Tilted Axis Press

{{Short description|Publishing house for contemporary Asian literature}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox publisher|name=Tilted Axis Press|status=Active|founded={{start date and age|df=yes|2015|06|06}}|founder={{hlist|Deborah Smith}}|successor=|country=United Kingdom|distribution=NBN International |publications=Books|topics=Asian literature|nasdaq=|url={{URL|https://tiltedaxispress.com/}}|image=Tilted_Axis_Press_Logo.png}}

Tilted Axis Press is a non-profit British publishing house specializing in the publication of contemporary Asian literature.{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/about|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Tilted Axis Press|language=en-GB}} Founded by Deborah Smith in 2015 following the success of her translation of Han Kang's The Vegetarian,{{Cite web|date=2016-08-25|title=Translator Becomes Publisher: Deborah Smith and Tilted Axis Press|url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2016/08/translator-tilted-axis/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Publishing Perspectives|language=en-US}} the organization has gone on to publish 42 books and several chapbooks translated from 18 languages.{{Cite web|last=Hession|first=Ronan|date=2020-10-29|title=#TranslatedLit An Introduction to Tilted Axis Press|url=https://glli-us.org/2020/10/29/translatedlit-an-introduction-to-tilted-axis-press/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Global Literature in Libraries Initiative|language=en}}{{cite news|first1=Alexandra|last1=Alter|access-date=2025-03-15|title=A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/books/tilted-axis-books-translation.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 February 2025}} Tilted Axis became known as the original translator and English language publisher of Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu,{{Cite news|last=Rich|first=Motoko|date=2020-11-27|title=Her Antenna Is Tuned to the Quietest Voices|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/books/yu-miri-tokyo-ueno-station.html|access-date=2022-01-07|issn=0362-4331}} which went on to receive critical acclaim as both a book and translation.{{Cite news|title=Review {{!}} Yu Miri’s ‘Tokyo Ueno Station’ focuses its attention on the shamefully overlooked|language=en-US|work=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/yu-miris-tokyo-ueno-station-focuses-its-attention-on-the-shamefully-overlooked/2020/06/24/3232869a-b641-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html|access-date=2022-01-07|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite magazine|author= |title=National Book Award winners announced |magazine=Books+Publishing |date=23 November 2020 |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/11/23/159927/national-book-award-winners-announced/|access-date=2025-01-05|language=en-AU}} Their profile rose higher in 2022, when Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize, marking the first novel written in Hindi to take the award.{{Cite news|last=Marshall|first=Alex|date=2022-05-26|title=Hindi Novel Wins International Booker Prize for the First Time|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/arts/international-booker-winner-tomb-of-sand.html|access-date=2022-10-23}}

History

As of 2017, Tilted Axis Press made the largest share of their sales through traditional brick-and-mortar retail (35.1%), with the second largest channel being direct local and international sales through their website.{{Cite web|title=The business of small presses: 4 things we learnt the hard way {{!}} The Bookseller|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/futurebook/business-small-presses-4-things-we-learnt-hard-way-564161|access-date=2022-01-09|website=www.thebookseller.com}} Although the press has only received limited distribution outside of the United Kingdom, some books have been co-published internationally. For example, in 2018 The Lifted Brow, under their Brow Books imprint, co-published their translation of "The Impossible Fairytale" in Australia.{{Cite web|last=Whitmore|first=Alice|title=Australia's taste for translated literature is getting broader, and that's a good thing|url=http://theconversation.com/australias-taste-for-translated-literature-is-getting-broader-and-thats-a-good-thing-94402|access-date=2022-01-09|website=The Conversation|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Brow Books begins co-publishing partnership with Tilted Axis Press|url=https://browbooks.com/bbnews/2018/03/23/2018-3-22-brow-books-begins-copublishing-partnership-with-tilted-axis-press-uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111091706/https://browbooks.com/bbnews/2018/03/23/2018-3-22-brow-books-begins-copublishing-partnership-with-tilted-axis-press-uk|url-status=usurped|archive-date=11 January 2022|access-date=2022-01-09|website=BROW BOOKS|language=en-AU}}

In 2021 Tilted Axis launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the translation and publication of several chapbooks covering feminist literature, raising over {{GBP|5,000}} in total. One of the collections in the series, Pa-Liwanag, received a positive review from CNN Philippines, who stated the book "proves that writings by farmers and peasants are overdue".{{Cite web|title=This new chapbook proves that writings by farmers and peasants are overdue|url=https://www.cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/literature/2020/12/11/translating-feminisms-gantala-press.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211100050/https://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/literature/2020/12/11/translating-feminisms-gantala-press.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 December 2020|access-date=2022-01-09|website=cnn|language=en}}

In July 2022, following Tilted Axis's victory at The Booker International Prize, Deborah Smith announced that she was stepping down as Publisher and Managing Director. At the same time, Kristen Vida Alfaro was announced as her successor in these roles.{{Cite news|last=Comerford|first=Ruth|date=2022-07-07|title=Alfaro made sole m.d. and publisher at Tilted Axis as Smith steps back|language=en-UK|work=The Bookseller|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/alfaro-made-sole-md-and-publisher-at-tilted-axis-as-smith-steps-back|access-date=2022-10-23}}

The publisher has been noted for its choice in content, often "unconvential" with a focus on feminist and queer themes, and its focus on the translators themselves, who are prominently credited and given royalties from book sales. As of 2025 Tilted Axis has eight part time employees.

Tilted Axis expanded its distribution network to the United States in February 2025. Previously, it had licensed works to American publishers.

Titles

class="wikitable"

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!Book indexTilted Axis Press numbers every major release. Chapbooks and other publishings of that sort are not indexed.

!Title

!Author

!Translator

!Publication Year

1

|Panty

|Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay

|Arunava Sinha

|2016

2

|One Hundred Shadows

|Hwang Jungeun

|Jung Yewon

|2016

3

|Indigenous Species

|Khairani Barokka

|

|2016

4

|The Sad Part Was

|Prabda Yoon

|Mui Poopoksakul

|2017

5

|The Impossible Fairytale

|Han Yujoo

|Janet Hong

|2017

6

|Abandon

|Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay

|Arunava Sinha

|2017

7

|The Devils’ Dance

|Hamid Ismailov

|Donald Rayfield

|2018

8

|Moving Parts

|Prabda Yoon

|Mui Poopoksakul

|2018

9

|I'll Go On

|Hwang Jungeun

|Emily Yae Won

|2018

10

|Tokyo Ueno Station

|Yu Miri

|Morgan Giles

|2019

11

|Sergius Seeks Bacchus

|Norman Erikson Pasaribu

|Tiffany Tsao

|2019

12

|The Yogini

|Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay

|Arunava Sinha

|2019

13

|Of Strangers and Bees

|Hamid Ismailov

|Shelley Fairweather-Vega

|2019

14

|Every Fire You Tend

|Sema Kaygusuz

|Nicholas Glastonbury

|2019

|Killing Kanoko / Wild Grass on the Riverbank

|Itō Hiromi

|Jeffrey Angles

|2020

15

|Where the Wild Ladies Are

|Matsuda Aoko

|Polly Barton

|2020

16

|Arid Dreams

|Duanwad Pimwana

|Mui Poopoksakul

|2020

17

|No Presents Please

|Jayant Kaikini

|Tejaswini Niranjana

|2020

18

|Women Dreaming

|Salma

|Meena Kandasamy

|2020

|Pa-Liwanag (Translating Feminisms)

|

|

|2020

|Deviant Disciples (Translating Feminisms)

|

|

|2020

19

|Strange Beasts of China

|Yan Ge

|Jeremy Tiang

|2020

20

|Black Box

|Shiori Ito

|Allison Markin Powell

|2021

21

|Manaschi

|Hamid Ismailov

|Donald Rayfield

|2021

22

|Tomb of Sand

|Geetanjali Shree

|Daisy Rockwell

|2021

23

|Love in the Big City

|Sang Young Park

|Anton Hur

|2021

24

|Happy Stories, Mostly

|Norman Erikson Pasaribu

|Tiffany Tsao

|2021

25

|Chinatown

|Thuận

|Nguyễn An Lý

|2022

26

|Father May Be an Elephant and Mother a Small Basket, But...

|Gogu Shyamala

|Diia Rajan et al.

|2022

|Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation

|

|

|2022

27

|So Distant From My Life

|Monique Ilboudo

|Yarri Kamara

|2022

28

|Unexpected Vanilla

|Lee Hyemi

|Soje

|2022

29

|No Edges

|Swahili Authors (various)

|Various Translators

|2023

30

|I Belong To Nowhere

|Kalani Thakur Charal

|Sipra Mukherjee, Mrinmoy Pramanick

|2023

31

|The End of August

|Yu Miri

|Morgan Giles

|2023

32

|A Book, Untitled

|Shushan Avagyan

|Deanna Cachoian-Schanz

|2023

33

|dd’s Umbrella

|Hwang Jungeun

|e. yaewon

|2024

34

|Again I hear these waters

|

|Shalim M. Hussain

|2024

35

|To Hell with Poets

|Baqytgul Sarmekova

|Mirgul Kali

|2024

36

|Elevator in Sài Gòn

|Thuận

|Nguyễn An Lý

|2024

37

|My Dream Job

|Norman Erikson Pasaribu

|

|2024

38

|Delicious Hunger

|Hai Fan

|Jeremy Tiang

|2024

39

|On a Woman's Madness

|Astrid Roemer

|Lucy Scott

|2024

40

|Revathi: A Life in Trans Activism

|A. Revathi

|Nandini Murali

|2024

41

|Our City That Year

|Geetanjali Shree

|Daisy Rockwell

|2025

42

|Off-White

|Astrid Roemer

|Lucy Scott & David McKay

|2025

References