Sean Guynes Joins Lever Press as Acquiring Editor

Lever Press is thrilled to welcome Sean Guynes as its new editor. As Acquiring Editor, Sean will help build Lever’s rigorous, interdisciplinary list of open access books in the humanities and social sciences. Launched in 2015 as a collaborative open access publisher co-run by over 50 participating institutions, Lever Press aligns itself with the mission of liberal arts colleges and advocates for transformative, creative scholarship aimed at the broadest possible audience.

Sean joins Lever from Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan where he was Acquiring Editor for an open access journals program, the open access book imprint Maize Books, and the ACLS Humanities E-Book collection. Sean has a PhD in literature from Michigan State University and has published and edited work in cultural studies for half a decade.

Sean expresses his excitement for the future of the press, saying, “Lever Press looks like a revolution in publishing to me, since it offers the opportunity for authors to publish fully OA (and in affordable print editions), and to do so at a time when reader access to scholarly work is more necessary than ever.” He is interested in acquiring broadly in the humanities and social sciences, and wants to emphasize the growing specialties of Lever Press’s lists in cultural studies, pedagogically relevant texts, and scholarship geared toward global social justice.

As he steps into his new role, Sean will continue Lever Press’s commitment to producing high quality, peer reviewed open access monographs at no cost to authors or their institutions. In partnership with Lever’s Editorial Board, Sean will help ensure the press continues to produce scholarship that works towards the creation of a more equitable world.

“Take a look at what we’ve published so far,” says Sean, “and if you find your work at home among those books or represented in our values as a publisher, I want to hear from you. I’m excited to work one-on-one on promising projects and to walk authors through the academic publishing process. I want to make this an equitable and painless experience for authors of all backgrounds.”

Lever Press aims to publish 12-15 titles annually and will continue developing its list of books that uplift emerging thinkers and add new conversations to their fields. We are excited by the experience, innovation, and commitment to justice, inclusion, and access that Sean brings to the role of Acquiring Editor.