New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin (1914–1997)[1] and incorporated in 1964. Its offices are located at 80 Eighth Avenue in New York City.[2]
 80 8th Avenue, headquarters of New Directions Publishing. | |
| Founded | 1936 |
|---|---|
| Founder | James Laughlin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City, U.S. |
| Distribution | W. W. Norton & Company |
| Publication types | Books |
| Fiction genres | translation, experimental poetry |
| Official website | ndbooks |
History
New Directions was born in 1936 of Ezra Pound's advice to the young James Laughlin, then a Harvard University sophomore, to "do something useful" after finishing his studies at Harvard.[3] The first projects to come out of New Directions were anthologies of new writing, each titled New Directions in Poetry and Prose (until 1966's NDPP 19). Early writers incorporated in these anthologies include Dylan Thomas, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov, James Agee, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
New Directions later broadened their focus to include writing of all genres, representing not only American writing, but also a considerable amount of literature in translation from modernist authors around the world. New Directions also published the early work of many writers including Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, and Tennessee Williams was published as a poet for the first time in a New Directions poetry collection.
Laughlin also initiated a number of thematic series and publications. The New Directions "Poet of the Month" series consisted of thin volumes of either lengthy individual poems or small collections of poems by one author were released on a monthly basis to subscribers, and a larger "Poet of the Year" volume was issued once annually. The series were discontinued after a few years. "Directions" began in 1941 as a quarterly soft-bound journal, with each edition dedicated to a single author or work in prose. Early issues included a collection of short stories by Vladimir Nabokov and a play by William Carlos Williams. The subscription model did not take hold, and later editions in the series were published in more traditional form and sold as individual works to the general public. Another short-lived New Directions periodical, Pharos, was discontinued after its fourth number was published in the winter of 1947.
Other notable undertakings include the New Classics and Modern Readers series, which reissued recent books that had gone out of print. These reprints included such works as Exiles and Stephen Hero by James Joyce and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.[4]
After Laughlin's death, New Directions Publishing became owned by a trust established in his will.[5]
Jacket design and colophon
After the time of World War II, New Directions developed a close relationship with the artist Alvin Lustig, who designed modernist abstract book jackets. Lustig was ultimately responsible for developing a distinctive style of dust jacket that served as a New Directions hallmark for many years.
The company's colophon is a figure of a centaur based upon a sculpture by Heinz Henghes, and usually appears on the spine of New Directions books.
Presidents
- James Laughlin
- Griselda Ohannessian
- Peggy Fox
- Barbara Epler
Awards
In 1977, New Directions was presented with a Carey Thomas Award special citation for distinguished publishing in experimental literature. New Directions' authors have won numerous national and international awards, including the:
Nobel Prize[6]
- Tomas Tranströmer, 2011
- Octavio Paz, 1990
- Camilo José Cela, 1989
- Elias Canetti, 1981
- Eugenio Montale, 1975
- Pablo Neruda, 1971
- Yasunari Kawabata, 1968
- Jean-Paul Sartre, 1964
- Saint-John Perse, 1960
- Boris Pasternak, 1958
- Andre Gide, 1947
- Hermann Hesse, 1946
- Frédéric Mistral, 1904
Pulitzer Prize[7]
- Hilton Als, 2017
- Gary Snyder, 1975
- George Oppen, 1969
- Richard Eberhart, 1966
- William Carlos Williams, 1963
- Tennessee Williams, 1948, 1955
- Robert Penn Warren, 1947, 1958, 1979
National Book Award
- Yoko Tawada, 2018
- Nathaniel Mackey, 2006
MacArthur Foundation Fellowship[8]
- John Keene, 2018
- Peter Cole, 2007
- Lydia Davis, 2003
- Anne Carson, 2000
- Guy Davenport, 1990
- Allen Grossman, 1989
- Walter Abish, 1987
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction[9]
- Toby Olson, 1983
Prix Goncourt
- Mathias Énard, 2015
- Eugène Guillevic, 1988
- Emile Ajar, 1975
- Romain Gary, 1956
Man Booker International Prize
- Laszlo Krasznahorkai / George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet, 2015
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
- Jenny Erpenbeck / Susan Bernofsky, 2015
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize[10]
- Denise Levertov, 1976
Bollingen Prize in American Poetry[11]
- Nathaniel Mackey, 2015
- Susan Howe, 2011
- Allen Grossman, 2009
- Robert Creeley, 1999
- Gary Snyder, 1997
- Robert Penn Warren, 1967
- Robert Fitzgerald, 1961
- Delmore Schwartz, 1960
- Ezra Pound, 1948
Robert Frost Medal
- Susan Howe, 2017
- Kamau Brathwaite, 2015
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 2003
- Denise Levertov, 1999
- James Laughlin, 1999
- Robert Creeley, 1987
Windham-Campbell Literature Prize
- John Keene, 2018
- Hilton Als, 2016
Vilenica Kristal Prize[12]
- Luljeta Lleshanaku, 2009
Current projects
The current focus of New Directions is threefold: discovering and introducing to the US contemporary international writers; publishing new and experimental American poetry and prose; and reissuing New Directions' classic titles in new editions.
Drawing from the tradition of the early anthologies and series, New Directions launched the Pearl series, which presents short works by New Directions writers in slim, minimalist volumes designed by Rodrigo Corral. Recent additions to the series include On Booze by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Leviathan by Joseph Roth.[6] New Directions also publishes a selection of academic reading guides to accompany a number of their books, including Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams.[7]
Authors
New Directions was the first American publisher of such notables as Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, and Henry Miller. Today, their authors include:
American literature
Central American, South American, and Caribbean literature
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British, Irish, Canadian, and Australian literature
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European literature
Chinese and Japanese literature
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Middle Eastern and Indian literature
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Bestsellers
- Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
- A Coney Island of the Mind, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
- Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, B. S. Johnson
- Selected Poems, Denise Levertov
- The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Henry Miller
- Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre
- Turtle Island, Gary Snyder
- Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West
- The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
- Selected Poems, William Carlos Williams
- The Cantos, Ezra Pound
References
Further reading
External links
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