Publisher Profile / Algonquin Books
Facts
Mission and genres: Their mission is “to publish quality fiction and nonfiction by undiscovered young writers, and to keep our books in print, reaching new fans for years to come.”
Co-Founder: Louis Rubin
Year Founded: 1983
An Interview with the Editorial Director Betsy Gleick
Algonquin Books was founded in 1983 in part to publish work by undiscovered young writers, and the company’s new editorial director, Betsy Gleick, is committed to redoubling the company’s pursuit of talented new voices. The former editor at People magazine comes from a news background. How that will translate into books with a longer shelf life is something she explains in our interview below.
You’re new to Algonquin Books—congratulations on the new job, by the way—but coming from the outside looking in, what to you differentiates Algonquin as a publisher? Thanks! I’m excited to be joining what is, first and foremost, a successful family business that is committed to quality publishing in everything it does. And of course Algonquin has such a great literary pedigree, both in fiction and nonfiction, and a history of discovering new voices—and bringing those voices to a wider audience. While of course lots of publishers say this is what they want, I think Algonquin is also known for taking great care with each author and each book on its list, and publishing those projects really well.
Read the interview with Betsy Gleick
Reviews
Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life by Richard Louv
The Last September by Nina de Gramont
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Guests on Earth by Lee Smith
Keeping It Civil: The Case of the Pre-Nup and the Porsche and Other True Accounts from the Files of a Family Lawyer by Margaret Klaw
Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt
Life After Life by Jill McCorkle
Heading out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Book by Matti Friedman
Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control of Our House and Made It Their Home by Bob Tarte
Pocket Kings by Ted Heller
How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm by Mei-Ling Hopgood
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
The Lions of the West by Robert Morgan
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Man with a Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who Cook for Their Families by John Donohue
Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Luov
What You See in the Dark by Manuel Munoz
The Watery Part of the World by Michael Parker
Lincoln on War: Our Greatest Commander-in-Chief Speaks to America by Harold Holzer
West of Here by Jonathan Evison
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger by Lee Smith
Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friends, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende
52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander
The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes by Randi Davenport
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
Settled in the Wild: Notes From the Edge of Town by Susan Hand Shetterly
In My Father’s Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles by Chris Welles Feder
Last Bite by Nancy Verde Barr
If You Want Me to Stay by Michael Parker
The Painting by Nina Schuyler
Waking Up in Eden by Lucinda Fleeson
Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy
The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons
The Innocents by Caroline Seebohm
The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death Edited by Gordon Harper, Sachin H. Jain, Susan Pories
All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem 1913-1930 by Andrea Barnet
My Old True Love by Algonquin Books
In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon by Joan Druett
A Private Sorcery by Lisa Gornick
The Next Better Place by Michael C. Keith
Running North A Yukon Adventure by Ann Mariah Cook
Florida’s Indians from Ancient Times to the Present by Jerald T. Milanich
Mr. Universe & Other Plays by Algonquin
Truth: Four Stories I am Finally Old Enough to Tell by Ellen Douglas
Saving Molly: A Research Veterinarian’s Choices by James Mahoney
Awards
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. 2010 GOLD Winner for Autobiography & Memoir
Waking Up in Eden by Lucinda Fleeson. 2009 Finalist for Autobiography & Memoir
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Press Releases
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Key links: Books, Authors, Contact
Hannah Hohman
