Founded | 1995 |
---|---|
Founder | Daniel Power |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Brooklyn, New York City |
Distribution | Simon & Schuster [1] |
Publication types | Books |
Nonfiction topics | photography |
Official website | www |
PowerHouse Books (stylized as powerHouse Books) is an independent publisher of art and photography books founded in 1995 by Daniel Power, in Brooklyn, with its headquarters in Industry City. PowerHouse Books is closely affiliated with Powerhouse Bookstores, a chain of independent bookstores also owned by Daniel Power, with its flagship location on the waterfront of DUMBO in The PowerHouse Arena at 28 Adams Street. Powerhouse Books also operates a children's' publishing division, "POW!" [2] [3] [4] [5]
Founded in 1995 by Daniel Power from his apartment on the Lower East Side, PowerHouse Books is known for its "Image Driven" publishing, particularly in street culture, popular culture, fashion, politics and fine arts. Its first best-seller was Women Before 10AM, by Veronique Vial, with a forward by Sean Penn, published in 1998. In 2011, PowerHouse published Vivian Maier: Street Photographer, which brought posthumous attention to the previously unknown photographer, including the Academy Award-nominated film Finding Vivian Maier. [6] [7] [8] [9]
In 2006, powerHouse Books launched The PowerHouse Arena, a gallery, bookstore, and event space often used to promote artists working with the publisher. Initially located at 37 Main Street, Powerhouse Arena moved to 28 Adams Street in 2015. In 2020, PowerHouse Books opened a new location in Industry City, and moved its corporate publishing headquarters there. [10] [11] [12]
It also publishes artists known for work in other fields. It partnered with Charlie Ahearn on Wild Style: The Sampler, a behind-the-scenes look at Ahearn's 1982 Wild Style , considered the first hip hop film. [13] Visual artists published include John Lurie, Francesco Clemente, Richard Prince, Kehinde Wiley, and George Condo. [14] Actors and filmmakers published include Diane Keaton, Jeff Bridges, Richard Lewis, Jessica Lange, David Lynch, and Brett Ratner. [15] Musicians include Richard Hell, DJ Stretch Armstrong, Mike McCready, KRS-One, Gene Simmons, and The Beastie Boys. [15]
PowerHouse Books launched, "POW! Kids Books" in 2013, which it described as "a woke kids' book line" [16] [17]
In 2020 it established a literary imprint for "millennial fiction and non-fiction" called Archway Editions with Chris Molnar (of The Writer's Block) and Nicodemus Nicoludis, which has publised work by Ishmael Reed, John Farris, Paul Schrader, Mike Sacks, Stacy Szymaszek, Blake Butler, Alice Notley, and more, including anthologies from cokemachineglow as well as the Unpublishable and Archways reading series. [18]
In 2017, PowerHouse Books published "War Is Beautiful: The New York Times Pictoral Guide to the Glamour of Armed Conflict* (in which the author explains why he no longer reads The New York Times)," by David Shields. Shields had licensed photography from the Times to support his book's thesis that the Times over-glamorized conflict, especially the Iraq War, promoting popular support for the war and elongating the conflict. Although the photos had been properly licensed, The Times invoiced PowerHouse Books $19,000 for the book's inside back cover, which featured 64 thumbnails depicting the photos on the front page of the Times. When PowerHouse refused to pay, the Times sued to collect.
PowerHouse sued Shields for claiming that the thumbnails were covered under fair use, but defended the book, claiming that the Times was attempting to chill free speech. The Daily Beast reported that the Times had initially wanted change the book's subtitle and insert a disclaimer making clear the book wasn't affiliated with the Times, but that PowerHouse refused to do so. [19] [20] [21]
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly since October 12, 1931. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and electronic.
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the following decades, a series of acquisitions made it into one of the largest publishers in the United States. In 2013, it was merged with Penguin Group to form Penguin Random House, which is owned by the Germany-based media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Penguin Random House uses its brand for Random House Publishing Group and Random House Children's Books, as well as several imprints.
Jonathan Allen Lethem is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller. In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. Since 2011, he has taught creative writing at Pomona College.
Dumbo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one situated between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another extending eastward from the Manhattan Bridge to the Vinegar Hill area. The neighborhood is bounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park to the north, the Brooklyn Bridge to the west, Brooklyn Heights to the south, and Vinegar Hill to the east. Dumbo is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2.
The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to assist them ABA creates relevant programs; provides education, information, business products, and services; and engages in public policy and industry advocacy. The Association actively supports and defends free speech and the First Amendment rights of all Americans, without contradiction of equity and inclusion, through the American Booksellers for Free Expression. A volunteer board of 13 booksellers governs the Association. Previously headquartered in White Plains, New York, ABA became a fully remote organization in 2024.
G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.
A backlist is a list of older books available from a publisher. This is opposed to newly-published titles, which is sometimes known as the frontlist.
Melville House Publishing is an American independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 and is run by the husband-and-wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company is named after the author Herman Melville. It has a reputation as an "activist press" and publisher of left-leaning books.
Sara Rosen was the publisher of Miss Rosen Editions, her own imprint, at powerHouse Books, where she was also Associate Publisher and Publicity & Marketing Director. She left after ten years to start her own company, Miss Rosen.
Vivian Dorothy Maier was an American street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She took more than 150,000 photographs during her lifetime, primarily of the people and architecture of Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, although she also traveled and photographed around the world.
Canteen is an English-language literary and arts magazine published twice a year. Founded in 2007 by publisher Stephen Pierson, editor-in-chief Sean Finney, executive editor Mia Lipman, and former art director Sai Sriskandarajah, the magazine asks its contributors to reveal their creative process to the reader. As described by Finney, "Canteen is the literary magazine that comes with instructions." "Canteen was born at the restaurant of the same name in San Francisco, where chef Dennis Leary hosted literary salons." The magazine has offices in Brooklyn, NY, and San Francisco, CA.
Jessica Yatrofsky is an American artist, a photographer and a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York.
Jamel Shabazz is an African American fashion, fine-art, documentary, and street style photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was originally founded in 1935 and Random House was founded in 1927. It has more than 300 publishing imprints. Along with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House is considered one of the "Big Five" English-language publishers.
The Writer's Block is an independent bookseller, publisher, and literacy educator in downtown Las Vegas. It is the first independent bookstore in Las Vegas and second in the state of Nevada.
Marla Hamburg Kennedy is an American art curator, dealer and publisher specializing in contemporary art and photography. She is also an author and has published 30 photography and fine art books. She is the founder and owner of Hamburg Kennedy Photographs, HK Art Advisory, and Picture This Publications located in New York City.
Tiffany D. Jackson is an American author and filmmaker. She writes young adult fiction and makes horror films. She is best known for her NAACP Image Award—nominated debut novel Allegedly.
Vivian Cherry was an American photographer best known for her street photography. She was a member of the New York Photo League.
Hebrew Publishing Company was an American Jewish publishing house based in New York City. The company published a range of Hebrew prayerbooks and other religious works, as well as many Yiddish publications. The company was founded in the early 1900s in the Lower East Side of New York, and later was situated at the former Bank of United States building for over forty years. The company was described as having the greatest staying power of any Yiddish publisher.
Book Thug Nation is a Brooklyn independent bookstore in Williamsburg. Founded in 2009, it sells used books, primarily fiction, and occasionally hosts events ranging from book readings to film screenings.