New L&L Books: Summer/Fall 2026

L&L Associate Professor of TESOL Hilal Ergül and Professor of Spanish Heather Jerónimo are two of the co-authors of Academic Writing Demystified: Publish and Thrive (Cambridge University Press). Navigating the world of academic writing and publishing can be overwhelming. This book provides the antidote, offering hands-on advice and strategies to turn academic writing from a daunting experience to a joyful journey. It gives a complete overview of the publishing process, from how to write an academic paper, chapter or book, to areas that are often overlooked, such as indexing a book, working with images and copyright, dealing with advertising and disseminating the book, ethical issues, open access, predatory publishing, and much more. Demystifying aspects of academic writing, academic writers will come away with the confidence and knowledge to “publish and thrive.”

Dueling Shovels (Final Thursday Press) is a new poetry chapbook co-written by L&L Professor of English Jeremy Schraffenberger and UNI’s inaugural David C. & Patricia A. Meyer Visiting Writer, Sean Thomas Dougherty. This collection of 22 golden shovel poems was inspired by the work of James Hearst, and each poet offers uniquely personal meditations on loss, mortality, and perseverance. National Book Award-winner Martín Espada says of this collection, “the common denominator of these poems is compassion: resistance to cruelty, euphemism, and denial, walking with us from the land of the dead back to the land of the living.

Three new anthologies have now been published by Purple Paw Press. These anthologies were conceived, written, and designed by students in the Spring 2026 Craft of Fiction class with assistance from students in Introduction to Professional Writing. 
• Speakeasy of the Dead is a murder mystery set in both the 1920s and a mysterious afterworld. 
• The Dragon Project is a series of linked stories set in a world where dragons are real, and they are an endangered species in need of protection.
•The Karner Coincidence is a chained narrative in which a character’s actions in one story impact the actions of characters in other stories.
All three stories are available now in the electronic Kindle format. Print version will be available during the summer of 2026.