The Overlook Press is an American publishing house based in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

which considers itself "a home for distinguished books that had been 'overlooked' by larger houses".

History and operations

The Overlook Press was formed in 1971 by Peter Mayer who had worked at Avon and

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, where he was chief executive officer from 1978 to 1998. Overlook has more than one thousand titles in print, including fiction, history, biography, drama, and design. Their publishing program consists of nearly 100 new books per year, evenly divided between hardcovers and trade paperbacks. Imprints include Tusk Books, whose format was designed by

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer, recognized for his designs, including the I Love New York logo; a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan; the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University, Brooklyn Brewery; and his ...

. In 2002, Overlook acquired Ardis Publishing, a publisher of Russian literature in English. Overlook also took ownership of the British publishing company Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd. In 2007, Overlook's publisher Peter Mayer was the recipient of the

New York Center for Independent Publishing The New York Center for Independent Publishing is located on New York's "Literary Row" at 20 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Formerly the Small Press Center, the Center was founded by Whitney North Seymour, Jr. in 1984. The Cen ...

's Poor Richard Award for outstanding contributions to independent book publishing. Mayer died in 2018, and

Abrams Books Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery. The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher Média-Participations. Run by president and CEO Mar ...

purchased The Overlook Press. Abrams is part of French publisher

La Martinière Groupe La Martinière Groupe () is a French publishing house. It was formed in 1994. Subsidiaries include France's Éditions du Seuil and the United States' Abrams Books. In 2018, La Martinière was acquired by Média-Participations. See also * Books ...

and is distributed by

Hachette Book Group Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagard� ...

.Abrams Acquires Overlook Press
/ref>Distribution Clients - Hachette Book Group
/ref>

Authors

Writers whose works were published by Overlook include: * Elizabeth Abbott *

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

* Katie Arnoldi *

Ken Auletta Kenneth B. Auletta (born April 23, 1942) is an American author, a political columnist for the New York Daily News, and media critic for ''The New Yorker''. Early life and education The son of an Italian American father and a Jewish American mot ...

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...

* R. Scott Bakker * Walter R. Brooks *

Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge (born 24 March 1947)"CARTLEDGE, Prof. Paul Anthony", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010online edition/ref> is a British ancient historian and academic. From 2008 to 2014 he was the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek ...

* David Churbuck *

Robert Coover Robert Lowell Coover (February 4, 1932 – October 5, 2024) was an American novelist, Short story, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation ...

* John Crowley *

David Crystal David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British linguist who works on the linguistics of the English language. Crystal studied English at University College London and has lectured at Bangor University and the University of Reading. He was aw ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

* R. J. Ellory * Max Frei *

* W. F. Hermans *

Susan Hill Dame Susan Elizabeth Hill, Lady Wells (born 5 February 1942) is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include '' The Woman in Black'', which has been adapted for stage and screen, '' The Mist in the Mirror'', and '' ...

* P. F. Kluge * Robert Littell *

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

* Charles McCarry * Joseph McElroy * Walter Moers * Bárbara Mujica * Jim Nisbet *

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was a British writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

* Tito Perdue * Charles Portis *

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys ( ; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English novelist, philosopher, lecturer, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

* Peter Quinn * Joseph Roth * Tarn Richardson *

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin ( rus, Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪvˈɡrafəvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof ɕːɪˈdrʲin; – ), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during ...

* Ed Sanders *

André Schwarz-Bart André Schwarz-Bart (May 23, 1928 – September 30, 2006) was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish ancestry. He was awarded the Prix Goncourt for his debut novel in 1959, and the 1967 Jerusalem Prize. Biography Schwarz-Bart's parents moved to Fra ...

* Gerald Seymour *

Harry Sidebottom Harry Sidebottom is a British author and historian, best known for his two series of historical novels the ''Warrior of Rome'', and ''Throne of the Caesars''. He is Quondam Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, St. Ben ...

Alain Silver Alain Silver is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially film noir, the samurai film, and horror films. ...

* Nigel Slater * Ludmila Ulitskaya * Edgardo Vega Yunqué * Penny Vincenzi * Les Walker *

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

* Richard Zimler * Brad Gooch * Robert Zorn

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overlook Press Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1971 1971 establishments in New York City American companies established in 1971