On July 4th We Celebrate Indie Presses

Last year, we decided to celebrate Independence Day by calling out some of our favorite indie presses. This year, we’re doing the same, with a brand new list of indie presses to check out this summer holiday. But first we’ll begin with our declaration of indie presses:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to find a new book to read, and to seek out new exciting writers outside the handful represented in the major newspapers, one must seek out indie presses.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all readers are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of great literature. That, to secure these rights, presses are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the dedicated readers who buy their books.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that readers flock to presses that are mighty and powerful, with large catalogues and advertising space abundant.

But, when this system means that the most exciting, daring literary voices are neglected for the more marketable ones, it is our right, our duty, to seek out alternative presses, to support them by buying, reading, reviewing, and recommending their books to our friends.

We, therefore, at the Center for the Art of Translation and Two Lines Press, do wholeheartedly salute our fellow indie presses! We further declare that as small and independent presses we have full power to publish original, daring, and groundbreaking work, and to do all other things that free and independent presses may of right do. — And in the spirit of this Declaration, we pledge to actively seek out work by underrepresented and emerging presses, authors, translators, and books.

Here are some more of the many indie presses worth discovering this holiday!

Black Ocean(opens in a new tab)
Try: Druids(opens in a new tab) by Tomaž Šalamun, translated by Sonja Kravanja

City Lights Publishers(opens in a new tab)
Try: Poso Wells(opens in a new tab) by Gabriela Alemán, translated by Dick Cluster

Feminist Press(opens in a new tab)
Try: Arid Dreams(opens in a new tab), by Duanwad Pimwana translated by Mui Poopoksakul (by the same author and translator as Bright!)

The New Press(opens in a new tab)
Try: Slave Old Man(opens in a new tab) by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated by Linda Coverdale

SplitLevel Texts(opens in a new tab)
Try: Revolution Goes Through Walls(opens in a new tab) by Safaa Fathy, translated by Pierre Joris with Safaa Fathy

Transit Books(opens in a new tab)
Try: River(opens in a new tab) by Esther Kinsky, translated by Iain Galbraith

Unnamed Press(opens in a new tab)
Try: Collision(opens in a new tab) by Merle Kröger, translated by Rachel Hilderbrandt and Alexandra Roesch

Zephyr Press(opens in a new tab)
Try: Not Written Words(opens in a new tab) by Xi Xi, translated by Jennifer Feeley