Lost History of Cambodian Dance Featured on Publishers Weekly Cover



This week, the cover of Publishers Weekly (http://www.publishersweekly.com/) supports Small Press Month by highlighting valuable new works from independent publishers. PMA (http://www.pma-online.com/), the largest association representing independent publishers in the US, has contributed one Publishers Weekly cover each year for more than 25 years. This year, PMA selected Earth in Flower (http://www.earthinflower.com), published by DatASIA, Inc. http://www.datasia.us , from among more than 90 entries to include in its cover position.

Independent publisher Kent Davis relates the story behind Earth in Flower, "A wartime twist of fate gave the author, Dr. Paul Cravath, direct access to Southeast Asia's most esoteric female performers; the royal dancers of the ancient Cambodian ballet. Cravath escaped with his research intact only ten days before the Khmer Rouge genocide began. His book returns lost cultural history to the Cambodian people and to the world."

Dr. Cravath, Professor of Theatre at the University of Hawaii, said "Earth in Flower exemplifies the ideal of independent publishing. This industry gives readers access to important books that large publishers don't judge as lucrative, mass-market products."

Small Press Month, now in its 12th year, is an annual celebration of the independent spirit of authors like Cravath, and small publishers like Davis. A series of March events showcase the diverse, unique, and often most significant voices being published today. On the Small Press Month website http://www.smallpressmonth.org/, Walter Mosley, author and long-time supporter of independent publishing says "The life's blood of contemporary and modern literature is in the custodianship of so-called small publishers. Without them, there is no future for literature."

The importance of independently published books is clear. Cambodia experienced one of the worst genocides in human history and lost many of the artists, teachers and archives featured in Earth in Flower (ISBN: 978-1-934431-28-3). Now, three decades later, a small press specializing in Southeast Asian studies is bringing the most comprehensive analysis of Cambodian dance to the world.





Lost History of Cambodian Dance Featured on Publishers Weekly Cover