Folder Rules & General Discussion

[Trevor]

That’s so exciting! I have to wait a bit for funds, but I’m going to be signing up soon! Can’t wait to read and then discuss the books.

[WndyJW]

World Founder #00042. Would have liked to be in the first 10 but first 50 is okay and of course the important thing is 42 people outside the UK have already subscribed. I wish I had looked for website earlier today when I saw Graham’s post on a Twitter.

This is great news, I love experimental fiction, but some real literary stories will be nice too.

[Karen Michele]

They are doing pretty well. I am #48.

[WndyJW]

We’re first fifty, Karen Michelle!

[Marc]

Hugh wrote: "Interesting news from Neil Griffiths this morning - he is starting a new small press:

https://twitter.com/neilgriffiths/sta...
https://weatherglassbooks.com/"

I was just looking at the Weatherglass website and reading the part about how "It was founded on a shared love of Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower and a shared fear that it wouldn’t find a publisher today."
I ordered a mystery "grab bag" earlier in the pandemic to support a used bookstore (Capitol Hill Books) and this was one of the four surprise titles they sent me! (My reading expectations are now considerably higher since it helped inspire a whole new small press.)

[WndyJW]

That’s a good grab bag!

[Debra]

I also came across The Blue Flower somewhat serendipitously and consider it one of my favorite reads.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Although The Blue Flower is widely (if not universally) loved, it does seem an odd choice to represent the press's ambition, given that it was the last of Fitzgerald's books, and by then she was an established Booker prize winner who was never likely not to be published.

[Ang]

I suspect the subscriber numbers are incremented worldwide rather than separate numbers for each type. Still good going.

[Marc]

Had trouble sleeping last night, which is relatively rare for me. But this usually means I end up meandering around the Internet in search of lost time... Happened to discover a new small press, isolarrii books. This interview with the founders gives a good idea of what they're about. Kind of art project meets literature meets activism. The books they've published so far look rather intriguing:
- Salmon: A Red Herring (nonfiction look at artificial coloring of nature and our relationship to food/production)
- F Letter: New Russian Feminist Poetry
- Purple Perilla
- Street Cop (no GR entry yet; due out in April; graphic novel collaboration between metafictionist Robert Coover and Art Spiegelman)

[WndyJW]

At the risk of overstepping the mods, we’ve all just started a new Discussion under the Favorite Presses folder, Marc. This sounds like a press that deserves its own thread.

[Marc]

All good by me. I figured it was safe to start here and see if it garnered interest. I have... uh... blown my book budget for this month by quite a bit!

[WndyJW]

Me too! I intended to lower by book budget in 2021 and make a dent in my unread books, but I’ve failed in that endeavor.

[Marc]

WndyJW wrote: "I intended to lower by book budget in 2021 and make a dent in my unread books, but I’ve failed in that endeavor."
But it is the best kind of failure!
:D

[WndyJW]

Agreed. It was a vow I was doomed to break.

[Karen Michele]

Yesterday I went to a webinar about the Tulsa Race Massacre and ended up with a subscription to a literary magazine, World Literature Today. It includes articles, poetry, and essays and though this issue focuses on the US, there is also a focus on works in translation worldwide in other issues. I am so happy to have found this journal to support and wanted to suggest it here even though it is not a small press for books.

[Louise]

I love WLT. I have been a subscriber for years.

[Lark]

I just subscribed! Good work Karen Michele.

I've become disgruntled with both NYRB magazine(though I love the publisher) and London Review of Books. Their emphasis feels more and more politics/non-fiction. I do like TLS though and I'm glad to add another literary-leaning review to the mix. Thanks.

[Karen Michele]

I'm glad to hear it's as good as it sounds, Louise. I'm happy you decided to subscribe, lark. I am already able to read it online and I'm enjoying diving into the content.

[WndyJW]

Does anyone have any idea how many copies of titles are printed by the average indie press? I’m sure there is a large range-New Directions and Europa Editions probably prints far more than Peirene for instance. I’m wondering how many copies of most titles Fitzcarraldo Editions, Peirene, Salt, etc. print and I can’t find any information on the internet.

[Paul]

I don't I'm afraid

[WndyJW]

I was just curious.

[Robert]

Maybe check their catalogues and compare back to back - you can find those using google

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Or ask them

[WndyJW]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Or ask them"

Brilliant!

[David]

Thanks for all the great suggestions for small press subscriptions on the getting to know you thread. After going down a rabbit hole of research this weekend, it seems like the small UK presses are much more likely to have subscriptions. That’s much rarer with US publishers for some reason. There are US subscriptions/memberships out there (Wendy pointed out a few), but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

I would love to see a subscription focused on highlighting diverse authors, such as up and coming writers of color.

[Lark]

David wrote: "Thanks for all the great suggestions for small press subscriptions on the getting to know you thread. After going down a rabbit hole of research this weekend, it seems like the small UK presses are..."

David you did get amazing suggestions over in the other thread for US based subscriptions, and I'll add my support of these two to the chorus:

Open Letter
https://www.openletterbooks.org

and

Archipelago
https://archipelagobooks.org/book/mem...

[WndyJW]

I like Archipelago, but they’re one of the pricier subscriptions.

[David]

Not sure the best place to pose this question, but: Are there any publishers who focus on translating African works? Something comparable to Charco, Tilted Axis, etc. If not, that is very unfortunate and perhaps an opportunity for a devoted albeit niche readership.

[WndyJW]

I thought knew of one, but I don’t see any. Peepal Tree focuses on Caribbean. I couldn’t find a press focused on Africa by an internet search either, which is surprising.

[Robert]

David wrote: "Not sure the best place to pose this question, but: Are there any publishers who focus on translating African works? Something comparable to Charco, Tilted Axis, etc. If not, that is very unfortuna..."

I guess Cassava Republic is the closest : https://cassavarepublic.biz/ I'm not sure if they do translations though

[Paul]

Yes Cassava Republic are great (one of their authors sent me a message recently on Goodreads to ask me to compliment Gumble’s Yard on his review of Wole Soyinka’s new book … mine she found “interesting”!)

But yes most is English (there is a from-French book due out shortly)

Willow Heath’s Books and Bao website looked into female African translated authors for Women in Translation month: https://booksandbao.com/african-books...

Could be that checking some of these out might lead to finding publishers. One of the conclusions from the article though was that most are translated from English, French and Portuguese.

[Robert]

Ah yes - If middle eastern authors are part of your interest then there's Saqi books - which is a bookstore which specialises in ME literature and also has a publishing imprint of the same name ( just a little anecdote - when I was studying Arabic Philosophy, I needed a couple of books and while I was on vacation in London, i visited Saqi and the staff were helpful - I was dying to speak in Maltese, which is basically Arabic using roman letters, just to see if the people behind the counter would understand me)

https://saqibooks.com/subject/fiction/

[WndyJW]

David, I remembered you were looking for African literature. This is translated fiction, but it sounds interesting:

https://radicalbookscollective.com/pr...

[Alwynne]

Came across an interesting article about Graywolf Press,

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...

[WndyJW]

I am proud to say Graywolf is a US press, as is New Directions, another outstanding publisher.

[David]

Thanks Wendy, Robert, and Paul for the leads on African fiction. My goal in 2022 is to explore more translated work from African writers.

[WndyJW]

I’ve been feeling drawn to African authors too lately. I did get a copy of Wizard of the Crow at the suggestion of a few members here and Segu when Maryse Condé won the “not” Noble Prize, but those are older classics, I would like to find contemporary African translations.

[Areeb]

Wendy and David, I recommend going through the Africa List of Seagull Books. It is extensive and they mostly do translations. Europa publishes a good amount too.

[WndyJW]

Thank you, Areeb.

[David]

Thanks! Seagull looks like they have a nice mix of books.

[Areeb]

They are amazing! An extensive catalogue filled with so many barely known gems, especially global translations. Also, I love their covers! Here's the Africa List, just in case.

https://www.seagullbooks.org/books-by...

[WndyJW]

Those books are gorgeous! I want every book in the Seagull Catalogue!

I went to the Univ of Chicago Press website since they are a distributor of Seagull books and found some of the gorgeous hardcovers are available in paperback from Chicago Univ Press. There’s also a list of other indie presses that use Chicago Univ Press as distributor.

https://press.uchicago.edu/books/subj...

[Alwynne]

Areeb wrote: "They are amazing! An extensive catalogue filled with so many barely known gems, especially global translations. Also, I love their covers! Here's the Africa List, just in case.

https://www.seagull..."

I second that a great publisher, I have a number of their titles particularly from their German list.

[WndyJW]

The very last thing I needed was another press with more beautiful books.

[Paul]

Seagull Press sale alert - 50% of all books - code SALE2021, valid until Christmas Eve

[David]

Paul wrote: "Seagull Press sale alert - 50% of all books - code SALE2021, valid until Christmas Eve"

I'm very tempted to get Seasons in Hippoland.

[WndyJW]

Thanks for the alert, Paul. There were several Seagull Press books I wanted, Seasons in Hippoland being just one. I was particularly interested in A Land Like You.

[David]

That looks great, Wendy.

[WndyJW]

So many of them do, that’s the problem!