Arianna Taylor was awarded the Humanities Center’s Next-Generation Doctoral Internship for SU Press during summer 2025. Originally from the Bronx, they’re going into their third year as an English PhD student at Syracuse University. They also received their bachelor’s from the University of Rochester in Language, Media, and Communications (English). Currently, they’re studying African-American popular culture and how Black kinship moves between Black cultural texts to link/create Black Diasporic kinship. They’re specifically interested Black popular culture, performance studies, critical race studies, and ideas on transnational blackness.
What drew you to the press?
I’ve always been interested in publishing. When I was initially figuring out my career, I thought acquisitions (though I didn’t know the name for it at the time) was interesting due to my initial passion for writing and literature. After receiving the initial call-for applications through the Women and Gender’s Studies Department listserv, and a little encouragement from a previous intern/friend, I applied for the position. Now, as a young scholar, I‘ve been especially grateful for this position because of how much I was able to learn–since knowledge about publishing isn’t always readily available.
Tell me what your day to day work was like at the the press. Was there a project that was particularly rewarding or interesting?
For anyone considering applying to be the summer intern next year, I’d tell them that they’d have the opportunity to explore academia from a different lens; and you’ll be able to see the impact that research has on audiences in the field as well of outside of it–which is a unique perspective that academics aren’t always granted early in their careers. And I want people to know that publishing is a way less intimidating process than assumed. Especially since academic publishing is smaller than traditional publishing, the collaborative efforts, thoughtfulness, and care that you get while working with small academic presses, such as SU Press has been amazing to be a part of. Some of my tasks have included doing reader’s reports, reviewing manuscripts, and writing editorial board proposals. My favorite task has been compiling the reader’s reports because it allows me to dive deep into a manuscript and learn about a new topic that I’m not as familiar with. For example, the reader’s reports might require me to research field experts on cable television; evidently, I was able to learn so much about cable television history, experts in the field, as well as tangential knowledge about media history and its evolution.
While your experience was predominantly in acquisitions, are there departments or aspects of publishing that you would still like to explore?
I also loved learning about the intricacies of the book cover/design process. Even though I primarily work in acquisitions, I’m still very interested in the marketing department. I’d be curious to see what kinds of events are thrown to promote a book, to be a part of the planning process and organizing of those events, especially since I used to work at a bookstore that hosted plenty of events and I loved engaging with audiences interested in literature as much as I am.
What are you reading? Do you have any books you’d like to recommend?
It’s so rare to read something not related to my research these days, BUT my favorite book is You Made of Fool Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. Located on a fictional Caribbean Island, the story follows Feyi Adekola, a Nigerian American visual artist, who learns how to find herself again, rediscover love, and navigate her grief after tragically losing her husband two years prior. It’s a queer novel written with beautiful prose, hilarious anecdotes, and the descriptions of food and music are so amazing I thought I could taste and hear everything myself. 10/10, I will always recommend this one. And overall, my time at SU Press has been great.