Small Press Books Worth Reading

• Colorful Palate: Savored Stories from a Mixed Life by Raj Tawney (Empire State Editions). A memoir of growing up across Indian, Puerto Rican and Italian heritages, with food at the center of family bonds.
• Rotten Evidence by Ahmed Naji (translated by Katharine Halls) (McSweeney's). A memoir of imprisonment in Cairo that follows the friendships of the cellblock and the writer's work.

• Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me And Has Failed: Notes From Periracial America by Kim McLarin (Ig Publishing). Essays on the author's life, from a motorcycle license at fifty to a gun permit in a time of rising white nationalism.
• All Things Edible, Random & Odd: Essays on Grief, Love & Food by Sheila Squillante (Clash Books). Essays on grief, divorce and a sick child, reclaimed through cooking and sensory reflection.

• Upcountry by Chin-Sun Lee (Unnamed Press). A Catskills town novel that follows three women whose lives cross amid tensions of class, race and religion.
• Heading North by Holly M. Wendt (Braddock Avenue Books). A Russian hockey player keeps a romance secret while he finds his way in the NHL.
• Nonfiction by Julie Myerson (Tin House). A novel about a writer watching her daughter struggle with addiction, with no easy answers.
• The Dirt in Our Skin by J.J. Anselmi (Rare Bird Books). Two BMX-riding best friends in Connecticut drift apart after high school, told through journals and photos.
• Roxy and Coco by Terese Svoboda (West Virginia University Press). Two ancient harpy sisters work in child protective services while one is suspected of murder.
• The Last Bird of Paradise by Clifford Garstang (Black Rose Writing). A Manhattan lawyer's marriage unravels in Singapore as she becomes obsessed with a colonial-era painter.
• The Rain Artist by Claire Rudy Foster (Moonstruck Books). In a climate-ravaged near future, three people unite against the ultra-rich.

• Other Minds and Other Stories by Bennett Sims (Two Dollar Radio). Twelve unsettling stories that mix flash fiction with longer tales of paranoia and strange situations.
• Barely Half in an Awkward Line by Jay Halsey (Haunted Doll House). Photographs, prose and verse about addiction, poverty, violence and found family.
• Dressing the Saints by Aracelis González Asendorf (Black Lawrence Press). Linked stories about Cuban exiles in Florida, centered on aging, lost history and hope.
• Horse Show by Jess Bowers (Santa Fe Writers Project). A story collection about horses, mixing carnival, radio and Hollywood voices.

Small presses take risks that larger houses often avoid. They publish debut writers, translated work, experimental forms and regional stories, and they often work closely with each author. For writers deciding how to publish, the lesson is that there is more than one path. You can submit to an independent press, publish on your own, or work with a publishing partner who handles the production while you keep your rights.

Not sure which route fits your book? Get a free consultation and we will talk through your options honestly. You can also read about ghostwriting services if you have the story but not the time to write it, or book editing services if your manuscript is ready for a professional pass.

Source: "15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Winter" by Wendy J Fox, Electric Literature, January 15, 2024. Book descriptions are our own paraphrase.