Sylvère Lotringer (Wikipedia link) and others at Columbia University in New York City founded Semiotext(e) in 1974 as an anarchic project. The early life of the publisher stemmed from gatherings/conferences of French semioticians. The resulting periodical issues appearing sporadically into the 1990s introduced a wild series of provocations.[1] In the 1980s, Lotringer started the Semiotext(e)’s Foreign Agents book imprint with the intention of introducing French theorists to an English-speaking audience as well as to expose incendiary ideas to that reading public. In 1990, Lotringer and co-editor and writer Chris Kraus started the Native Agents series, focused primarily on U.S. women writers.
In 2001, Lotringer and Kraus took the press to Los Angeles when they moved to the Pacific coast. Revitalizing the press, the editors started a collaboration with MIT Press for distribution, publishing Hatred of Capitalism to mark the occasion. The two also brought on Hedi El Kholti first as art director/managing editor and then as a lead co-editor. Working together, they’ve continued with the Native Agents series and become one of the major publishers for “New Narrative” literature, which emerged in the 1970s in San Francisco partly as an expression of the tensions between Gay Liberation, the Avant-Garde, and the New Left.[3]
The press, still co-edited by Krau and El Kholti, continues to publish 10+ books a year. Their book titles are available on their website and for purchase through MIT Press. Their release announcements and excerpts can be found on their Instagram page.
Recent Books at UC Berkeley
Notes
[1] David L. Ulin, “Appreciation: Sylvère Lotringer Made Book Publishing Safe for Dangerous Ideas,” Books, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2021, Access through UC Berkeley’s catalog.
[2] “Semiotext(e),” MIT Press, accessed September 2026, https://mitpress.mit.edu/publisher/semiotexte/.
[3] Rob Halpern, “Realism and Utopia: Sex, Writing, and Activism in New Narrative,” Journal of Narrative Theory 41, no. 1 (2011): 82–124, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/443765.
