About the Press
We strive to publish keenly human documents – literature that catches the fullness of our experience and situation in the world, from Cavafy’s solitary notes, at the start of the twentieth century, that bear on homosexual lack of agency (together with the poems that came to birth in the same period), to a play set during the war in Kosovo and the NATO bombings; from the poetry of Pascoli on the brink of the twentieth century, embedded in rustic life and the natural world, to the work of engaged poets, playwrights, and prose writers who grapple in distant places with the crises of our times.
We seek to hold a lamp to difficult human circumstances, obscure moments of history, and dimensions of life on earth that seem to be escaping us. Literary translation is that lamp – the beautiful instrument of such illumination.
Laertes is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) humanities organization. All donations are enormously appreciated.
Contact
Laertes Press, Incorporated
P.O. Box 2053 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2053
editor@laertesbooks.org
Submissions
We’re a small press searching out fine translations into English of works first published in another tongue. Literature of the twentieth century is the crux of our concern, with cusps extending backward into the nineteenth century and forward into this one.
Egret imprint – anthologies, chapbooks, and acting editions – publishes engaged literature, or works that have a documentary weight. Its period is more contemporary.
Attach as much material as you would like to an email and relay to:
(A PDF version would be preferable.)
Our interest will be in the work itself rather than past publication history.