Three years ago, bookseller Lori Feathers of Interabang Books in Dallas helped import a new literary prize to the United States and Canada: one recognizing the copious treasures coming out of small presses here. The Republic of Consciousness Prize had originally been founded in the U.K. in 2017, and as global publishing continued to consolidate in a handful of mega-corporations, it seemed an opportune time to recognize the vitality and spirit of independent publishers on this side of the Atlantic, too. These publishers aren’t seeking to reap huge profits from their products but to publish good books and make a living while doing so.
The winner of this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, was announced last month: Rodrigo Fresán’s Melvill. The novel, translated from Spanish by Will Vanderhyden, reimagines the lives and legacies of Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, and his father, Allan Melvill. Our starred review calls it an “elegant, meditative story about storytelling.”
The novel is published by Open Letter, a nonprofit publisher housed at the University of Rochester that is dedicated to literary translations. Other presses on the Republic of Consciousness shortlist included Coffee House Press, Fern Books, Sandorf Passage, and Biblioasis. Discussing the prize recently on the Across the Pond podcast, which she co-hosts with Sam Jordison, Feathers observed that “these indie publishers…are taking commercial risks that other presses just don’t want to or refuse [to].”
Fortunately, some of the higher-profile book prizes are recognizing work from independent publishers, too. Last month, I attended the National Book Critics Circle Awards ceremony in New York, where a host of scrappy, upstart presses had books in the running for the prestigious critics’ awards: Belt Publishing’s The Minotaur at Calle Lanza by Zito Madu was a finalist in autobiography; Two Dollar Radio’s Us Fools by Nora Lange was a fiction finalist; and Transit Books’ Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal, translated by Robin Moger, was a finalist for the translation prize (alongside Melvill).
In our fifth annual Indie Issue, out April 15, we celebrate enterprising presses like these, along with the self-published authors who not only write the books, but often design, market, and even sell them, too. One of these is David Washington, who appears on the cover in a portrait by artist Kathryn Rathke. As Washington tells contributing writer Michael Schaub, he was moved to create his graphic novel, Black Defender: The Awakening (illustrated by Zhengis Tasbolatov), by the dearth of Black superheroes in the films that he and his kids were watching on family movie nights. You can read their conversation here.
A reviewer for Kirkus Indie said the self-published comic book “more than delivers on the promise of its premise,” and, in fact, it was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, competing against graphic novels from Big 5 publishers such as HarperCollins and Penguin Random House. Washington says he was “over the moon” to be in such company. We at Kirkus are just as excited to be honoring indie books—signs of a robust field that is bringing new opportunities to writers and broadening choices for readers at the same time.
Tom Beer is the editor-in-chief.
