times bestsellers, a rarity for an academic press. The press earned its first NYT bestseller in 1977, T.H. White’s “The Book of Merlyn,” an epilogue to his “The Once and Future King” trilogy, and followed that with Hanif Abdurraqib’s “Go Ahead in the Rain” in 2019.
Balances scholarly, academic works with general interest and popular topics. Success in architecture, photography, music and food writing.
The press’s areas of strength mirror many of the university’s own strong departments, including radio-television-film, architecture, art history, Mexican American studies, history, and more.
UT Press has been pivotal in forming the canon of Latin American authors in translation, including works by Juan Rulfo, Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, Clarice Lispector and Pablo Neruda.
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Please send tips and questions for “Think Texas” to mbarnes@statesman.com.