Comma Press is a not-for-profit publishing initiative dedicated to promoting new writing, with an emphasis on the short story. It is committed to a spirit of risk-taking and challenging publishing, free of the commercial pressures on mainstream houses. In April 2012, Comma became one of the Arts Council’s new National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs).
Something happens in good short stories that’s quite unique to them as a form; the imaginary worlds they create are coloured slightly differently to those of the novel. Their protagonists are more independent and intriguing. The realities they depict more arbitrary, accidental and amoral. Comma believes British publishing is missing out on something in its neglect of the short story, and to make up for it we are currently the most prolific hard copy publisher of short stories in the country.
‘We are living through a golden moment in the history of the short story…Eudora Welty called [her editor] William Maxwell “the headquarters”. I’m not sure where the headquarters of the current excitement lies – somewhere between McSweeney’s in America and Comma in Manchester, perhaps…’ – The Guardian.
‘It’s not too great a stretch to see Comma as the literary equivalent of Factory Records.’ – The Herald.
Named as one of the ‘Top Six Publishers Outside of London’ – New Statesman, Oct 2012.
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