Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience." It is widely considered to be among the top five independent presses in the United States, and has been called a national treasure. The press publishes

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

History

Coffee House began with ''Toothpaste'', a

mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the pro ...

magazine founded by

Allan Kornblum Allan Nathaniel Kornblum (March 4, 1938 – February 12, 2010) was a United States federal judge and authored key parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. During his career he also served as an adviser to the United States Foreign ...

in Iowa in 1970. After taking a University of Iowa typography course with the acclaimed Harry Duncan, Kornblum was inspired to turn ''Toothpaste'' into Toothpaste Press, a small publishing company dedicated to producing poetry pamphlets and

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker comp ...

books.Jessica Powers
"The impulse to publish is the impulse to share enthusiasm"
After 10 years of publishing letterpress books, Kornblum closed the press in December 1983; the following year, he moved to

, reopened the press as a nonprofit organization, and began printing trade books. Concerned that the press's lighthearted name belied his serious commitment to the press's authors and readers, Kornblum renamed it Coffee House Press. The press soon began to receive national acclaim. In the early 1990s, books like ''Donald Duk'' by

Frank Chin Frank Chin (born February 25, 1940) is an American author and playwright. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian-American theatre. Life and career Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California on February 25, 1940; until the age of s ...

and ''Through the Arc of the Rainforest'' by

Karen Tei Yamashita Karen Tei Yamashita ( ja, 山下てい ; born January 8, 1951) is a Japanese-American writer. Early life Yamashita was born on January 8, 1951, in Oakland, California. Career Yamashita is Professor of Literature at the University of Calif ...

(a 1991

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

winner) drew national attention and also helped to cement the press's continuing reputation for publishing exceptional works by writers of color. As Kornblum once described it, "Coffee House Press has actively published writers of color as writers, as representatives of the best in contemporary literature, first and foremost—then, only secondly, as representatives of minority communities. That might be one of our most important contributions o American literature" In July 2011, after a two-year leadership transition process, Kornblum stepped down to become the press’s senior editor. Chris Fischbach, who began at the press as an intern in 1994, succeeded him as publisher. In 2015, Coffee House partnered with

Emily Gould Emily Gould (born October 13, 1981) is an American author, novelist and blogger who worked as an editor at ''Gawker''. She has written several short stories and novels and is the co-owner, with fellow writer Ruth Curry, of the independent e-boo ...

and Ruth Curry on the Emily Books imprint. Anitra Budd succeeded Fischbach as publisher and executive director in August 2021. Coffee House has published more than 300 books, with over 250 still in print, and releases 15-20 new titles each year. It has earned a reputation for long-term commitment to the authors it chooses to publish. The press is currently located in the historic

Grain Belt The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In the United States, ''corn'' is the common word for maize. More generally, the concept of the Corn Belt con ...

Bottling House in

Northeast Minneapolis Northeast is a defined community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis that is composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods whose street addresses end in "NE". Unofficially it also includes the neighborhoods of the University community which have "NE" addre ...

Books and authors

Especially notable books from Coffee House Press include the best-selling ''Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife'' by

Sam Savage Samuel Phillips Savage (November 9, 1940 – January 17, 2019) was an American novelist and poet, best known for his 2006 novel '' Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife''. Other published works are ''The Cry of the Sloth'', ''The Criminal L ...

and

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

finalists ''Blood Dazzler'' by Patricia Smith (poetry, 2008), and ''I Hotel'' by

(fiction, 2010). Other national award-winning titles include

winners ''Somewhere Else'' by

Matthew Shenoda Matthew Shenoda is an Egyptian-American poet, writer, and professor based in the United States. Born July 14, 1977 in California to Coptic parents who immigrated from Egypt, Matthew Shenoda is a writer and educator whose poems and writings have app ...

(2006), ''The Ocean in the Closet'' by

Yuko Taniguchi Yuko Taniguchi (born in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese American poet, and novelist. Life She graduated from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University and from the University of Minnesota with a M.F.A. She teaches at University of ...

(2008),

American Library Association Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

''Miniatures'' by Norah Labiner (2003) and ALA Best First Novels List selection ''Our Sometime Sister'', also by Labiner (2000). In 2011 Coffee House published

Leaving the Atocha Station ''Leaving the Atocha Station'' (2011) is the debut novel by American poet and critic Ben Lerner. It won the 2011 Believer Book Award. Story The first-person narrator of the novel, Adam Gordon, is an American poet in his early 20s participating ...

Ben Lerner Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the National Bo ...

, one of the year's most critically acclaimed novels, drawing national and international attention to the press. Other award-winning Coffee House Press authors include

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

Kao Kalia Yang Kao Kalia Yang (born 1980) is a Hmong American writer and author of ''The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir'' from Coffee House Press and ''The Song Poet'' from Metropolitan Press. Her work has appeared in the ''Paj Ntaub Voice'' Hmong liter ...

, David Hilton,

Laird Hunt Laird Hunt (born April 3, 1968) is an American writer, translator and academic. Life Hunt grew up in Singapore, San Francisco, The Hague, and London before moving to his grandmother's farm in rural Indiana, where he attended Clinton Central Hig ...

, and

Brian Evenson Brian Evenson (born August 12, 1966) is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction, some of the latter being published under B. K. Evenson. His fiction is often described as literary minimalism, but also draws i ...

Awards

Coffee House Press won the 2017 AWP Small Press Publisher Award given by the

Association of Writers & Writing Programs The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' c ...

that "acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation" of small presses and "their contributions to the literary landscape" of the US.

References

External links

Coffee House Press Website

Submission Guidelines

Poets & Writers Profile

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution

Special Collections Department, University of Iowa Libraries. {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Minnesota Culture of Minneapolis Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1984 Literary publishing companies Poetry publishers Non-profit publishers Companies based in Minneapolis 1984 establishments in Minnesota American companies established in 1984