Carcanet takes on Little Island Press as new imprint

Manchester-based indie Carcanet Press has joined forces with Little Island Press. Little Island becomes a new imprint of Carcanet, which will develop it as its prose arm.

Fine editions publisher Little Island Press was launched in 2016 by Andrew Latimer, who joined Carcanet in 2018 and is its managing editor. Latimer said:  "All new presses lack one key thing: history. Having just celebrated 50 years of independent literary publishing, Carcanet has it by the bucketload. I could not be more pleased that Little Island Press will be joining, and hopefully adding to, this publishing history." 

Michael Schmidt, publisher at Carcanet Press, added: "Little Island — literary publisher of handsome, high-quality and carefully curated hardcover books — and its founder-editor Andrew Latimer, were objects of respect and admiration. Then by great good fortune Andrew became Carcanet’s managing editor and it has become possible to bring his wonderful books and striking annuals under the Carcanet umbrella, a great addition to our activities. I hope that, as an imprint, Little Island will continue to grow and thrive, but in paperback."

Little Island’s full backlist is now available via the Carcanet website and the trade. Lead titles include To the Many: Collected Early Works of Lola Ridge, an overlooked early 20th-century poet, edited by Daniel Tobin, and fiction such as David Hayden’s short stories Darker With the Lights On. Two collaborative titles have already been published: Gabriel Josipovici’s Forgetting and Rosanna Mclaughlin’s Double-Tracking. Forthcoming is a prose nature work from Gillian Clarke, the former National Poet of Wales.

New titles from Little Island will henceforth be issued in paperback format.