Fitzcarraldo Editions is an independent British book publisher based in Deptford, London, specialising in literary fiction and long-form essays in both translation and English-language originals.[1] It focuses on ambitious, imaginative, and innovative writing by little-known and neglected authors.[2] Fitzcarraldo Editions currently publishes twenty-two titles a year.[3] Four of Fitzcarraldo's authors have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Svetlana Alexievich (2015), Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Annie Ernaux (2022) and Jon Fosse (2023).
  | |
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Jacques Testard |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | Deptford, London |
| Distribution | Grantham Book Services |
| Publication types | Fiction Essays |
| Official website | fitzcarraldoeditions.com |
History
editFitzcarraldo Editions was founded in 2014 when Jacques Testard bought the English-language rights to Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich for £3500 at the Frankfurt Book Fair.[4] Alexievich later won the Nobel Prize, netting a "six-figure" sum for the publisher. The name comes from the 1982 Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo.
The books are designed by Ray O’Meara, using a custom serif typeface called Fitzcarraldo.[5][4] The books are known for their minimalist design, with fiction titles deploying plain covers in International Klein Blue with white text and non-fiction using the reverse: white covers with text in International Klein Blue.[6]
Fitzcarraldo Editions publishes the work of Svetlana Alexievich, Alejandro Zambra, Mathias Énard, Annie Ernaux,[7] Joshua Cohen, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Olga Tokarczuk, Jon Fosse, Fernanda Melchor, Ian Penman and Paul B. Preciado, among other authors.[4][8]
Along with New Directions Publishing and Giramando Publishing, Fitzcarraldo Editions hosts the Novel Prize, a biennial award for a book-length work of literary fiction written in English by published and unpublished writers.[9] Fitzcarraldo Editions also hosts the annual Essay Prize, in conjuction with Mahler & LeWitt Studios.[10]
The company's logo shows a bell with the letters F and Z, and relates to the film Fitzcarraldo; it has been described as "a nod to the challenges and commitment necessary to run a successful independent press" with "a play on early printers marks, with the initials F and Z, recalling the symbols of the earliest printed books".[11]
References
edit- ^ Batey, Angus (15 September 2019). "Features | Tome On The Range | Pushing The Boat Out: Art & Business The Fitzcarraldo Way". The Quietus. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ Marshall, Alex (13 October 2022). "How a Tiny British Publisher Became the Home of Nobel Laureates". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzcarraldo Editions". fitzcarraldoeditions.com. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ a b c Studemann, Frederick (11 October 2019). "How a tiny London publisher picked two Nobel Prize winners". Financial Times.
- ^ Arsenault, Kerri (13 April 2017). "Interview with a Gatekeeper: Jacques Testard". LitHub.
- ^ "How Fitzcarraldo Editions made the most beautiful books on the shelf". The Face. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Cafolla, Anna (10 October 2022). "Four Nobels and counting: Fitzcarraldo, the little publisher that could". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Featherstone, Kay (10 October 2019). "Tokarczuk and Handke win Nobel Prizes in Literature". The Bookseller. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ "The Novel Prize". www.thenovelprize.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ "Essay prize | Fitzcarraldo Editions". fitzcarraldoeditions.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ Brown, Dylan (24 August 2021). "An Unofficial Ranking of Publishing Colophons". Literary Hub. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
External links
edit- Fitzcarraldo Editions website
- Aled Maclean-Jones, "The best startup you've never heard of: Fitzcarraldo editions", Ashore, 9 November 2023.
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