London · Independent · Since 2009
Fiction the big
houses overlook.
We publish the novels and stories that larger trade publishers overlook. These are debut novels, translated works, and quietly extraordinary stories that we send out into the world with care.
The House
A book does not need a marketing department to be worth your evening. It needs an editor who will not let it go, a translator who hears it, and a house unembarrassed to publish slowly.
The Calthorpe Press began in a single room off Calthorpe Street with a manuscript three larger publishers had turned down. That novel went on to be read in eleven languages. We have spent every year since looking for the next one: writers working at the edge of a tradition, translations that others will not fund, and debuts too strange to be safe. We keep our list short on purpose, and we keep our books in print on principle.
Read our editorial position →Our next list
Our next list is being set, and new titles will appear here as they go to press. While the physical presses are quiet, our reading is not; our submissions desk never closes.
Submit a manuscript →Global reach
From one street in Bloomsbury to readers everywhere.
We are small by design and connected by necessity. Our rights team works with co-edition partners, translators, and trade distributors on six continents, ensuring that a novel acquired in London finds its readers in São Paulo, Seoul, and Stockholm.
- Rights & co-editions
- World rights handled in-house. Sold and shared with literary houses across Europe, the Americas and East Asia.
- Translation
- A standing programme that funds and commissions translation into and out of English, supported by international cultural institutes.
- Trade distribution
- Distributed to bookshops worldwide, with dedicated representation in the UK, Ireland, North America and the Commonwealth.
From the press
“The most interesting list in British publishing is also the one you have most likely never heard of.”
Submissions are open
We read everything that arrives.
No agent required. Send us the first chapters of your novel or a handful of stories. We reply to every submission. It takes time because a real person reads every page we receive, but we will get back to you.