Every month in our newsletter we feature an independent publisher from across the UK and tell you a little more about what they do. We've decided to start publishing these on our blog the month after, so that you can look back on them whenever you need a reminder of the fantastic work indies are doing, and here is our August publisher, Comma Press, with their answers.
How did Comma Press start?
Comma Press was founded by Ra Page in 2003 to promote new writing with an emphasis on the short story, and became a not-for-profit company in 2007. In 2012 it became one of the Art Council's National Portfolio Organisations. Comma specialises in the short story and fiction in translation. It is committed to a spirit of risk-taking, and aims to put the short story at the heart of contemporary narrative culture. Comma Press also works as a writer development agency, delivering short story courses throughout the year, and hosting the annual National Creative Writing Industry Day to give every kind of aspiring writer access to advice, knowledge and skills from industry professionals.
Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming titles?
Our 'upcoming' titles in August are:
Kurdistan + 100 edited by Orsola Casagrande & Mustafa Gundogdu, published 19th August
The first anthology of Kurdish science fiction ever collected and published in the UK, we have invited authors from all parts of ‘Kurdistan’ and the diaspora to write specially commissioned stories set in their own versions of the future. Kurdistan + 100 poses a question to twelve contemporary Kurdish writers: might the Kurds have a country to call their own by the year 2046 – exactly a century after the last glimmer of independence (the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad)? Or might the struggle for independence have taken new turns and new forms?
The Cuckoo Cage edited by Ra Page, published 23rd September
The superhero of comic books and blockbuster movies might be a State-side phenomenon, with its conservative notions of ‘truth, justice and the American way’. But the cultural DNA of the superhero arguably lies in a much older, more progressive, British tradition: the folk heroes of British protest history.
In this unique experiment, ten authors have been charged with resurrecting this tradition: to spawn a new generation of present-day British superheroes to bring the fight back to these shores, and to more progressive causes. From the statue-toppling Bristolian with otherworldly powers, to the Essex resident protecting public spaces and parks, these characters prove that it is possible to create a new breed of superhero in ways that capture essential truths about the society we live in.The Book of Barcelona edited by Manel Olle & Zoë Turner, published 7th October From the boy who won't stop growing in the working-class Guineueta neighbourhood on the outskirts of Barcelona, to the woman returning to Barcelona after living for some years in London, this anthology explores the city of Barcelona from a myriad of perspectives. In this new addition to Comma's Reading the City series, ten stories about Barcelona by ten of its most prominent authors are translated from both Catalan and Spanish into English for the first time.
If it's possible to answer, what's been your favourite title to publish so far?
My personal favourite title to publish since I've been at Comma (from 2018) was The Book of Shanghai, as the stories were so dream-like and otherworldly, and I could visualise the city so well through this anthology.
Gregory Norminton's fantastic short story collection The Ghost who Bled was an absolute revelation for me (as a person who doesn't read a huge amount of short stories!) early on in the lifecycle of Ninja Book Club, and Comma's collections Protest and Resist are both on my TBR shelves. If you've read something brilliant that they've published please leave a comment and let us know about it!
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