And Other Stories was founded by publisher Stefan Tobler in 2010:

“When I started talking about publishing with a friend, we were inspired by the little record labels and poetry presses that spring up out of nowhere. Then we realised that if you want to do translated fiction, you do need a bit of money in the kitty.

So I started to work out the business side of a subscriber-supported publisher, and I saw it could be done, and no one was yet doing what I thought would work.

We are now in a position where the support of a small band of subscribers, coupled with some development funding from the Arts Council has enabled us to bring some amazing, quality books from around the world to people in the UK. We love the books we’ve published and we hope you will too.”

Stefan heads up a team who are active in the global lit community as translators, agents, consultants and publishers (apparently, Associate Publisher, Bethan Ellis, introduced the word ‘crikey’ to a reporting team in Mexico. Crikey!).

The philosophy behind And Other Stories:

“We are a literary publishing house that works on the principle that great new books will be heard about and read thanks to the combined intelligence of a number of people: editors, readers, translators, critics, literary promoters and academics. We hope we can host such collaboration.”

As a subscriber-supported Community Interest Company (CIC), And Other Stories involves supporters in the decision making process about the direction of the organisation and reinvest all profits into the work.  And the work is pretty exciting! They have a number of publications due for release this year including the debut novel from Juan Pablo Villalobos, Down The Rabbit Hole, and Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home. The titles all feature striking cover art by Joseph Harries:

Fuelled by a passion for discovering and bringing international work to new audiences and an endearing curiosity, And Other Stories organised reading groups in 2010 focusing on Lithuanian and Spanish-language books and have plans for Russian, German, French and Portuguese groups this year. These are open to all for sharing, discussion and a glass of wine, and the team welcome suggestions for new groups too.

Have a look at the new website for information about how to get involved with reading groups, throwing a party or just saying ‘Hello!’…

Alex Herod