Tag: Bay area publisher

Publisher Highlight: Montag Press

Posted on by Bee Lehman

With a webpage dating back to 2010, Montag Press is an Oakland publishing collective focused on experimental literature with an emphasis on original fiction and drama. Their house has titles in speculative fiction, horror, as well as science and historical fiction.

The group does have an Instagram page, but their website is more active.

Recent Titles at UC Berkeley

More in the UC Libraries

The UC Library system does not hold a complete collection of the Montag Press Collective’s works, but we do have a respectable array. Check out several dozen of the House’s titles through our UC Library Search with a limit in material types to “books” and a publisher search for “Montag Press.”

Notes

“About,” Montag Press, accessed February 24, 2026, https://www.montagpress.com/about.

Publisher Highlight: Aunt Lute Books

Posted on by Bee Lehman
collage banner for Aunt Lute Books

Founded in 1982, Aunt Lute Books has spent forty years contributing to the shape of literature across the continent. Their books–novels, poetry, essays, as well as an array of non-fiction works–are consistently on lists of must-read titles and taught across the world. Those influential books from the self-described “intersectional, feminist press” include Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (first published in 1987) and The Cancer Journals (1980).

Aunt Lute Books is considered a Bay Area establishment, but Barb Wieser and Joan Pinkvoss initially established it in Iowa City. Four years later, the Press moved to San Francisco to partner with the small lesbian press Spinsters Ink. The two would separate again in 1990, when Aunt Lute Books would begin operation under the newly founded Ant Lute Foundation. Spinster Ink, still a lesbian press, would eventually move away from the coast. Perhaps amusingly, Spinsters Ink would eventually move away from SF, while Aunt Lute continues in the city.

To this day, the House continues to print “literature that voices the perspectives of women from a broad range of communities.” Readers can find out some information about the House through their webpage and Instagram page.

Recent Titles

More in the UC Libraries

You can find Aunt Lute Book’s publications across the UC Library system in just about every edition. To find their books specifically at UC Berkeley, readers can use the UC Library Search with a focus on “UC Berkeley catalog” and a limit by publisher (click here for the search).

Notes

[1] “About Us,” Aunt Lute Books, accessed February 9, 2026, https://www.auntlute.com/about-us.

Publisher Highlight: Krupskaya Books

Posted on by Bee Lehman
banner for Krupskaya Books

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

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 by Bee Lehman
City Lights banner with logo and covers

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

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 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.

Recent Titles at UC Berkeley

For more at UC Berkeley

Spread between Morrison Library and the Main Stacks, you can find dozens of Tachyon’s books in Doe Library.

To find those titles, try a publisher focus in the UC Berkeley catalog in our UC Library search.

Notes

[1] “About Tachyon,” Tachyon Publications, accessed November 24, 2025, https://tachyonpublications.com/about/.

[2] “Display: 30 Years of Tachyon Publications,” San Francisco Public Library, accessed August 24, 2025, https://sfpl.org/exhibits/2025/09/19/display-30-years-tachyon-publications.