Small presses release some of the best books around
Here in January, a month of predictions, at least one piece of prognostication about the upcoming year in national letters seems a pretty safe bet: In 2014, as in other years, some of the best literary work will come from the nation鈥檚 small presses.
Look no further than last year for evidence of the success that small presses had in attracting top talent.
Consider, for starters, Verlyn Klinkenborg, who concluded a 16-year run last month as a member of the New York Times editorial board. Klinkenborg, perhaps best known for his popular 鈥淭he Rural Life鈥� columns about country life, published his first collection of essays, also called 鈥淭he Rural Life,鈥� with Little, Brown in 2002.
But last year, when Klinkenborg brought out a follow-up, 鈥淢ore Scenes from the Rural Life,鈥� he used a small publisher, Princeton Architectural Press, a 30-year-old firm that specializes in titles about architecture and design.
That seemed an odd fit for Klinkenborg鈥檚 essays, which stress musings on horses and chickens and trees rather than design issues, but Princeton鈥檚 production values proved a big plus for the book, with elegant line drawings by Nigel Peake that offered a perfect complement to Klinkenborg鈥檚 exquisite prose.
Klinkenborg explained the odd-couple pairing of author and publisher by noting that Kevin and Jennifer Lippert, top executives at Princeton, are also his friends and neighbors.
Phyllis Theroux is another writer previously connected with major publishers who opted for the small press route in 2013. Theroux is best known for an acclaimed memoir, 鈥淐alifornia and Other States of Grace,鈥� published by William Morrow, as well as the more recent 鈥淭he Journal Keeper,鈥濃�� released in 2010 by Atlantic Monthly Press. But 鈥淭he Good Bishop,鈥� Theroux鈥檚 2013 biography of the socially liberal Catholic leader Walter F. Sullivan, was published by Orbis Books, a small religious press operated by the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
The subject matter of 鈥淭he Good Bishop,鈥� although of obvious interest to Catholics, should also resonate with a secular audience, too, since the book is, at base, a fascinating account of a shrewd political genius. And here, as in her other books, Theroux鈥檚 gift for the lapidary sentence remains vivid. Listen to how she describes Sullivan鈥檚 funeral: 鈥淔or several long minutes, while the congregation waited in silence for the funeral party to return, there was nothing to contemplate but the marble altar at whose base the bishop鈥檚 coffin had lain. Morning sun clothed the bare altar with radiance. The bright emptiness emphasized what was no longer there.鈥�
Brian Doyle鈥檚 resume also includes collaborations with both large commercial publishers and small presses. A celebrated essayist whose work recently appeared in Houghton Mifflin鈥檚 鈥淭he Best American Essays 2013,鈥� Doyle has a regular Friday column in the online edition of The American Scholar. In April, Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin鈥檚 Press, will publish 鈥淭he Plover,鈥� Doyle鈥檚 lyrical new novel about a mystical ship in the Northwest and its haunted Captain Declan.
But last year, in advance of the Doyle鈥檚 publishing venture with big-league publisher St. Martin鈥檚, he released 鈥淭he Thorny Grace of It,鈥� his latest collection of essays, through the much smaller Loyola Press.
鈥淭horny Grace鈥� contains Doyle鈥檚 signature reflections on faith, fatherhood and family, delivered in a tone that alternates between puckish humor and open-hearted emotion.
The latest books from Klinkenborg, Theroux and Doyle are just a few of the quality titles that small presses continue to generate. All of which means that in 2014, readers who want good work might do well to think small.
Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Louisiana, is the author of 鈥淎 Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.鈥�
