Tag: Translations

Publisher Highlight: Unnamed Press

Posted on by Bee Lehman
banner for unnamed press

In 2015, Publishers Weekly declared that Unnamed Books was “Creating Home For Contemporary Authors.”[1] At that point, the small, LA-based publisher was still only getting off the ground. In the early 2010s, Chris Heiser and Olivia Taylor Smith decided to go into independent publishing. In 2013, the two started with the name Ricochet Books, but USC had already claimed the name “Ricochet” in 2012. In 2014, they chose to rebrand as Unnamed Press, with the intention of providing a space for international literature. Their early titles included works like Deji Olukotun’s Nigerians in Space and Rocío Cerón’s Diorama.[2]

Since then, the press has expanded to become “general interest.”[2] In 2024, that included the creation of their Smith & Taylor Classics imprint with titles such as Vernon Lee’s Hauntings: And Other Stories. To continue pushing literature and providing spaces for experimental literature, in 2025 the press started a poetry line. That line often includes audio components on vinyl (https://www.unnamedpress.com/vinyl) with titles such as Emma Ruth Rundle’s The Bella Vista: Poems.[3]

Readers can find out more about their titles on the website (https://www.unnamedpress.com/) or on their Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/unnamedpress/).

Recent Titles

For additional titles at UC Berkeley

Readers can find more material through a publisher focus in our UC Library Search. Select titles are available for circulation in Doe’s Main Stacks while others are in our special collections in Bancroft (UC Library search limited to special collections). See individual catalog entries for location.

Notes

[1] Anisse Gross, “Unnamed Press Creating Home For Contemporary Authors,” PublishersWeekly.Com, February 27, 2015, https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/65736-unnamed-press-creating-home-for-contemporary-authors.html.

[2] Edward Nawotka, “LA’s Unnamed Press: Relatable Foreign Fiction, Unlikely Protagonists,” Publishing Perspectives, July 18, 2014, https://publishingperspectives.com/2014/07/las-unnamed-press-relatable-foreign-fiction-unlikely-protagonists/.

[3] “About,” Unnamed Press, accessed January 12, 2026, https://www.unnamedpress.com/about-1.

[4] Nathalie op de Beeck, “Unnamed Press Develops Cross-Media Poetry Line,” PublishersWeekly.Com, accessed January 12, 2026, https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/97014-unnamed-press-develops-cross-media-poetry-line.html.

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/.