October 08, 2014

SIU Press to hold Homecoming sidewalk sale

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Press has a Homecoming tradition of its own -- the SIU Press sidewalk sale. 

This year’s sale is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 23 and 24, at SIU Press, 195 University Press Drive, behind the annex on McLafferty Road. There is a large selection of books at $3 for paperback and $5 for hardbound works, along with a variety of recent titles at discounted prices. 

Books of local interest are an SIU Press specialty and the sidewalk sale will feature some recent titles in that area. The works include Clara Orban’s “Illinois Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide,” and Larry P. and Donna J. Mahan’s “20 Daytrips in and around the Shawnee National Forest.” 

Orban’s book is the first-ever-published companion volume to Illinois wine culture. Orban provides a history of each winery listed by the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association, along with illustrations and practical information such as location and hours of operation. Orban is a certified sommelier and a professor of French and Italian languages at DePaul University. 

For those who want to explore or remember Southern Illinois adventures away from the wine trail, the Mahans’ guide to the Shawnee National Forest might fit the bill. The award-winning guidebook focuses on outdoor adventure. Reviewers praised is easy-to-use format, particularly the inclusion of short cuts, best views suggestions, QR code links to Google maps and non-hiking side-trip recommendations. 

SIU Press also specializes in poetry anthologies, including the “Crab Orchard Series in Poetry,” in addition to books about Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, theater, film, rhetoric, and the philosopher John Dewey. The SIU Press catalog is online at siupress.com.