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Lists

24 of Our Favorite Small Presses

by Powell's Books, March 14, 2018 4:56 PM
Celebrating Small Press Month: The 24 Best Small Publishing Houses

Most readers are familiar with the big publishing houses, like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, but there are thousands of independent, small publishing houses in the US and abroad committed to publishing diverse and debut voices, unconventional narratives, and works in translation, as well as hosting workshops and community programs. In honor of National Small Press Month, and with no small amount of hand-wringing — there are so many excellent choices — we present 24 of our favorite indie presses.

New Directions Publishing

New Directions


New Directions is a renowned press founded in 1936 by James Laughlin, and publisher of such groundbreaking authors and poets as Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Neruda, and Anne Carson. Recent offerings include The World Goes On, Compass, and Mrs. Caliban.

Future Tense Books

Future Tense Books


Located in Portland, Oregon, Future Tense proudly publishes groundbreaking and provocative work “by people often thought of as weirdos or outsiders.” Recent offerings include Excavation, I Don't Think of You (Until I Do), and The Folly of Loving Life.

Graywolf Press

Graywolf Press


Founded by Scott Walker in 1974, Graywolf Press is a leading independent publisher that focuses on contemporary American and international literature, including modern-day luminaries Claudia Rankine, Danez Smith, and Maggie Nelson. Recent offerings include Don't Call Us Dead, The Empathy Exams, and Her Body and Other Parties.

Tin House Books

Tin House Books


Tin House Books launched in 2005 as an offshoot of Tin House magazine, an eclectic literary journal that focuses on established and emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Tin House publishes an average of 12 beautifully produced books per year. Recent offerings include Grow Your Own, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, and Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing.

Coffee House Press

Coffee House Press


Coffee House Press is committed to redefining “literature” to encompass an ever-increasing range of voices and communities. Recent offerings include Stephen Florida, Tell Me How It Ends, and A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing.

House of Anansi Press

House of Anansi Press


House of Anansi Press, founded in 1967, focuses exclusively on Canadian authors and French Canadian works in translation. House of Anansi also specializes in discovering and developing new literary talents in poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction. Recent offerings include Tokyo Digs a Garden, The Outlander, and The Sisters Brothers.

Hawthorne Books

Hawthorne Books


Located in Portland, Oregon, Hawthorne Books specializes in literary fiction and nonfiction, with a special emphasis on narratives that straddle the lines between essay, memoir, and fiction. Recent offerings include Narrow River, Wide Sky, True Portland, and Call Me Home.

Open Letter Books

Open Letter Books


Operating out of the University of Rochester, Open Letter is uniquely dedicated to literary works in translation. Recent offerings include The Endless Summer, Frontier, and North Station.

Europa Editions

Europa Editions


Europa seeks to bring fresh, high-quality fiction from international writers to the American and British markets. Notable authors include Elena Ferrante, Muriel Barbery, and Alina Bronsky. Recent offerings include My Brilliant Friend, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, and The Distant Marvels.

McSweeney’s Publishing

McSweeney's


McSweeney’s is a nonprofit publishing company based in San Francisco. In addition to operating a (truly hilarious) humor site, McSweeney’s publishes a quarterly journal and several books a year, with a focus on unconventional and ambitious new writing. Recent offerings include A Load of Hooey, Sorry to Disrupt the Peace, and White Girls.

Grove Atlantic

Grove Atlantic


This venerable small press began in 1917 as the Atlantic Monthly Press, merging much later with the small but groundbreaking Grove Press to become Grove Atlantic. The press publishes four imprints, Grove Press, Atlantic Monthly Press, Black Cat, and The Mysterious Press, and has many award-winning authors and titles to its credit. Recent offerings include History of Wolves, Freshwater, and Hotel Silence.

Counterpoint Press

Counterpoint Press


Founded in 1994, Counterpoint publishes Counterpoint and Soft Skull Press. Counterpoint’s books run the gamut from literary fiction to graphic novels and philosophy, but are unified by the press’s focus on literary voice and cutting-edge themes and forms. Recent offerings include Heart Berries, Gifted, and The Job of the Wasp.

Forest Avenue Press

Forest Avenue Press


Founded in 2012 in Portland, Oregon, Forest Avenue Press publishes literary fiction, often with a speculative bent. Recent offerings include City of Weird, Queen of Spades, and Parts per Million.

Microcosm Publishing

Microcosm Publishing


According to its website, “Microcosm is a vertically integrated publishing house that equips readers to make positive changes in their lives and in the world around them.” Microcosm’s emphasis on DIY, bicycling, and social justice helps to make it one of our customers’ favorite publishers. Recent offerings include Make Your Place, This Is Portland, and Unf#ck Your Brain.

Enchanted Lion Books

Enchanted Lion Books


This family-owned children’s book publisher puts out some of the most beautiful books on the market. Recent offerings include Chirri and Chirra, The Snowy Day, The Gold Leaf, and Bear and Wolf.

Akashic Books

Akashic Books


Akashic’s slogan is “Reverse-gentrification of the literary world.” A Brooklyn-based press, its focus is on urban literary fiction and political nonfiction, as well as authors disinterested in or ignored by mainstream media and publishers. Recent offerings include An Unkindness of Ghosts, Go the F**k to Sleep, and Havana Libre.

Bellevue Library Press

Bellevue Literary Press


Bellevue Literary Press, based in the historic Bellevue Hospital in New York, publishes literary fiction and nonfiction that explores the interdisciplinary relationship between art and science. Recent offerings include Wolf Season, Hap and Hazard and the End of the World, and Autopsy of a Father.

City Lights Publishers

City Lights Publishers


Founded in 1955, City Lights publishes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and literature in translation. Recent offerings include Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, Like a Dog, and Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?

Copper Canyon Press

Copper Canyon Press


Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to poetry from around the world. Recent offerings include Unaccompanied, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, and When My Brother Was an Aztec.

Two Dollar Radio

Two Dollar Radio


A husband-and-wife operation, Two Dollar Radio is an Ohio-based press that specializes in novels, essays, and graphic novels. Recent offerings include They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, The Vine That Ate the South, and Found Audio.

Feral House

Feral House


Focusing on innovative nonfiction since 1989, Feral House, based in Port Townsend, WA, likes its books on the dark side. Recent offerings include LiarTown, Rose City Vice, and The Gates of Janus.

Catapult

Catapult


Catapult, which launched in 2015, is committed to celebrating life in all its guises through extraordinary storytelling in fiction and nonfiction forms, including short stories and graphic novels. Recent offerings include Edisto, Large Animals, and The Middlepause.

Milkweed Editions

Milkweed Editions


Milkweed Editions "seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem." A nonprofit that focuses on debut and experimental writers, Milkweed publishes literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young readers and adults. Recent offerings include Four Reincarnations, The Orange Grove, and Island Home.

Dzanc Books

Dzanc Books


Dzanc Books is a nonprofit publisher of literary fiction that also runs several writing instruction and literacy programs across the country. Recent offerings include Darkansas, The Suicide of Claire Bishop, and The Brunist Day of Wrath.




Books mentioned in this post

Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine

Alina Bronsky, Tim Mohr

Girl Is a Half Formed Thing

Eimear McBride

This Is Portland: The City You've Heard You Should Like

Alexander Barrett

Orange Grove

Larry Tremblay

Distant Marvels

Chantel Acevedo

Go the F**k to Sleep

Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes

Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills

Raleigh Briggs

Gates of Janus An Analysis of Serial Murder by Englands Most Hated Criminal

Ian Brady, Peter Sotos, Colin Wilson

Call Me Home: A Novel

Megan Kruse

The Empathy Exams: Essays

Leslie Jamison

The Sisters Brothers

Patrick Dewitt

Outlander

Gil Adamson

Excavation: A Memoir

Wendy C. Ortiz

White Girls

Als, Hilton

When My Brother Was an Aztec

Natalie Diaz

My Brilliant Friend

Elena Ferrante

Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Ocean Vuong

The Folly of Loving Life

Monica Drake

City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales

Gigi Little

Suicide of Claire Bishop

Carmiel Banasky

The Gold Leaf

Kirsten Hall

Frontier

Can Xue, Karen Gernant, Chen Zeping

Compass

Mathias Enard, Charlotte Mandell

There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce

Morgan Parker

Grow Your Own

Nichole Graf, Micah Sherman, David Stein, and Liz Crain

Narrow River, Wide Sky: A Memoir

Jenny Forrester

Island Home A Landscape Memoir

Tim Winton

Four Reincarnations Poems

Max Ritvo

Middlepause On Turning Fifty

Marina Benjamin

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace

Patty Yumi Cottrell
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2 Responses to "24 of Our Favorite Small Presses"

Ramon del Villar April 13, 2023 at 07:06 PM
I am working with Inklings Publishing a small press in Houston. They are a high quality traditional publisher. I thought I would mention them to you for consideration.

Here September 16, 2021 at 10:16 AM
well done

Result(s) 2

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