While readers may think of New York as the epicenter of American publishing, university presses across the country also publish a wide variety of titles, from scholarly studies to can't-put-it-down fiction. The University of Wisconsin Press, based in Madison, is no exception. The Press has more than 1,400 titles currently in print, and publishes or distributes more than 100 books each year.

Here's a taste of some of the new books appearing in fall 2004:

• Barnstorm: Contemporary Wisconsin Fiction, edited by Raphael Kadushin. America's best fiction writers don't just live in big coastal cities; they're sprinkled throughout the country in communities large and small. This anthology of new fiction includes both nationally known names like Jane Hamilton and Lorrie Moore, and younger, emerging talents like Dean Bakopoulos and Tenaya Darlington. The short stories in this collection show that Wisconsin's writers don't practice an outdated, sentimental regionalism—they're at the forefront of exploring the complexities of modern life. Other contributors include Dwight Allen, Kelly Cherry, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Judith Claire Mitchell and Ron Wallace.

• Ringlingville USA, by Jerry Apps. The prolific author of more than 35 books returns with a story of seven brothers with modest beginnings who went on to become the most famous circus family ever known. Apps' book is the first history of the Ringlings in more than 50 years and includes many photographs that have never before been published. Apps immerses the reader in the vivid sights and sounds of the circus at the turn of the century. This book is distributed for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

• Memories of Lac du Flambeau Elders, by Elizabeth M. Tornes. This book collects interviews with fifteen Ojibwe elders of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin. Unlike previous histories of the Ojibwe, which have frequently been written by European-Americans, this book presents community elders in their own words. Each interview is accompanied by a photographic portrait by Greg Gent. All of the elders were in their seventies or eighties when interviewed, and their comments recount the enormous changes experienced in their lifetimes, and the struggle to preserve their culture in the face of forced assimilation. This book is distributed for the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Since it began publishing in 1937, the University of Wisconsin Press has put out more than 3,000 titles. It is a division of the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and also publishes academic journals.

For more information about the Press and its authors, or to browse available titles, visit the University of Wisconsin Press Web site.