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Karen Levine

Executive Editor

I acquire scholarly and trade books in art and ancient studies. I seek to sustain and build upon Chicago’s storied tradition of publishing innovative, influential, beautifully crafted books on the histories of art and visual culture; social, cultural, and material issues in the ancient world; and ancient literature in translation.

Chicago’s expansive art list is renowned for books that pose rigorous questions, challenge entrenched methods, and define new fields. Ranging from the Bronze Age to now, it is international in scope and offers a diverse range of monographs, biographies, writings by artists and critics, and course books. Recent and forthcoming highlights include Julia Voss’s Hilma af Klint, Steven Nadler’s The Portraitist, Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word, George Baker’s Lateness and Longing, David Getsy’s Queer Behavior, Erika Doss’s Spiritual Moderns, Maggie Taft’s The Chieftain and the Chair, Rebecca Zorach’s Temporary Monuments, and Christina Kiaer’s Collective Body. I welcome projects that surface new histories, unorthodox perspectives, or interdisciplinary methods. Topics of interest remain the intersection of art and science as well as art and artists engaged with social, political, and environmental concerns. We are also privileged to copublish exceptional exhibition catalogues with select museum partners, including, most recently, Woven Histories with the National Gallery of Art, named one of the New York Times’s best art books of 2023.

The Press’s list in ancient studies is smaller yet no less distinguished. It was Chicago that published, in 1951, the Richmond Lattimore translation of the Iliad. The better part of a century later, it remains a standard edition for introducing students to Homer and his world. We are proud also to offer David Grene and Lattimore’s Complete Greek Tragedies, in editions updated by Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most. The Press’s commitment to notable translations of ancient texts continues with projects such as Robin Waterfield’s rendition of Epictetus’s Complete Works and Stanley Lombardo’s forthcoming translation of Aratus’s Phaenomena. Other recent and forthcoming books for scholars and students include Johanna Drucker’s Inventing the Alphabet, Page duBois’s Democratic Swarms, James Porter’s Homer: The Very Idea, the Postclassicisms Collective’s Postclassicisms, and for broader audiences Chip Colwell’s So Much Stuff and Guy de la Bédoyère’s Populus. Chicago’s list has scope to explore not just Greece and Rome but also other cultures and civilizations in antiquity. I am looking for well-written, provocative, and rigorously researched projects capable of bringing a broader readership to the perpetually fascinating subject of the ancient world.

With regard to media studies and architectural history, although Chicago has historically published in these areas, please note that we are not presently considering new monographs in these fields. Exceptions may occasionally be made for trade and scholarly books that position film or architecture in the context of art, history, or literature, or for topics of particular interest in the Chicago region. 

I joined the Press in late 2022 with thirty years of experience in scholarly, museum, and trade publishing, including positions at Getty Publications, University of California Press, Prestel, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and HarperCollins. I studied English and art history at Occidental College and hold a master’s in art history from San Francisco State University.

I am fortunate to work with senior editorial associate Victoria Barry.

Prospective authors are encouraged to consult our submission guidelines. We also provide an overview about publishing with Chicago here. If you wish to offer freelance copyediting or indexing services, please contact our manuscript editing department at freelance_inquiries_books@uchicago.edu.

Karen Levine

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