Atlantic Books is an independent British

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

house, with its headquarters in Ormond House in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

. It is perhaps best known for publishing

Aravind Adiga Aravind Adiga (born 23 October 1974) is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, '' The White Tiger'', won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Early life and education Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai), the capital of Tamil Nadu, o ...

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

'' The White Tiger'', which received the 40th

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

in 2008, and for its long-standing relationship with the late

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

. CEO Toby Mundy was listed by the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' as one of London's top 1000 most influential people in 2012.

Background

Atlantic Books was founded in February 2000 by Toby Mundy. It was originally the UK subsidiary of the American independent publisher

Grove/Atlantic Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "An ...

Inc. Grove/Atlantic sold a majority stake in the company in 2009.

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

became the majority owner in 2014.

Corvus

In 2010, Atlantic Books launched a new

genre fiction In the book-trade, genre fiction, also known as formula fiction, or commercial fiction,Girolimon, Mars"Types of Genres: A Literary Guide" Southern New Hampshire University, 11 December 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2024. encompasses fictional ...

imprint, Corvus, introducing the world of crime, fantasy historical and women's fiction, into the company's list. Corvus is home to the Douglas Brodie crime novels by Gordon Ferris, the ''Merrily Watkins Mysteries'' by

Phil Rickman Phil Rickman (6 March 1950 – 29 October 2024), also known under the pen names Thom Madley and Will Kingdom, was a British author of supernatural and mystery novels. Biography Rickman was born on 6 March 1950 in Lancashire and worked as a j ...

, and the ''Vespasian'' series written by Robert Fabbri. Other authors include

Holly Seddon Holly Seddon (born 31 January 1980) is a British journalist and author known for writing the novels ''Try Not to Breathe'', ''The Hit List'', and ''59 Minutes''. Early life and education Seddon grew up moving around the south west of England, livi ...

, Caroline Bond, Sanjida Kay, Jack Jordan, and Jacqueline Ward. In 2013, ''

Dark Eden :''Dark Eden is also a fortress in the Legacy of Kain series of video games'' :'' Dark Eden is also a novel by Chris Beckett.'' ''Dark Eden'' is an out-of-print collectible card game designed by Bryan Winter and published by Target Games. Descr ...

'' by

Chris Beckett Chris Beckett (born 1955) is a British Social work, social worker, Lecturer, university lecturer, and science fiction author. He has written several textbooks, dozens of short stories, and six novels. Background Beckett was educated at the D ...

, published by Corvus, won the

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award ...

– the most prestigious award for Science Fiction in Britain. The same year, ''

Alif the Unseen ''Alif the Unseen'' is a 2012 cyberpunk fantasy novel by American writer G. Willow Wilson. In the novel, a Middle Eastern hacker named Alif discovers a book of djinn tales which may lead to a new age of quantum computing. The novel won the 2013 ...

'' by

G. Willow Wilson Gwendolyn Willow Wilson (born August 31, 1982) is an American comics writer, prose author, and essayist. Her best-known prose works include the novels '' Alif the Unseen'' (2012) and '' The Bird King'' (2019). She is best known for relaunching t ...

won the

World Fantasy Award for Best Novel The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

. In 2019, it was announced that editorial director, Sara O'Keeffe, was leaving the company. O'Keeffe had led the imprint for eight years, presiding over a number of successful publications, including Holly Seddon's debut break-out bestseller ''Try Not To Breathe'' and Megan Miranda's ''All The Missing Girls''. O'Keeffe was also responsible for attracting established names including

Minette Walters Minette Caroline Mary Walters Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 26 September 1949) is an English writer. Life and work Walters was born in Bishop's Stortford in 1949 to Samuel Jebb and Colleen Jebb. As her father was a serving army officer, the f ...

and

Elizabeth Buchan Elizabeth Buchan, née Oakleigh-Walker (born 21 May 1948) is a British writer of non-fiction and fiction books since 1985. In 1994, her novel ''Consider the Lily'' won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association, ...

. Sarah Hodgson, formerly deputy publishing director at

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, replaced O'Keeffe.

Partnerships

Atlantic Books is a founding member of the Independent Alliance, a global alliance of ten UK publishers and their international partners, when it was formed by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

in 2005. In 2009, Atlantic Books entered into a partnership with independent Australian publishers

, enabling them to introduce their own titles to the Australian market and also to publish a few select Allen & Unwin titles in the UK.

Accolades

*Atlantic Books won "Imprint and Editor of the Year" at ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...

'' Industry Awards in 2005 and 2009 as well as "Independent Publisher of the Year" at the same ceremony in 2009."Independent Publisher of the Year"
''The Bookseller'' Industry Awards, 13 May 2013. Retrieved March 2013.

References

External links