MacLehose Press
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| MacLehose Press | |
|---|---|
| Name | MacLehose Press |
| Parent | Quercus Publishing |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founder | Christopher MacLehose |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | London |
| Publications | Books |
| Topics | Fiction, Non-fiction, Translation |
MacLehose Press
MacLehose Press is an imprint of Quercus Publishing established to showcase literary fiction, translated literature, and high-profile non-fiction. It built a reputation for international acquisition, prize-winning translations, and collaborations with translators, editors, and authors from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
History
Christopher MacLehose founded the imprint after a career at HarperCollins, William Collins, Sons, and Secker & Warburg; earlier influences included relationships with figures such as Graham Greene, V. S. Naipaul, and Joseph Conrad. The imprint launched amid shifts in British publishing linked to mergers involving Hachette Livre, Random House, and Penguin Books. Early editorial strategy drew on precedents set by Pushkin Press and Fitzcarraldo Editions while responding to successes at Faber and Faber, Jonathan Cape, and Chatto & Windus. MacLehose Press positioned itself alongside independent initiatives like Granta Books and Bloomsbury Publishing during a period marked by festival circuits including Edinburgh International Book Festival and Hay Festival.
Editorial Focus and Imprint Strategy
MacLehose Press prioritized translated fiction and debut English-language novels, emulating models from Dalkey Archive Press and Serpent's Tail. Its commissioning mirrored lists at Verso Books and NYRB Classics, seeking authors comparable in international stature to Karl Ove Knausgård, Elena Ferrante, Orhan Pamuk, Haruki Murakami, and Isabel Allende. Editorial alliances involved translators and agents active with Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Daniel Hahn, Charlotte Collins, and agencies like Curtis Brown, United Agents, and ICM Partners. Marketing strategies referenced campaigns used by Scribner, Bloomsbury, and Picador to build audiences for works by writers akin to Svetlana Alexievich, Stieg Larsson, and Kenzaburō Ōe.
Notable Publications and Authors
The imprint published English translations and original works by authors resonant with audiences for Stéphane Hessel, Karl Ove Knausgård, Yann Martel, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Its list featured writers and translators who have worked alongside names such as Hélène Cixous, Orhan Pamuk, Elena Ferrante, Saramago, José Saramago, and Javier Cercas. Authors in its orbit include contemporary figures evoking Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Alice Munro. The imprint’s catalogue attracted comparisons with publishers who championed Nadine Gordimer, Vladimir Nabokov, Marcel Proust, and Günter Grass. Collaborators and champions included editors who previously worked with Bloomsbury, Picador, Faber and Faber, Penguin Classics, and Vintage Books.
Awards and Recognition
Books from the imprint competed for and won prizes commonly cited alongside Man Booker Prize, Nobel Prize in Literature, Calibre Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction, and CILIP Carnegie Medal. Titles have been shortlisted for awards connected to institutions such as British Library, National Book Foundation, Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and Costa Book Awards. The imprint’s translated titles were recognized in contexts similar to the PEN International lists and the International Booker Prize longlists and shortlists, with translators featured in awards like the John Florio Prize and Scott Moncrieff Prize.
Distribution, Partnerships, and International Rights
MacLehose Press negotiated international rights and co-editions with houses that included Svenska förlaget, Gallimard, Suhrkamp Verlag, Grupo Planeta, Editions Gallimard, Rowohlt Verlag, Schibsted, Bompiani, Editorial Anagrama, and Le Seuil. Its distribution networks leveraged relationships with wholesalers and retailers prominent in deals involving Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and international partners such as FNAC and Dymocks. Rights sales targeted territories represented by agencies like Laurence Bassett Agency, Mendelsohn Literary Agency, and market events including the Frankfurt Book Fair, London Book Fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and BookExpo America.
Impact on Independent Publishing and Legacy
The imprint influenced independent publishing by demonstrating the commercial viability of translated literature, echoing the cultural strategies of New Directions Publishing and Seagull Books. Its editorial model informed acquisitions at Faber and Faber, Picador, and smaller houses such as Tilted Axis Press and Peirene Press. MacLehose Press helped raise the profile of translators and international authors at literary festivals including Hay Festival and Cheltenham Literature Festival, and in media outlets like The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Times Literary Supplement. Its legacy persists in cross-border publishing practices visible at events like Frankfurt Book Fair and in the lists of independent imprints inspired by successful translated and international fiction programmes.