Bay area publisher

Publisher Highlight: Krupskaya Books

Posted on December 16, 2025December 22, 2025 by Bee Lehman

Established in the Bay Area in 1998 under editors Jocelyn Saidenberg, Rodrigo Toscano, Hung Q. Tu, Krupskaya books (website) has been providing readers with experimental literature for almost three decades. The press prints both poetry and prose that “challenge traditional literary forms.”[1]

Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, for whom this author assumes the press was named, was a Russian politician and theorist. They believed in social reform and would play significant roles in the Russian revolutions of 1917. Afterwards, she would be heavily involved in politics, particularly as regarding education.[2]

Following in Krupskaya’s call for social reform through education, Krupskaya Books focus on collaboration and responsibility, providing mixed-genre and adventurous works.

Readers can follow the press on their Instagram page for new book announcements or calls for manuscripts.

Recent Titles

Cover for Ursula or University — Stephanie Young, Ursula or University (2013).

Cover to Companion — Rebeca Bollinger et al., Companion (2022).

Cover to Marnie — Connie Scozzaro, Marnie (2019).

Cover to Cinders — Maria Sledmere, Cinders (2024).

Cover to CC Williams — Tyrone Williams, C. C. (2002).

Cover to the Dogs — Noah Ross, The Dogs (2024).

For more at UC Berkeley

Readers can find additional titles at UC Berkeley through the UC Library Search with a limit to publisher.

Notes

[1] “About | Discover Experimental Literature,” K R U P S K A Y A, accessed December 16, 2025, https://www.krupskayabooks.com/about.

[2] Andy Willimott, Living the Revolution: Urban Communes & Soviet Socialism, 1917-1932, (Oxford University Press, 2016); Wikipedia, “Nadezhda Krupskaya,” October 4, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nadezhda_Krupskaya&oldid=1315094491.

Publisher Highlight: City Lights

Posted on December 2, 2025December 1, 2025 by Bee Lehman

In 1953, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin founded City Lights Books in San Francisco, near some incredible Italian bakeries (this author is unclear if that mattered to them). Established as “a literary meetingplace,” the bookstore was initially an all-paperback store focused on providing a space for alternative culture. Now a three-story edifice that does provide some new hardcovers, the store continues to offer a place for readers to soak up excellent literature.[1] They also hold readings and other literary events, about which readers can find information on Instagram.

Committed to offering experimental and alternative literature, City Lights and its staff have a firm stance against censorship and a “legacy of anti-authoritarian politics” [1]. Partly with that commitment in mind, the bookstore also became a publisher. Among the first of their output, they released Alan Ginsburg’s Howl (at Bancroft). Since then, they have released poetry, novels, and short-stories alongside non-fiction.

Recent titles at UC Berkeley

Cover to COVID Vortex Anxiety — Karen Finley, COVID Vortex Anxiety Opera Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco (2025).

Cover to Cavalier Perspective — André Breton, Cavalier Perspective: Last Essays, 1952-1966, English edition., ed. Garrett T. Caples, trans. Austin Carder (2025).

Cover to Smoke — Maria Gabriela Aleman Salvador, Smoke, trans. Dick Cluster (2025).

Cover to Little Red Barns — Will Potter, Little Red Barns: Hiding from the Truth, from Farm to Fable (2025).

Cover to Stories from the Center of the World — Salar Abdoh et al., Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction, ed. Jordan Elgrably (2024).

Cover for City Bird and Other Poems — Patrick James Dunagan, City Bird and Other Poems, City Lights Spotlight 24 (2024).

Cover to New Testaments: Stories — Dagoberto Gilb, New Testaments: Stories (2024).

Cover to The Afterlife Is Letting Go — Brandon Shimoda, The Afterlife Is Letting Go (2024).

UC Berkeley and City Lights have had a special relationship for decades. Not only does UC Berkeley Library host most of City Lights outpouring, but Ferlinghetti also chose the Bancroft Library to host his personal papers (UC Library Search) as well as a considerable amount of City Lights Books photographs and other manuscript materials (OAC.)

You can, of course, also find out what we have in our circulating collections at UC Berkeley’s Doe Library through our UC Library publisher search.

Notes

[1] A Short History of City Lights, City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, accessed December 1, 2025, https://citylights.com/our-story/a-short-history-of-city-lights/.

Publisher Highlight: Tachyon Publications

Posted on November 25, 2025November 24, 2025 by Bee Lehman

Celebrating their 3oth anniversary!

Long, long ago (in 1995) and across the Bay in San Francisco, Jacob Weisman founded Tachyon Publications (https://tachyonpublications.com/). Since then, the House has provided us (those who read speculative fiction) with phenomenal works of fiction, “champion[ing] … creative storytelling through intelligent prose and imaginative worlds.”[1, 2]

Over those thirty years, Tachyon has become a staple in the world of speculative fiction. Their authors have brought in awards, including Nebulas, Mythopoeic, and Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, among others. More importantly, the House has provided space for new authors to publish their internal universes.

The resulting publications include a range of subgenres including romance, comedy, hard science fiction, and more. Their formats range from tight, short stories to soaring space operas.