Book News: University of Rochester To Launch Open Letter Publishing House

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 07/23/2007

The University of Rochester July 20 announced the creation of a new international literature publishing house dubbed Open Letter to be run by Chad Post, focusing on “modern classics and contemporary works of fiction.” Beginning in fall 2008, the university said, Open Letter will publish 12 works of international literature a year. “We are focusing on 20th and 21st century literature from around the world—cosmopolitan literature, books that stimulate and provoke readers, and which we hope will be read for generations to come,” said Post, co-founder of Reading the World and former associate director of Dalkey Archive Press. Post is joined at Open Letter by E.J. Van Lanen, former assistant editor at Ecco, and Nathan Furl, former marketing and production director at Dalkey Archive. Open Letter’s first publication will be Nobody’s Home by Dubravka Ugresic (Thank You for Not Reading, Museum of Unconditional Surrender). The other title on the initial list is Bragi Olafsson’s The Pets. The university said that this new publishing venture is one of the key components in its academic programs “designed to train a new generation of literary translators and writers.” In addition to publishing trade books, Open Letter will oversee Three Percent, a new website featuring an international lit blog, reviews of untranslated books, sample translations, and a calendar of grants and prizes for translation.