Independent Publisher, And Other Stories, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this autumn with a redesign as well as physical and digital events. They invite you share your book photos and videos with fellow readers using the hashtags #AndOtherShelves and #aos10, as well as tagging them on Instagram (@andotherpics), Twitter (@andothertweets), Facebook (@AndOtherStoriesBooks), YouTube (@andothervideos) and wherever else you hang out.
I’ve supported them for some time and have my name inside the covers as a previous subscriber. Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, reviewed here, is one of my favourite books. Their authors are bold and daring, with each book surprising the reader. I love the variety of styles and the different settings and cultures in which the stories are set. These are just a few that I own, but I have more scattered around the house in various places. I don’t like to be too far from a book! I love the cover designs, too.
Founder and publisher Stefan Tobler says that the team will mark the milestone from September on into the new year with new designs, online events and in-person parties and bookshop displays. The publisher’s titles will get a different look from September onwards, thanks to new house-style typefaces as well as the appointment of an art director, designer Tom Etherington.
Reflecting on the early days of And Other Stories, Tobler says: “To be honest it feels like a minor miracle that the press started at all. I was a single parent, not living in London, and so not getting out all that much. I had never worked in publishing. It was amazing how ready with advice others in publishing were, like Pete Ayrton, and organisations such as Arts Council England.” He notes that while And Other Stories was something of a pioneer with its focus on translated writing and its subscription model when it began, in the last decade the landscape for both has changed a lot (The Bookseller, 23 July 2021).
And Other Stories publishes contemporary writing, including many translations. As a publisher, they aim to push people’s reading limits and to open up publishing so that, in their own words, “from the outside it doesn’t look like some posh freemasonry.” They believe that more of the English publishing industry should move out of London, Oxford and their environs. In 2017 And Other Stories moved their main office to Sheffield and recieved a warm welcome. The move helped them to discover great new writing from the North of England, including Tim Etchells’ Endland, Amy Arnold’s Slip of a Fish and Rachel Genn’s What You Could Have Won.
And Other Stories is made up of readers, editors, writers, translators and subscribers, with books distributed widely through bookshops, although they say that subscriber support is what makes the books happen. They now have about 1,500 active subscribers in over 40 countries, receiving up to 6 books a year. If you are interested in subscribing, click here.
Do you have any And Other Stories books? Let us know and share any snaps in the comments…
F.C. MALBY 