The Humanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World, in collaboration with the Division of Arts and Humanities and the Center for Faculty Advancement, invites you to our annual publication workshop Getting Published, Getting Read, held on November 7 as part of the Mentoring in Research series.
This year’s speakers are Niels Hooper, Executive Editor at the University of California Press, and Marissa Mika, Developmental Editor. Hooper will discuss the business of academic publishing and marketing today, with particular attention to recent shifts in Middle East Studies. He will explore what publishers are seeking, how scholars can present their work to attract attention, and ways to collaborate effectively to amplify research and strengthen scholarly voices.
Mika will focus on the life cycle of a scholarly book, beginning with the transformation of a dissertation into a manuscript. She will address the challenges early-career scholars face in navigating the publishing process, highlight what distinguishes a book from a dissertation, and explain how developmental editors serve as both intellectual partners and pragmatic guides in shaping projects for publication.
Together, Hooper and Mika will demystify the publishing process, offering practical advice and insights to strengthen scholarly writing, expand readership, and enhance the reach and impact of academic work.
In Person (NYUAD Campus) and on Zoom
The workshop is open to the NYUAD community and by invitation. Please register below.
Individual Consultations
Niels Hooper and Marissa Mika will also be available for individual consultations in person on November 5-6 at NYU Abu Dhabi. To register for a consultation with Niels and/or Marissa please sign up below.
Consultations with Niels | 30 min - submit book proposal by Oct 17
In one-on-one consultations, Niels Hooper will offer feedback on framing your book project and making your book proposal as effective as possible. He will discuss sharpening your argument, thinking about audience, establishing your platform, and approaching a publisher. He can also answer specific questions about the publishing process, timelines, next steps, and publishing opportunities.
To submit a book proposal directly to Niels for review, please email nyuad.humanities.fellowships@nyu.edu by October 17, 2025.
Niels Hooper is Executive Editor at University of California Press where he acquires books in Modern U.S. History, Middle East Studies, and World History. Prior to joining the Press twenty years ago, he was General Manager of Verso Books in New York. Some recent highlights from his Middle East Studies list include On Barak's Heat, A History: Lessons from the Middle East for a Warming Planet, Saree Makdisi's Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial, Lisa Hajjar's The War in Court: Inside the Long Fight Against Torture, Mark LeVine's We'll Play Till We Die: Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World, and Lucia Carminati's Seeking Bread and Fortune in Port Said. Many of his World History books also cover the Middle East in a global context, including recently Nathaniel Mathews' Zanzibar was a Country: Exile and Citizenship between East Africa and the Gulf and Gunja Sengupta and Awam Amkpa's Sojourners, Sultans and Slaves: America and the Indian Ocean in the Age of Abolition and Empire. He is interested in acquiring more books on the Arab Gulf and recently published Rana AlMutawa's Everyday Life in the Spectacular City: Making Home in Dubai.
Consultations with Marissa | 45 min - no book proposal in advance
(c) Danielle Leong Photography
Marissa Mika will be happy to meet with colleagues for 45 minutes each, either for an informal conversation about academic publishing, or to address a key issue they are facing in a work in progress.
If you would like to discuss a work-in-progress with Marissa, please email it to nyuad.humanities.fellowships@nyu.edu by October 29, 2025.
Dr. Marissa Mika is a writer and editor living in Berkeley, California where she runs The Editorial Practice. As a Developmental Editor, she works with (scholarly) authors to transform their brilliant research into big, beautiful, bold, books. As a Writing Coach, she works with authors to remove obstacles, ignite the passion, and get it done. As a scholar who blends history and ethnography in her own writing and research, she is interested in how to bring interdisciplinary work to life on the page. She particularly enjoys working with early career scholars who are making the challenging but exhilarating transition from dissertation to first book. Subject area specialties include the history and anthropology of science, medicine, and technology, critical global health, and African history.
Before taking an early retirement from academia in 2020, Dr. Mika was the founding director of the medical humanities program at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. Between 2016 and 2018, she held a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship on Chronic Disease in Africa at University College London. Trained as a historian and anthropologist of medicine, science, and technology in Africa, she has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in the History and Sociology of Science and a MHS in International Health from Johns Hopkins. She is the author of Africanizing Oncology: Creativity, Crisis, and Cancer in Uganda, which was a finalist for both the ASA Best Book Prize and the Bethwell A. Ogot Award for Best Book in East African Studies in 2022.