High Risk Books was a book publisher, founded in New York City in 1993 as an

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Serpent's Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...

Press of London. It was started by Ira Silverberg and

Amy Scholder Amy Scholder is an American literary editor and documentary filmmaker known for amplifying the stories of marginalized writers, artists, musicians, and activists. Biography Early years Born in San Francisco, Scholder grew up in the San Fernando ...

who was then an editor at

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in San Francisco. Its titles were designed by

Rex Ray Rex Ray (September 11, 1956 – February 9, 2015) was an American graphic designer and collage artist, based in San Francisco. Biography Born as Michael Patterson on September 11, 1956, on a United States Army base in Germany, and he was raised ...

. High Risk Books was dedicated to publishing innovative, provocative, and progressive literature. The publishing firm was united by its concern for certain subversive impulses, and in this spirit printed authors as diverse as

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Tim Dlugos Tim Dlugos (born Francis Timothy Dlugos) (August 5, 1950 – December 3, 1990) was an American poet. Early in his career, Dlugos was celebrated for his energetic, openly gay, pop culture-infused poems. Later, he became widely known for the poems ...

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...

, Diamanda Galas, Gary Indiana,

June Jordan June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation. Jordan was passionate about using Black English i ...

Cookie Mueller Dorothy Karen "Cookie" Mueller (March 2, 1949 – November 10, 1989) was an American actress, writer, and Dreamlander who starred in many of filmmaker John Waters' early films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'', ''Pink Flamingos'', ''Female Trouble ...

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

John Giorno John Giorno (December 4, 1936 – October 11, 2019) was an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, inc ...

Pagan Kennedy Pagan Kennedy (born c. 1963) is an American citizen, American columnist and author, and pioneer of the 1990s zine movement. She has written ten books in a variety of genres, was a regular contributor to the ''Boston Globe'', and has published ar ...

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...

Jayne Cortez Jayne Cortez (May 10, 1934 – December 28, 2012) was an African-American poet, activist, small press publisher and spoken-word performance artist whose voice is celebrated for its political, surrealistic and dynamic innovations in lyricism and ...

, and many others. As a small press, High Risk played an important role in providing a space for many emerging writers who would otherwise have found it difficult to get published in mainstream, large houses. High Risk Books ceased operation in January 1997 because of disagreements with Serpent's Tail in London, although books bearing the High Risk logo continued to be published through Serpent's Tail until 2002.

References

{{Reflist Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies established in 1993