Agate Publishing

Agate Publishing, and its founder Doug Seibold, have been singled out among various Chicago publications as emblematic of the city's burgeoning independent publishing scene. Seibold regularly appears on NewCity Lit's "Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago," a list of the fifty most influential people in Chicago's literary scene. Starting in 2009, he represented Agate at #24; in 2011, #16; in 2013, #7; and in 2015, his rank improved again to #6.{{cite web|title=Lit 50 2015: Who Really Books in Chicago|url=http://lit.newcity.com/2015/06/04/lit-50-2015-who-really-books-in-chicago/|website=NewCity}}{{cite web|url=http://lit.newcity.com/2011/06/02/lit-50-who-really-books-in-chicago-2011/2/ |title=Lit 50: Who Really Books In Chicago 2010 |publisher=Newcity |date=June 2011 |accessdate=May 19, 2014}}{{Cite web|url=http://lit.newcity.com/2009/06/02/lit-50-who-really-books-in-chicago/ |title=Lit 50, 2009 |publisher=Newcity |date=June 2, 2009 |accessdate=July 9, 2014}}{{Cite web|url=http://lit.newcity.com/2013/06/06/lit-50-who-really-books-in-chicago-2013/ |title=Lit 50, 2013 |publisher=Newcity |date=June 2, 2011 |accessdate=December 10, 2014}} Agate's rising prominence was recognized by the Chicago Reader in its Best of 2014 issue, where it was awarded the superlative "Best Use of Start-Up Mode by a Press No Longer in Start-Up Mode."{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-use-of-start-up-mode-by-a-press-no-longer-in-start-up-mode/BestOf?oid=13981082 |title=Best Use of Start-Up Mode by a Press No Longer in Start-Up Mode |newspaper=Chicago Reader |author=Jonathan Messinger |date=June 2014 |accessdate=June 26, 2014}}

Agate typically releases about twenty books a year, with several achieving national recognition, acclaim, or awards. Freshwater Road, by Denise Nicholas, won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction in 2006.{{cite web |url=http://astore.amazon.com/hurstonwright?_encoding=UTF8&node=1 |title=Winners/Nominees: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award |publisher= |author= |date= |accessdate=May 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224121353/http://astore.amazon.com/hurstonwright?_encoding=UTF8&node=1 |archive-date=February 24, 2014 |url-status=dead }} In 2013, Leonard Pitts's Freeman won the Black Caucus of the American Library Association award for best fiction.{{cite web |url=http://gapersblock.com/bookclub/2013/02/15/agate_publishings_freeman_wins_bcala_fiction_award/ |title=Agate Publishing's Freeman Wins BCALA Fiction Award |publisher=Gapers Block |author= |date=February 15, 2013 |accessdate=May 8, 2014}}

Agate titles have also been nominated for multiple NAACP Image Awards,{{cite web|url=http://www.naacp.org/press/entry/nominees-for-41st-naacp-image-awards-announced--live-at-press-conference-by-taye-diggs--michael-strahan--wanda-sykes--kyle-massey--chris-massey--tatyana-ali-and-naacp-executives |title=Nominees for 41st NAACP Image Awards |publisher=NAACP.org |accessdate=May 8, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725012752/http://www.naacp.org/press/entry/nominees-for-41st-naacp-image-awards-announced--live-at-press-conference-by-taye-diggs--michael-strahan--wanda-sykes--kyle-massey--chris-massey--tatyana-ali-and-naacp-executives/ |archivedate=July 25, 2010 }} the Believer Book Award,{{cite web |url=http://www.believermag.com/issues/201403/?read=believer_book_award |title=The 2013 Believer Book Award Editor's Shortlist |publisher=The Believer |author= |date=March–April 2014 |accessdate=May 8, 2014}} and the International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award,{{cite web |url=http://eater.com/archives/2014/02/18/iacp-announces-2014-food-writing-finalists.php |title=IACP Announces 2014 Food Writing Finalists |publisher=Eater |author= |date=February 18, 2014 |accessdate=May 8, 2014}} among others. Jesmyn Ward, who published her debut novel Where the Line Bleeds with Agate, went on to win the National Book Award in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.pw.org/content/five_young_literary_lions_contend_for_2012_prize |title=Five Young Literary Lions Contend for 2012 Prize |publisher=Poets & Writers |author= |date=March 15, 2012 |accessdate=May 8, 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/breakfast-meeting-nov-17/?action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2FAgate%2BPublishing%2F |title=Breakfast Meeting, Nov 17 |work=The New York Times |author=Noam Cohen |date=November 17, 2014|accessdate=May 15, 2014}}

Hot Doug's: The Book, a Midway nonfiction title by Doug Sohn, the owner and proprietor of the eponymous Chicago "encased meat emporium," was named one of the "Best books of 2013 (so far)" by The A.V. Club. In his writeup, Eric Thurm calls it "the rare successful book that makes you want to put it down: In this case, to catch a plane/train/walk to Hot Doug's."{{cite news|url=http://www.avclub.com/article/best-books-of-2013-so-far-100502 |title=Best books of 2013 (so far) |newspaper=The A.V. Club |author=The A.V. Club staff |date=July 22, 2013 |accessdate=May 16, 2014}}

In particular, Long Division, a Bolden novel by Kiese Laymon, has received substantial attention from the critical and literary communities. It garnered generally positive reviews from all of the "big four" advance review outlets—Kirkus,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kiese-laymon/long-division/|title=Kirkus Review: Long Division |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |date= March 14, 2013|accessdate=May 15, 2014}} Publishers Weekly,{{cite magazine |url=http://new.publishersweekly.com/978-1-932841-72-5 |title=Long Division |magazine=Publishers Weekly|date=June 3, 2014|accessdate=May 15, 2014}} Library Journal,{{cite magazine |url=http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2013/06/18/weekly-reviews-debut-novels-2/ |title=Weekly Reviews: Debut Novels |magazine=School Library Journal |date=June 18, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}} and Booklist.{{cite web |url=http://booklistonline.com/Long-Division-Kiese-Laymon/pid=6049151 |title=Booklist Review: Long Division |publisher=Booklist |accessdate=May 15, 2014}} Additionally, literary journals such as the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Paris Review, and the Boston Review praised the novel.{{cite magazine |url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-past-is-not-dead-time-and-race-in-kiese-laymons-long-division |title=The Past is Not Dead: Time and Race in Kiese Laymon's Long Division |magazine=LA Review of Books |author=Jason McCall |date=November 20, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}}{{cite magazine |url=http://bostonreview.net/fiction/black-time |title=Black in Time |magazine=Boston Review |author=Lucy McKeon |date=July 9, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/10/03/future-tense-an-interview-with-kiese-laymon/ |title=Future Tense: An Interview with Kiese Laymon |magazine=The Paris Review |author=Whitney Mallett |date=October 3, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}} Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgress and The Washington Post wrote that "If Laymon's novel runs into some plotting problems over the course of its run, it succeeds in doing something more emotionally moving, producing a series of crystalline moments when City comes to a clearer understanding of the world he lives in–and the kind of man he wants to be in it."{{cite web |url=http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/07/10/2271891/kiese-laymon-long-division/ |title=Kiese Laymon's Long Division Disappears Inside the Heads of his Teenaged Characters |website=ThinkProgress |author=Alyssa Rosenberg |date=July 10, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}} Novelist, professor, and social commentator Roxane Gay, in a piece for The Nation, called Long Division "[an] ambitious novel, and though it is raw and flawed, it is the most exciting book I've read all year. There's nothing like it, both in terms of the scope of what the book tackles and the writing's Afro Surrealist energy."{{cite magazine |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/176147/conversation-kiese-laymon |title=A Conversation with Kiese Laymon |magazine=The Nation |author=Roxane Gay |date=September 12, 2013 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}} In 2014, the novel was chosen for The Morning News Tournament of Books, but was eliminated in the first round by The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt in a verdict rendered by Hector Tobar.{{cite web|url=http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/2014/the-goldfinch-v-long-division.php |title=Long Division v. The Goldfinch |publisher=The Morning News |author=Hector Tobar |date=March 14, 2014 |accessdate=May 15, 2014}}

File:Leonard Pitts 2011.jpg has published four books with Agate to date.]]

• Jabari Asim
• Fred Cook, CEO of Golin
• Amy Dickinson
• Barbara Grunes
• Charlayne Hunter-Gault
• Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Kiese Laymon
• Regina Louise
• Deborah Mathis
• Steve McDonagh and Dan Smith
• Jill Nelson
• Denise Nicholas
• Monica Pedersen
• Leonard Pitts
• Gil Robertson IV
• Mary Schmich
• Freda Love Smith, of the Blake Babies
• Doug Sohn, of Hot Doug's
• Anthony Terlato
• Lynn Toler
• Johan Van Overtveldt
• Jesmyn Ward

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://www.agatepublishing.com/ Agate Publishing] website, for trade book publishing.
• [http://agatedevelopment.com/ Agate Development] website, for educational and contract publishing.

Category:Book publishing companies based in Illinois

Category:Companies based in Evanston, Illinois

Category:Publishing companies established in 2002

Category:Educational publishing companies of the United States

Category:Small press publishing companies

Category:Culture of the Midwestern United States

Category:2002 establishments in Illinois

Category:Illinois culture