It’s the perfect time of the year to celebrate our independents.
By that, we mean independent presses — the small publishers powered by literary true believers, committed to putting out curated works that challenge the mainstream, and that are too often ignored by big-box retailers and corporate e-commerce sites. The books they publish might not make it to the bestseller lists or celebrity book clubs, but they’re every bit as worthy as their Big Five publisher counterparts.
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And whether you’re into twisty mysteries, edge-of-your-seat thrillers, or informative nonfiction, there are plenty of small-press authors offering up unique reimaginings of all your favorite genres — or carving out entirely new forms that blur the lines of literary categories.
If you’re looking for a book for the beach (or the air-conditioned place of your choice), here are 33 indie-press titles you might not have heard of, but are more than worthy of your attention.
Whether you’re into fiction, nonfiction or poetry, you’re bound to find something you like here.
These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)
“The Seers” by Sulaiman Addonia (Coffee House Press)
Addonia’s sexy and stylistically bold novel follows Eritrean refugee Hannah’s first weeks in London as she navigates life in the U.K.’s asylum system. It’s one of the latest offerings from the Minnesota-based publisher, which has been spreading the word about indie literature for 53 years.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Rarest Fruit” by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Europa Editions)
This publisher of international literature is celebrating its 20th year, and among this year’s offerings is this novel from Réunionese author Bélem, about the real-life botanist Edmond Albius, who revolutionized the vanilla industry in the 19th century. Bélem was longlisted for the International Booker Prize for her novel “There’s a Monster Behind the Door.”
Publication Date: out now
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“The Pawn” by Paco Cerdà, translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn (Deep Vellum)
This Dallas-based press has been publishing international books for 12 years. Among its latest releases is this novel from Spanish author Cerdà — his first book to be translated into English — about the famous 1962 chess match between Spanish grandmaster Arturo Pomar and American teenage prodigy Bobby Fischer.
Publication Date: out now
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“Anam” by André Dao (Kaya Press)
USC-based Kaya Press, which publishes works by Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic writers, is one of the most dependably original presses in the country. Among its more exciting recent releases is this novel, about a Cambridge University academic who is haunted by the story of his soft-spoken grandfather, who for 10 years was a prisoner of conscience in Vietnam.
Publication Date: out now
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“COVID Vortex Anxiety Opera Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco” by Karen Finley (City Lights Publishers)
Poet and performance artist Finley, who caused a stir in the early 1990s as one of the “NEA Four,” returns with a suite of poems that she originally performed at live appearances in New York. The book, published by the venerable San Francisco press, takes a look at the changes people made during the COVID-19 lockdowns and offers a cautiously hopeful view of humanity going forward.
Publication Date: out now
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“Porthole” by Joanna Howard (McSweeney’s Books)
San Francisco publisher McSweeney’s, founded by Dave Eggers in 1998, has fun with its books, and it shows — they treat each volume like its own artwork. That’s the case with Howard’s new novel about Helena Désir, an art-house film director who is possibly to blame for an on-set death, and who goes to a luxury retreat after suffering exhaustion.
Publication Date: out now
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“Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange” by Katie Goh (Tin House)
Irish author Goh set out to write a history of oranges, but along the way, she realized that her search for the citrus fruit bore similarities to her search for her own family history. It’s a wildly inventive book, which is typical for the Portland, Oregon, press that has been publishing innovative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for 20 years.
Publication Date: out now
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“Jumping Through Hoops” by Betsy Golden Kellem (The Feminist Press)
Golden Kellem knows circuses — she won a regional Emmy Award for “Showman’s Shorts,” a video series about P.T. Barnum. In her book, she takes a look at women and gender-nonconforming circus performers in the 19th century. It comes courtesy of the Feminist Press, the 55-year-old publisher of books that “spark much-needed dialogue and move the feminist conversation forward.”
Publication Date: out now
These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)
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“Marisolandia” by Michelle Cruz Gonzales (WTAW Press)
This Santa Rosa-based publisher, born out of a literary reading series, has been putting out compelling books since 2017. One of their latest is this novel of speculative fiction by Oakland-based punk rocker Gonzales. In it, Marisol, a woman in the new Republic of California, is being pressured to marry a White man to help create a homogenous race, but she instead decides to spend time with a goatherd and the members of his punk rock band.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Closest Thing to a Normal Life” by Michael Méndez Guevara (Arte Público Press)
Arte Público, the country’s largest publisher of Latino literature, was the first press to put out Sandra Cisneros’ seminal “The House on Mango Street.” It recently released this debut young-adult novel about 17-year-old Ethan-Matthew Cruz Canton, an aspiring journalist living in San Antonio with his grandparents after his parents are killed in a terrorist attack.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Theory & Practice of Rivers” by Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press)
Originally published in 1986, this modern classic poetry collection/memoir was inspired by the death of the late Harrison’s 16-year-old niece. It has been reissued, with an introduction by Rebecca Solnit, by the Washington state-based Copper Canyon Press, which has been a stalwart in the poetry publishing world since 1972.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands” by Josh Jackson (Heyday Books)
Los Angeles author Jackson is the founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, which uses art and storytelling to “spotlight the nation’s least protected and most misunderstood places. His book introduces readers to the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands in the Golden State. It’s published by Berkeley-based Heyday, which has been putting out California-themed books since 1974.
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“The Island” by Antigone Kefala (Transit Books)
Kefala, who died in 2022, was one of Australia’s most fascinating authors, but her work never broke through in America. The 10-year-old Berkeley-based Transit hopes to change that with this reissue of her 2022 novel about Melina, a student in Australia who longs to know more about her early childhood in Europe.
Publication Date: out now
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“Sleep Phase” by Mohamed Kheir, translated by Robin Moger (Two Lines Press)
A program of the Center for the Art of Translation, this San Francisco-based press is committed to putting out translations of international books, both old and new. Among its recent publications is Kheir’s Kafkaesque novel about an Egyptian man released from prison after serving a seven-year sentence who tries to get his old job as a translator back.
Publication Date: out now
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“Is Peace Possible?” by Kathleen Lonsdale (Marginalian Editions)
One of the first three books to be published by Marginalian Editions — a collaboration between writer Maria Popova and McNally Jackson Books owner Sarah McNally — is this reissue of Quaker scientist Lonsdale’s 1957 book that argues that scientists can, and should, help bring about peace instead of war.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Summer House” by Masashi Matsuie, translated by Margaret Mitsutani (Other Press)
New York-based Other Press has built a solid reputation for publishing excellent, and often surprising, works of fiction and nonfiction. It recently released this debut novel from Japanese author Matsuie, about a small group of architects working on designing the National Library of Modern Literature. The book won the prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature.
Publication Date: out now
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“The Golden Book of Words” by Bernadette Mayer (New Directions Publishing)
New York-based New Directions is one of the oldest indie presses in the nation — it was founded in 1936 by a Harvard University sophomore. One of its latest, and most exciting, releases is this reissue of an early poetry collection by Mayer, the legendary poet and artist who died in 2022.
Publication Date: out now
These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)
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“Angel Eye” by Madeleine Nakamura (Red Hen Press)
Now in its 31st year, Pasadena-based Red Hen Press is one of Southern California’s most esteemed independent publishers. Among its recent releases is Nakamura’s fantasy novel about a professor on the hunt for a healer who is murdering hospital patients. The novel is the sequel to Nakamura’s well-received “Cursebreakers.”
Publication Date: out now
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“Not Long Ago Persons Found” by J. Richard Osborn (Bellevue Literary Press)
The debut novel from Oakland-based author Osborn tells the story of a biological anthropologist trying to figure out how a young boy died with pollen in his lungs that came from a faraway river valley. The book is published by New York-based Bellevue Literary Press, which publishes literature “at the intersection of the arts and sciences.”
Publication Date: out now
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“World Without End: Essays on Apocalypse and After” by Martha Park (Hub City Press)
This is the 30th year for Hub City, the South Carolina-based press that publishes “extraordinary new and unsung writers from the American South.” It recently released this essay collection from Tennessee author Park, which tackles themes including religion, motherhood, and the climate crisis.
Publication Date: out now
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“She Walks in Beauty” by Dawn Powell (Belt Publishing)
Ohio-born author Powell, who died in 1965, was underappreciated in her time. Belt Publishing, which puts out titles by authors from the Rust Belt, wants readers to rediscover her work, including this 1928 novel about two Ohio sisters who live in their grandmother’s boarding house in the months before World War I breaks out.
Publication Date: out now
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“Mafalda: Book One” by Quino, translated by Frank Wynne (Archipelago Books)
More than 60 years after cartoonist Quino’s satirical comic strip launched, Mafalda — a 6-year-old girl with a preternatural concern for the future of humanity — remains one of Argentina’s most beloved fictional characters. For the first time, U.S. readers can enjoy the legendary comic, courtesy of the Brooklyn-based press that publishes translated world literature.
Publication Date: out now
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“Soft as Bones” by Chyana Marie Sage (House of Anansi Press)
Cree, Métis, and Salish journalist Sage made history as the first Indigenous person to graduate from Columbia University’s creative nonfiction MFA program. Her memoir tells the story of her childhood growing up with her father, a crack dealer who abused her older sister. It’s one of the newer releases from House of Anansi, the Canadian indie press that once employed Margaret Atwood as an editor.
Publication Date: out now
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“Hot Girls With Balls” by Benedict Nguyễn (Catapult Books)
This indie press has only been publishing books for 10 years, but it has racked up more than its share of critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. This summer sees the release of dancer Nguyễn’s provocatively titled satirical novel about Six and Green, two volleyball players on rival teams who publicize their romance on the Internet.
Publication Date: July 1
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“Watch Out for Falling Iguanas” by Edwidge Danticat, illustrated by Rachel Moss (Akashic Books)
Kids deserve quality indie lit too, and it’s hard to find a more acclaimed writer than Danticat, who delivers a charming tale about a young Miami girl who encounters a titular reptile decamping from its tree home. It’s published by Akashic, the Brooklyn-based publisher with a pronounced punk rock bent.
Publication Date: July 1
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These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)
“The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing” by Michael Castleman (Unnamed Press)
If you’re a true bibliophile (you know who you are), it’s going to be hard to resist a book about books. That’s what San Francisco-based author Castleman delivers here: a history of the book publishing industry, from Gutenberg to today. The book’s publisher, Unnamed Press, has been an LA mainstay since 2014.
Publication Date: July 2
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“Curandera” by Irenosen Okojie (Soft Skull Press)
Founded in 1992 by a New York student working at a Kinko’s, Soft Skull has evolved into one of the nation’s premier presses of books outside the mainstream. That’s certainly the case with Nigerian British author Okojie’s strikingly original novel, a fantasy/horror book set both in contemporary London and 17th-century Cape Verde.
Publication Date: July 8
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“Paradiso” by Dante Alighieri, translated by Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf Press)
Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press has been putting out excellent works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for 51 years. One of its standout titles this year is this new translation of Dante’s 14th-century classic; Bang previously received critical acclaim for her translations of Dante’s “Inferno” and “Paradiso.”
Publication Date: July 8
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“Wedding of the Foxes” by Katherine Larson (Milkweed Editions)
Ecologist and poet Larson’s latest is a collection of lyric essays about everything from sandhill cranes to Godzilla. It’s a fitting offering from Minneapolis-based Milkwood Editions, which, as its butterfly-themed name suggests, “seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem.”
Publication Date: July 15
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“Absence” by Issa Quincy (Two Dollar Radio)
The punkish family-run Ohio press Two Dollar Radio is your favorite publisher’s favorite publisher. It’s known for daring, beautifully produced books in a variety of genres, and one of its latest is this novel that follows a series of characters in Thailand, Great Britain and Cyprus.
Publication Date: July 15
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“The Tilting House” by Ivonne Lamazares (Counterpoint Press)
Miami author Lamazares’ novel tells the story of two estranged sisters who reunite in Cuba in the 1990s and try to make sense of their troubled family. It’s one of several exciting titles coming this year from Counterpoint, which is just as known for literary excellence as its sister presses, Catapult and Soft Skull.
Publication Date: July 22
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“Mississippi Blue 42” by Eli Cranor (Soho Press)
This New York-based press is approaching 40 years of publishing high-quality books in a variety of genres. If you’re a football fan who can’t bear to wait two months until the start of the season, this novel — the first in a planned series, by a real-life former football quarterback and coach, and about an FBI agent investigating a college program — should hit the spot.
Publication Date: Aug. 5
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“The Dancing Face” by Mike Phillips (Melville House Books)
New York-based Melville House, founded in 2001, has long been known for its eclecticism and its intelligence. One of this summer’s books from the press is this thriller about a Black university professor who decides to liberate a priceless African sculpture from a museum in London.
Publication Date: Aug. 12
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