Graphic Arts Books will rebrand as West Margin Press on January 22, 2019, signaling a new direction for the over fifty-year-old publishing house based in Berkeley, California.
“We want to make room for more voices, increasingly engaging visuals, and an expansive view of the world within our house,” says Publishing Director Jennifer Newens.
About the publisher name, Newens says, “West signals our location and foundation. It is a subtle reference to the coastal values we aspire to convey in our list, which will inform our acquisition process. It also evokes a pioneer spirit, reflecting our experimental nature and our willingness to take risks. Margin is a literary reference, evoking a manuscript or a book, as well as a place where things are allowed to unfold outside prescribed boundaries.”
Graphic Arts Books was established in 1967 in Portland, Oregon as a showcase for regional luxe coffee table books. It acquired Alaska Northwest Books (est. 1959) in 1993, which is known for its authentic books about the Last Frontier. In 1998, it added the WestWinds Press imprint to encompass western titles.
West Margin Press will retain the legacy imprints of Graphic Arts Books (art, photography, comics, and other highly visual titles) and Alaska Northwest Books, and phase out WestWinds Press.
The publishing house's bestselling titles are One Man’s Wilderness (recently released in a 50th Anniversary Edition with a foreword by Nick Offerman) and the Build it! series of LEGO® model instruction books for young children.
Among the first books featuring the West Margin Press logo will be the children’s picture books: Yao Bai and the Egg Pirates (Tim J. Myers, Bonnie Pang), Why Worry? (Eric Kimmel, Aiko Ikegami), and Catastrophe by the Sea (Brenda Peterson, Ed Young). West Margin will also publish western regional and national titles in the genres of nature, travel, history and memoir, fiction, food and lifestyle, and art.
www.westmarginpress.com
