Verso Books, which calls itself "the world's largest independent radical publisher," is launching a fiction imprint called Verso Fiction that annually will publish two to four "uncompromisingly intelligent and beautiful books without regard for borders, genres, and political convention." The first two titles, appearing this fall, are:
Kitchen Curse by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker, the first collection of the Indonesian author's short stories to be published in English (October 15). Verso commented: "Dark, sexual, scatological, violent, and mordantly funny, these fractured fables span city and country, animal and human, myth and politics."
Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund (September 10). A bestseller when published in Norway in 2016, the novel is, Verso said, "an emotionally charged family drama about the settling of a father's will, told by the family's eldest daughter, which is overshadowed by memories of being abused by her father as a child. The searing story is at once a wrenching look at a family fractured and an intimate meditation on the lasting impacts of trauma and the shifting nature of memory."
Verso marketing manager Anne Rumberger noted that "between 2001 and 2015, sales of translated fiction grew by 96%. We hope to be part of the increased appetite for translated literature, and we're proud to bring these bold books to an English-reading audience."
Founded in 1970, Verso has published fiction by authors such as John Berger, José Saramago, Georges Perec, Nanni Balestrini, Tariq Ali and Jenny Hval.