A publisher of political non-fiction and world literature, Seven Stories Press was founded in 1995 in New York City by Dan Simon. Named for the seven authors who committed to a home with a fiercely independent spirit, it continues to publish uncompromising political books, fiction, and poetry by voices of conscience.
About Seven Stories Press
Seven Stories Press is a small, independent publisher that specializes in political non-fiction, literature in translation, and social justice children's books. Founded in 1995, the company is named for its seven founding authors. They include Octavia E. Butler, Annie Ernaux, Gary Null, Project Censored, Charley Rosen, Vassilis Vassilikos, and the estate of Nelson Algren.
Founded by Dan Simon, the company is a member of the thriving community of smaller literary houses that publish a wide range of important voices outside the mainstream corporate publishing world. Whether the author is working on a novel, writing a poetry collection, or translating a classic work of literature from French, Swedish, German, Italian, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, or Arabic, they will find the best possible support at Seven Stories Press.
In the early 1980s, Dan Simon came across a story by Nelson Algren called “A Bottle of Milk for Mother” in an old anthology that he purchased for a dollar from a street vendor. He read everything Algren wrote and found that all of his books had been published out of print, so he obtained the rights to them and started his own independent press. Eventually, Simon founded Four Walls Eight Windows, an imprint at Writers and Readers Publishing, before moving on to co-found Seven Stories Press with John Oakes in 1995.
Formed with a guiding social mission, Seven Stories Press seeks to publish books that will make a difference in the world and that are not necessarily the same as the bestsellers that dominate the book shelves. They are dedicated to providing a viable alternative to the large, profit-driven corporate publishers that dominate the industry.
The writers that are associated with Seven Stories Press range from the seasoned to the emerging, but they all share a strong commitment to their community and to their work. For example, in 2012, Seven Stories Press published Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, a groundbreaking book by bestselling investigative reporter Greg Palast that exposed irregularities in the voting process that disenfranchised minority voters throughout the country.
Another breakout author from Seven Stories Press is Caverly Stringer, who has written a number of memoirs that have been acclaimed by the New York Times and USA Today. He has also edited a number of anthologies.
About the Authors
Seven Stories Press is a small, independent publisher of political nonfiction, literature in translation, and social justice children’s books. Founded in 1995 by Dan Simon and named for the seven writers who committed to a home with a fiercely independent spirit, the company publishes uncompromising political books, fiction, and poetry.
The list of authors at Seven Stories Press includes an extraordinary array of literary giants, including Russell Banks, Kate Bornstein, Angela Davis, Jack Forbes, Shere Hite, Noam Chomsky, Derrick Jensen, Kalle Lasn, Inga Muscio, Hal Niedzvicki, Loretta Napoleoni, Barbara Seaman, Howard Zinn, and Project Censored, as well as a wide range of important new voices. These are the writers who have written against war and for peace, who have defended immigrants, women, minorities, and people of color, and who have made it clear that they believe in the power of the book as an agent of social change.
A good number of the works published by Seven Stories Press were written in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the world was still in its most urgent need for a rethinking of the relationship between politics and literature. These include pioneering works of nonfiction from Russell Banks, Kate Bornstein, Noam Chomsky, Octavia E. Butler, Ani DiFranco, Ariel Dorfman, Marguerite Duras, and Annie Ernaux, as well as the novels The Years, Getting Lost, Exteriors, and A Girl’s Story, by French novelist Annie Ernaux.
In addition to these groundbreaking books, Seven Stories Press also publishes important new works in translation from giants of the international literary scene, and from leading young writers who have already blazed their own trails. These include Assia Djebar, Ariel Dorfman, Jean Giono, Hwang Sok-yong, and Vassilis Vassilikos, as well as a broad range of important fresh voices, including Wojciech Jagielski and Abdella Taia.
One of the most interesting aspects of Seven Stories’s publishing is the way it crossbreeds politics and literature, frequently pairing work with important documentary films. In 2012, for instance, the book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits teamed up with bestselling investigative journalist Greg Palast to expose the many ways that the voting system in the United States was rigged against minority voters. The book was an immediate New York Times and USA Today top 10 notable book, toured extensively to unions and schools in Ohio, and helped change the way we think about the relationship between democracy and the vote.
About the Publisher
Seven Stories Press is an independent publisher in New York City, founded by Dan Simon in 1995. The name comes from the seven authors of Four Walls Eight Windows, a literary and political imprint founded by Simon in 1984 as an independent imprint of Writers and Readers Publishing.
For over twenty-five years, we have published a list of important voices from across the American spectrum, including pioneering political nonfiction and literature in translation. The books we publish represent a vital wing of the American imagination that has been largely ignored by mainstream publishers. They are an essential part of the fight against censorship, the movement to protect civil rights and human rights, and the ongoing battle to make democracy work.
Many of the most innovative and daring new books on politics and social justice are coming from smaller, independent houses like Seven Stories. These books are a critical addition to the public imagination and provide readers with an important alternative to the corporate publishing world.
We publish works of the imagination from groundbreaking fiction to pioneering graphic projects, from Ted Rall’s bestselling political biographies to a collection of exquisite and groundbreaking Graphic Canon anthologies that have brought classic literature and classic art to new audiences. We also publish a diverse set of titles by authors who are deeply committed to the ideal of political and social justice.
Our list is constantly expanding with new writers and fresh voices, and we publish a wide range of genres including poetry, short fiction, and hybrid books. We are also a strong advocate for works in translation and publish titles by the most significant contemporary international voices.
Among the current list are works of fiction by such authors as Russell Banks, Octavia E. Butler, Ani DiFranco, Ariel Dorfman, Marguerite Duras, Annie Ernaux, Jean Giono, and Hwang Sok-yong; and important new work from such writers as Wojciech Jagielski, Lola Lafon, and Abdella Taia.
We also publish a broad spectrum of works in translation from French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Italian, Polish, and Korean language authors. We are also launching a children’s imprint, Triangle Square Books for Young Readers, which will feature a selection of books that engage with the social and economic issues facing young people today.
About the List
Seven Stories Press is an independent publisher of political nonfiction, literature in translation, and social justice children’s books. Established in 1995, the company is named for the authors who joined its founder Dan Simon in his quest to create a home with a fiercely independent spirit and a commitment to uncompromising political titles.
The press’ list features innovative debut novels and National Book Award-winning poetry collections, but it’s a mix of works spanning genres that is most notable for its socially oriented, often inventive hybrid projects. It also has an impressive array of literary translations from countries around the globe, especially France.
In fact, a number of the presses titles have found their way to the top of the Amazon best seller lists. The best example is Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, by bestselling author Greg Palast, which was published to wide acclaim before the 2012 presidential election and went on to become a bestseller. The book traces voting system irregularities that disenfranchise minority voters, which were brought to light by investigative reporters like Palast.
Other notable names include Octavia E. Butler, Ani DiFranco, and Assia Djebar. The list also includes pioneering nonfiction from Russell Banks, Kate Bornstein, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Jack Forbes, Shere Hite, Derrick Jensen, Kalle Lasn, Inga Muscio, Ralph Nader, Hal Niedzvicki, Loretta Napoleoni, Barbara Seaman, Howard Zinn and so many more.
Another standout title is Peter Plate’s novel “Night of the Short Eyes,” which tells the story of a pair of young adults who find themselves in an unusual situation, and what happens when they don’t get out of it. The story has been turned into an acclaimed film, and the book is one of the few that Seven Stories publishes in print, rather than only online.
As a small, independent publisher, Seven Stories Press has a unique opportunity to offer writers a viable alternative to the larger, corporate publishers. Part of that is a commitment to fostering new voices, and part of it is a commitment to be as selective about which titles to publish as possible.