Counterpoint (publisher)

Last updated
Counterpoint
Founded2007
SuccessorCatapult
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location Berkeley, California
Distribution PenguinRandomHouse
Key people Charlie Winton, CEO
Jack Shoemaker, Vice President, Editorial director
Richard Nash, Executive Editor
Imprints Counterpoint Press, Soft Skull Press, Sierra Club/Counterpoint
Official website counterpointpress.com

Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company that Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Shoemaker & Hoard, and Soft Skull Press. The company published books under both the Counterpoint Press and Soft Skull Press imprints. Counterpoint also entered into an agreement for the production, marketing, and distribution of approximately eight Sierra Club book titles each year.

Contents

Both Wendell Berry and poet Gary Snyder were investors in Counterpoint, with both having works published by the imprint. Jack Shoemaker, Vice-president and editorial director of Counterpoint, had worked with both authors in other companies for more than thirty years. Counterpoint notably published works by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, including A Girl in Exile , The Traitor’s Niche, and The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother . [1]

Counterpoint merged into fellow publisher Catapult in 2016. [2]

Soft Skull Press

Soft Skull Press
Parent company Catapult, funded and co-founded by Elizabeth Koch
Founded1992
FounderSander Hicks
Country of origin United States
Headquarters locationNew York City
Distribution PenguinRandomHouse
Key peopleYuka Igarashi, editor
Nonfiction topics Alternative culture, LGBTQ literature
Imprints Red Rattle Books
Official website softskull.com

Soft Skull Press is an independent book publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Yuka Igarashi since 2017. [3]

In 2007, Richard Nash, who had taken Soft Skull over from Hicks in 2001, sold the publisher to Counterpoint, who closed Soft Skull's New York operation in 2010. [4] [5]

Counterpoint merged with fellow publisher Catapult in 2016. Subsequently, Soft Skull reopened its New York office with Yuka Igarashi as editor-in-chief, [6] and began to reissue backlist books. These included The Amputee's Guide to Sex by Jillian Weise, Something Bright, Then Holes by Maggie Nelson, and Wayne Koestenbaum's 2004 novel, Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes under the new title, Circus. [7] The publisher has since acquired and published new works.

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References

  1. "Books by Ismail Kadare and Complete Book Reviews". PublishersWeekly.com.
  2. "Two Years Post-merger, Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Are Going Strong". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
  3. "Q and A with an Editor: Yuka Igarashi". The Authors Guild. January 18, 2018.
  4. "Richard Nash to Leave Soft Skull, Counterpoint". Poets & Writers. 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  5. Neyfakh, Leon (November 2, 2010). "Indie Publisher Soft Skull Press Closes Its Doors In New York". The New York Observer .
  6. "Two Years Post-merger, Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Are Going Strong". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
  7. "BOMB interviews Wayne Koestenbaum about Circus". Soft Skull Press. 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2021-03-24.

Bibliography