Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Sarah Swong

Editorial Assistant / Assistant to the Publisher | The New Press

Sarah Swong is a publishing and editorial assistant at The New Press, working primarily on educational and racial justice titles and on managing the seasonal catalogs. Previously, she ran an after-school creative writing program in Southeast Alaska. Her editorial interests include U.S. transnational and imperial history, as well as current affairs books addressing racial and gender disparities in healthcare and public health, child/family law, and social policy more broadly.


Presentations from Facing Race 2018

Books Can Change the World!: Publishing for Social Justice, 101

Books can play a major role in changing the national discussion about urgent social issues. A well-written book that makes a well-researched argument or uses a unique narrative thread to illustrate the need for reform can be an essential tool to popularize ideas that can change the world. At The New Press, we’ve found that movement leaders can be best positioned to share a unique vision for change.

Workshop leaders will illustrate how a book can help leverage change. Participants will gain practical knowledge about how to move through the stages of book publishing, including: developing a book concept; preparing a cogent, well-informed proposal; strategies for researching; drafting a manuscript; publicizing the book; and collaborating with organizations to amplify the book’s impact. We will share relevant resources, key examples, and case studies.

The New Press is uniquely positioned as a non-profit publisher in the public interest to seek out authors committed to social change, and to develop works of nonfiction that set forth paradigm-shifting ideas. Our catalog includes works from Studs Terkel and Noam Chomsky, and more recent contributions to conversations in criminal and economic justice, and education reform, including Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow; Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children; Ai-jen Poo’s The Age of Dignity; Susan Burton’s Becoming Ms. Burton; Arjun Sethi's American Hate; and Deepa Iyer’s We Too Sing America. It also includes a series of post-2016 “fearless books," which focuses on the ideas, solutions, and perspectives of those targeted for oppression by the Trump administration.

Speakers: Sarah Swong, Ashia Troiano