Unnamed Press is an independent publisher based in Los Angeles, California. Unnamed Press publishes

literary fiction Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...

and

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

, with an emphasis on debuts by women, underrepresented voices and people of color, as well as internationally focused speculative and fantasy. Its art director, Jaya Nicely, is an LA-based illustrator and designer.

History

Unnamed Press was founded in 2013 by C.P. Heiser and Olivia Taylor Smith after meeting in 2011 at the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'' and was originally intended to be an ebook-only publisher, focused on genre fiction set outside of the United States. The press began with early success in publishing global fiction from Deji Bryce Olukotun (''Nigerians in Space''), Kristiina Ehin (''Walker on Water''), and

Kazi Anis Ahmed Kazi Anis Ahmed (Bengali language, Bengali:কাজী আনিস আহমেদ) is a Bangladeshis, Bangladeshi writer, publisher and businessman. He is a co-founder and publisher of the English-language daily newspaper ''Dhaka Tribune'', ...

(''Good Night, Mr. Kissinger''). It quickly evolved to a traditional publishing model, and now releases between 12 and 15 print titles per year. In 2018, Unnamed Press reached a milestone of 50 books published. Unnamed Press is distributed by Publishers Group West.

Publishing

Authors published by Unnamed Press include Pulitzer Prize-winner Dale Maharidge, Man-Booker Prize-winner Jennifer Croft, Fariha Róisín, Ken Dychtwald, Alex Espinoza, Bethany C. Morrow, Jessie Chaffee, Malu Halasa, Agnès Desarthe, Saad Z. Hossain, Stefan G. Bucher, Margaret Wappler, Janet Capron, David Ulin, Henrietta Rose-Innes,

, Merle Kröger, James Boice (writer), Janice Pariat, J.M. Servin, Bette Adriaanse among others. In 2016, Unnamed author Esmé Weijun Wang was selected as a

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

Best Young American Novelist for her debut novel ''Border of Paradise'', released by the press that same year. Esmé was also selected as a 2018 Whiting Award winner for her forthcoming collection of essays from Graywolf Press. In 2017, Unnamed published ''After the Flare'' by Deji Bryce Olukotun — a follow-up science fiction thriller and sequel to the first book issued by the press (''Nigerians in Space''). ''After the Flare'' was named a finalist and won Special Citation for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award. In 2020, Unnamed author Jennifer Croft won the nonfiction William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for ''Homesick''. Croft won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation from Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s ''Flights''.

References

{{reflist Book publishing companies based in California Publishing companies established in 2013 Small press publishing companies Literary publishing companies Companies based in Los Angeles 2013 establishments in California