Status Active Headquarters location New York Founded 1992 | Country of origin United States Official website thenewpress.com Publication types Books | |
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Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Founders André Schiffrin, Diane Wachtell Similar National Security Archive, Rutgers University Press, Center for Court Innovation, Graywolf Press, Truthout | ||
The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André Schiffrin (Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur) and Diane Wachtell.
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In 1990 André Schiffrin resigned as editor-in-chief of Pantheon Books and within two years raised enough money to launch the New Press, with former Pantheon editor Diane Wachtell. Many of Schiffrin's authors from Pantheon, including Studs Terkel, left to join him.
The New Press is a nonprofit organization intended to publish books in the public interest, that "promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy and to a more equitable world." Schiffrin likened it to "public television and radio, a house to supplement university presses in publishing riskier books." The business model was noteworthy for its innovation, it included grant support in addition to publishing revenue; academic partnerships and staff diversity. Its intern programme aimed at attracting candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds into the book business benefited the wider world of publishing. Victor Navasky, writing in The Nation, called it "a bold experiment in nonprofit, relatively radical book publishing".
Schiffrin was editor in chief for more than a decade, and remained 'founding director and editor at large' until his death in 2013. In 2014 the board of directors includes Barbara Ehrenreich, Gara LaMarche, Michael Ratner and Bob Herbert.
Notable New Press authors include Alice Walker and Bill Moyers. John W. Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II was published by New Press and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2000. Best selling New Press books include The Good War by Studs Terkel; The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; and Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky.
In 2013 New Press was reported as publishing about fifty books a year, virtually all of them of social consequence.
Awards
New Press books that have won awards: