Fitzcarraldo Editions

Last updated

Fitzcarraldo Editions
Logo of Fitzcarraldo editions 2023.png Fitzcarraldo Editions logo.png
StatusActive
Founded2014;10 years ago (2014)
FounderJacques Testard
Country of originFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Headquarters location Deptford, London
Distribution Grantham Book Services
Publication types Fiction
Essays
Official website fitzcarraldoeditions.com

Fitzcarraldo Editions is an independent British book publisher based in Deptford, London, specialising in literary fiction and long-form essays in both translation and English-language originals. [1] It focuses on ambitious, imaginative, and innovative writing by little-known and neglected authors. [2] Fitzcarraldo Editions currently publishes twenty-two titles a year. [3] Four of Fitzcarraldo's authors have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Svetlana Alexievich (2015), Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Annie Ernaux (2022) and Jon Fosse (2023).

Contents

History

Fitzcarraldo Editions was founded in 2014 when Jacques Testard bought the English-language rights to Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich for £3500 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. [4] Alexievich later won the Nobel Prize, netting a "six-figure" sum for the publisher. The name comes from the 1982 Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo .

The books are designed by Ray O’Meara, using a custom serif typeface called Fitzcarraldo. [5] [4] The books are known for their minimalist design, with fiction titles deploying plain covers in International Klein Blue with white text and non-fiction using the reverse: white covers with text in International Klein Blue. [6]

Fitzcarraldo Editions publishes the work of Svetlana Alexievich, Alejandro Zambra, Mathias Énard, Annie Ernaux, [7] Joshua Cohen, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Olga Tokarczuk, Jon Fosse, Fernanda Melchor, Ian Penman and Paul B. Preciado, among other authors. [4] [8]

Along with New Directions Publishing and Giramando Publishing, Fitzcarraldo Editions hosts the Novel Prize, a biennial award for a book-length work of literary fiction written in English by published and unpublished writers. [9] Fitzcarraldo Editions also hosts the annual Essay Prize, in conjuction with Mahler & LeWitt Studios. [10]

The company's logo shows a bell with the letters F and Z, and relates to the film Fitzcarraldo; it has been described as "a nod to the challenges and commitment necessary to run a successful independent press" with "a play on early printers marks, with the initials F and Z, recalling the symbols of the earliest printed books". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Fosse</span> Norwegian author, dramatist (born 1959)

Jon Olav Fosse is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olga Tokarczuk</span> Polish writer and activist (born 1962)

Olga Nawoja Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. She is one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland. In 2019, she was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Polish female prose writer for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life". For her novel Flights, Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Man Booker International Prize. Her works include Primeval and Other Times, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and The Books of Jacob.

Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorporating it as an independent company in 1986 together with then-partner John Oakes. Seven Stories was named for its seven founding authors: Annie Ernaux, Gary Null, the estate of Nelson Algren, Project Censored, Octavia E. Butler, Charley Rosen, and Vassilis Vassilikos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Ernaux</span> French writer (born 1940)

Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux is a French writer who was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory". Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains close links with sociology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Keene (writer)</span> American poet (born 1965)

John R. Keene Jr. is an American writer, translator, professor, and artist who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2018. His 2022 poetry collection, Punks: New and Selected Poems, received the National Book Award for Poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverhead Books</span> American publishing company, imprint of Penguin Group

Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svetlana Alexievich</span> Belarusian investigative journalist and essayist

Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time". She is the first writer from Belarus to receive the award.

Words Without Borders (WWB) is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The first issue appeared in July–August 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominique Barbéris</span>

Dominique Barbéris is a French novelist, author of literary studies and university professor, specializing in stylistics and writing workshops.

<i>The White Review</i> British literary magazine

The White Review is a London-based magazine on literature and the visual arts. It is published in print and online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adania Shibli</span> Palestinian author (born 1974)

Adania Shibli is a Palestinian author and essayist. She is mainly known for the 2020 translation of her novel Minor Detail into English, German and other languages, and for a public controversy in Germany following the cancellation of a literary prize for this book, originally scheduled for the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair.

The TA First Translation Prize was established by Daniel Hahn in 2017 and is awarded annually to for a debut literary translation, to be shared equally between the first-time translator and their editor.

<i>Flights</i> (novel) 2007 novel by Olga Tokarczuk

Flights is a 2007 fragmentary novel by the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. The book was translated into English by Jennifer Croft. The original Polish title refers to runaways, a sect of Old Believers, who believe that being in constant motion is a trick to avoid evil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Croft</span> American author, critic and translator

Jennifer Croft is an American author, critic and translator who translates works from Polish, Ukrainian and Argentine Spanish. With the author Olga Tokarczuk, she was awarded the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Flights. In 2020, she was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for her autofictional memoir Homesick.

The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses is an annual British literary prize founded by the author Neil Griffiths. It rewards fiction published by UK and Irish small presses, defined as those with fewer than five full-time employees. The prize money – initially raised by crowdfunding and latterly augmented by sponsorship – is divided between the publishing house and the author.

<i>Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead</i> 2009 crime novel by Olga Tokarczuk

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a 2009 mystery novel by Olga Tokarczuk. Originally published in Polish by Wydawnictwo Literackie, it was later translated to English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and published in 2018 by the British independent publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions. The book received a wider release in 2019 when it was published in the United States by Riverhead Books on 13 August 2019. A portion of the English translation was originally published in literary magazine Granta in 2017.

<i>The Books of Jacob</i> 2014 epic novel by Olga Tokarczuk

The Books of Jacob is an epic historical novel by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in October 2014. It is Tokarczuk's ninth novel and is the product of extensive historical research, taking her seven years to write.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Nobel Prize in Literature</span> Award

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life." The prize was announced the following year by the Swedish Academy on 10 October 2019. Tokarczuk is the sixth Nobel laureate in Literature from Poland after the poet Wisława Szymborska in 1996, and Czesław Miłosz in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Nobel Prize in Literature</span> Award

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French author Annie Ernaux "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory". It was announced by the Swedish Academy on 6 October 2022. Ernaux was the 16th French writer – the first Frenchwoman – and the 17th female author, to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Nobel Prize in Literature</span> Award

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time". She is described as the first journalist and the first Belarusian national to receive the Nobel prize since December 10, 2015.

References

  1. Batey, Angus (15 September 2019). "Features | Tome On The Range | Pushing The Boat Out: Art & Business The Fitzcarraldo Way". The Quietus . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  2. Marshall, Alex (13 October 2022). "How a Tiny British Publisher Became the Home of Nobel Laureates". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  3. "Fitzcarraldo Editions". fitzcarraldoeditions.com. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Studemann, Frederick (11 October 2019). "How a tiny London publisher picked two Nobel Prize winners". Financial Times .
  5. Arsenault, Kerri (13 April 2017). "Interview with a Gatekeeper: Jacques Testard". LitHub .
  6. "How Fitzcarraldo Editions made the most beautiful books on the shelf". The Face. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  7. Cafolla, Anna (10 October 2022). "Four Nobels and counting: Fitzcarraldo, the little publisher that could". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. Featherstone, Kay (10 October 2019). "Tokarczuk and Handke win Nobel Prizes in Literature". The Bookseller . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  9. "The Novel Prize". www.thenovelprize.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  10. "Essay prize | Fitzcarraldo Editions". fitzcarraldoeditions.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  11. Brown, Dylan (24 August 2021). "An Unofficial Ranking of Publishing Colophons". Literary Hub. Retrieved 7 October 2023.