Verso Books, the independent publisher of, among other genres, works of philosophy and political theory written in English, has announced the opening of Verso Fiction, a new imprint that will publish translated fiction, according Publisher’s Weekly. The first two titles published by Verso Fiction will be Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth’s novel Will and Testament and Indonesion author Eka Kurniawan’s short story collection Kitchen Curse.

Verso Fiction will publish between two and four fiction titles per year, according to marketing manager Anne Rumberger, with “an overwhelming focus on translated literature, though not exclusively.” Although Verso has published fiction in the past, this new imprint will help the publisher “focus our fiction publishing, [and] reaffirm our commitment to publishing international voices and stories with unconventional styles.” “We’re proud to bring these books to an English-reading audience,” Rumberger also noted.

Founded in 1970, Verso Books initially focused on publishing translated works of European political and social theory, economics, and philosophy, before later expanding to translations, memoirs, and fiction from across the world. Among a long list of notable authors are Perry Anderson, Shlomo Sand, and André Schiffrin. Verso titles are distributed in North American by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.

Photo Credit: Verso Books / Publisher’s Weekly