Celebrating Indie Presses 2022

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 of the many indie presses worth discovering this week!

Archipelago Books
(opens in a new tab)Try: Salka Valka(opens in a new tab) by Halldór Laxness, translated from Icelandic by Philip Roughton

City Lights Publishers(opens in a new tab)
Try: Spring and Autumn Annals: A Celebration of the Seasons for Freddie(opens in a new tab) by Diane di Prima

co•(opens in a new tab)im(opens in a new tab)•press(opens in a new tab)
Try: ConQuest(opens in a new tab) by Arash Allahverdi, translated from Persian by Ali Araghi

Deep (opens in a new tab)Vellum(opens in a new tab)
Try: Grey (opens in a new tab)Bees(opens in a new tab) by Andrey Kurkov, translated from Russian by Boris Dralyuk

Dorothy Project(opens in a new tab)
Try: New and Collected Stories(opens in a new tab) by Cristina Rivera Garza, translated from Spanish by Sarah Booker with additional translations by Lisa Dillman, Francisca González Arias, Alex Ross, and the author

(opens in a new tab)Kaya Press(opens in a new tab)
Try: On the Origin of Species and Other Stories(opens in a new tab) by Bo-Young Kim, translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell and Joungmin Lee Comfort.

Milkweed Editions(opens in a new tab)
Try: Human (opens in a new tab)Resources(opens in a new tab) by Ryann Stevenson

Nightboat Books(opens in a new tab)
Try: Permanent Volta(opens in a new tab) by Rosie Stockton

The Song Cave(opens in a new tab)
Try: Punks(opens in a new tab) by John Keene

Transit Books(opens in a new tab)
Try: Imminence(opens in a new tab) by Mariana Dimópulos, translated from Spanish by Alice Whitmore

Ugly Duckling Presse(opens in a new tab)
Try: Behind the Tree Backs(opens in a new tab) by Iman Mohammed, translated from Swedish by Jennifer Hayashida