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Count another victory for the Confederacy of Dunces. LSU Press beat out the big publishing houses again this year to win its fourth Pulitzer Prize—this time for Claudia Emerson’s poetry book Late Wife. “The Pulitzer is very secretive,” says LSU Press Director Mary Katharine Callaway. “They don’t announce the finalists until they announce the winner. So it was completely out of the blue, but a pleasant surprise.”

Editors (from left) George Roupe, John Easterly and Mary Katharine Callaway discuss Late Wife at LSU Press.

Everything on Emerson’s volume from the copy editing to the graphic design to the marketing was done in-house at LSU Press, and Callaway recognizes the award as a team effort. But she says it all began with the author’s poetry. Callaway calls Late Wife a moving, wonderful account of changes in a relationship—something to which everyone can relate.

“Winning the Pulitzer will definitely attract new authors [to LSU Press], but it should also help the university as well,” she says.

Author Claudia Emerson is an associate professor of English at the University of Mary Washington.