first year
experience
meet our presses
Haymarket Books is a radical, independent, nonprofit book publisher based in Chicago.
Contact: Anne Rumberger, Director of Sales & Marketing, anne@haymarketbooks.org
Brian Jones
A longtime educator explores how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
"Urgent, eye-opening, and deeply engaging, this is essential reading for students, educators, and anyone ready to see the past—and the present—with fresh eyes.”
—Ashley D. Farmer
Themes: Black Politics / Education
Nick Estes
A work of history, a personal story, and a manifesto about indigenous campaigns to protect our environment from extractive industries.
"This book is a jewel—history and analysis that reads like the best poetry—certain to be a classic work as well as a study guide for continued and accelerated resistance."
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Themes: Indigenous History / Social Movements
Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit explores how our actions can shape the future and the liberatory possibilities of embracing uncertainty.
"With her deep sense of the movement of history, her agile intellect, hope in the possibilities of action and nimble prose, Solnit continues to surprise and delight. This new collection of essays is a tonic in dark times."
—Lisa Appignanesi
Themes: Essays / Hope and Inspiration
Beacon Press is a 171-year-old mission-driven independent publisher of serious non-fiction. Our books often change the way readers think about fundamental issues of our time.
Contact: Alyssa Hassan, Associate Director of Marketing, AHassan@beacon.org
Atash Yaghmaian
An unflinching and stunning debut memoir of an Iranian girl’s coming-of-age experiencing abuse, war, and superstition—and her survival through dissociative identity disorder, which offered her an inner world into which she could escape
“I was riveted by this searing ode to the resiliency of the human psyche, rich in beauty and devastation.”—Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood
Themes: Coming-of-Age, Resilience/Perseverance
Russell Cobb
As gripping as Killers of the Flower Moon, but a more complex story with a mystery at its center that’s still unsolved today.
Russell Cobb is a master storyteller. . . . Ghosts of Crook County is his best yet.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, American Book Award–winning author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Themes: Native American and Indigenous Stories
Judith Heumann
Soon to be an Apple feature movie directed by CODA’s Sian Heder, one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human
"This important book will help ensure that every person gets a chance to live up to their full potential and will always have a place at the table.”—Hillary Clinton
Themes: Disability, Social Action
Seven Stories Press is an independent book publisher of political non-fiction, literature in translation, and other works of the radical imagination. Our imprints include Triangle Square Books for Young Readers, Two Dollar Radio, and Spanish language imprints Editorial Siete Cuentos and Ocean Sur.
Contact: Claire Kelley, Director of Marketing, claire@sevenstories.com
Octavia Butler
The radically speculative odyssey of a young Black woman in a post-apocalyptic America, and the community she cultivates despite the horrors of climate change and social inequality.
Hardcover edition with a new introduction by Gloria Steinem
Themes: Black Speculative Futures / Climate Fiction
Eileen Flanagan
In Common Ground, veteran organizer Eileen Flanagan weaves together a series of stories of hard won successes in the climate change movement, including against a multinational bank in one case, and a heavily polluting fossil fuel company in another, based on grassroots organizing.
“Eileen Flanagan has both the breadth of campaigning experience and the depth of heart required to be a reliable colleague, guide, and teacher—this is the right book for a moment when our government is trying to divide us, and when we must respond with real and meaningful unity.” —Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
Themes: Environment / Social Movements
Kim Thúy
Translated by Sheila Fischman
Em is a lyrical and haunting novel by Vietnamese-Canadian author Kim Thúy, exploring the emotional aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Through fragmented vignettes, Thúy traces the lives of orphaned children, displaced families, and survivors of historical events like Operation Babylift and the My Lai Massacre. Her prose is poetic and spare, revealing how trauma, exile, and love intertwine across generations and continents.
Selected for Georgetown's Marino Family International Writers' Workshop 2025 Common Read
Themes: Global Fiction / Immigration
independent publishers
caucus
The Independent Publishers Caucus (IPC) was founded to foster a sense of community among dedicated, mission-driven publishing companies working outside of the corporate structure helping to keep the written word alive. We believe independent media is crucial to ensuring free and open discourse in the public square.
IPC facilitates the sharing of best practices; leverages the collective strength of independent publishers across the industry; develops events, programs, and marketing and publicity campaigns; maintains vital relationships with booksellers, librarians, the media, and the wider literary world; and works to demystify and disseminate information about the financial realities that come with running an independent publishing company on a day-to-day basis.
Our Industry Sponsors
The Independent Publishers Caucus is supported mainly by its member publishers, and by the generous additional support we receive from Ingram Content Group, the Independent Publishers Group, Foreword Reviews, Bookshop.org, Open Road Integrated Media, Publishers Weekly, and the American Booksellers Association.
