The Contemporary Small Press

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction: Making Publishing Visible

   • Georgina Colby, Kaja Marczewska, Leigh Wilson

   Pages 1-21

3. ‘Hand & Soul’: The Fin de Siècle Sociopoetics of Way & Williams and the Auvergne Press

   • Craig Saper

   Pages 23-46

4. From Poet to Publisher: Reading Gwendolyn Brooks by Design

   • Kinohi Nishikawa

   Pages 47-71

5. The Matter of the ‘Small’ in Small-Press Publishing

   • Nick Thoburn

   Pages 73-90

6. The Gentrification of the Small Press: CLMP and the DIY Tradition

   • Kaplan Harris

   Pages 91-111

7. Rhetorics of Authenticity and Professionalization: Problems in Early Twenty-First-Century Small Press Publishing

   • Matvei Yankelevich

   Pages 113-134

8. The Publishing Self: The Praxis of Self-Publishing in a Mediatised Era

   • Nick Thurston

   Pages 135-152

9. Small Presses and Their Reader Communities

   • Rosamund Davies

   Pages 153-171

10. Leading the Way: Women-Led Small Presses of Inclusive Youth Literature

    • Melanie Ramdarshan Bold

    Pages 173-197

11. The Passion and Pragmatism of the Small Publisher

    • Claire Squires

    Pages 199-218

12. Acts of Judgement and the Small Press: Learning from F.R. Leavis

    • Leigh Wilson

    Pages 219-236

13. The Small Press, Avant-Garde Aesthetics and the Politics of Disidentification

    • Georgina Colby

    Pages 237-270

14. Back Matter

    Pages 271-281

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The Contemporary Small Press: Making Publishing Visible addresses the contemporary literary small press in the US and UK from the perspective of a range of disciplines. Covering numerous aspects of small press publishing—poetry and fiction, children’s publishing, the importance of ethical commitments, the relation to the mainstream, the attitudes of those working for presses, the role of the state in supporting presses—scholars from literary criticism, the sociology of literature and publishing studies demonstrate how a variety of approaches and methods are needed to fully understand the contemporary small press and its significance for literary studies and for broader literary culture.

• Poetry
• Booker prize
• Literary culture
• Literary sociology
• Virago
• small press publishing
• independent publishers
• chapbook presses

“Each essay represents an interesting contribution to publishing and/or small-press Studies … . the volume’s introduction makes a valiant and broadly successful effort to present the industry status quo, plus an overview of small-press scholarship. It provides a valuable analysis, as will individual essays tied to readers’ interests.” (Jodie Lea Martire, Publishing Research Quarterly, September 1, 2023) “The Contemporary Small Press: Making Publishing Visible is essential reading for anyone interested in the Anglo-American publishing industry of the past fifty years. At a time when conglomerates are dominating the industry, small presses offer an alternative model of development. The book shows how these enterprising publishers have carved a niche for themselves in relation to the mainstream firms. This is a powerful story of survival, of creativity and ingenuity at a time of rapid change and digital disruptions.” (Lise Jaillant, Lecturer of English, Loughborough University, UK)

“Anyone who has been paying close attention to contemporary literary culture will have noticed the exceptional rise to prominence of the small press as a counterbalance to the ever-narrowing output of the multinational publishing conglomerate. What we have lacked until now is a book like this one, which ably grasps the phenomenon of the small press without reducing its multiplicity and complexity. In the diversity of its methods and fascinating wealth of examples it offers to our scrutiny, this collection of essays ably advances the study of the institutions of recent and contemporary literature in new and exciting directions.” (Mark McGurl, Albert Guérard Professor of Literature, Stanford University, USA, and author of The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing (2011))

• University of Westminster, London, UK

  Georgina Colby, Leigh Wilson

• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

  Kaja Marczewska

Georgina Colby is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster, UK.

Kaja Marczewska is a researcher, writer and Research Manager at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Leigh Wilson is Professor of English Literature at the University of Westminster, UK.

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