Marta Press

A - Z

• Format:
• Publisher
• Location(s):
• Germany, Hamburg
• From:
• 2013
• Contact:

• marta-press.de

• Contact Persons / Persons Involved:
• Jana Reich
• Main Language Published:
• German, English
• History:

• »The founding moment was this: I had offered a collection to a large renowned publishing house, which had then paid me an advance; but it also wanted to do what it liked with the content. Biographies including experiences of traumatization need a happy end, I was told, because that way, they sell better.« (Jana Reich)
  Jana Reich thereupon founded her own publishing house and brought out the book herself. It became her first bestseller.
  She followed up with many books more, as a means to gain experience as well as a program profile. The experiment was a success and Marta Press can now continue to go its own way.
  In 2020 a new publishing house will be launched with a list of its own, namely books that don’t match the Marta Press profile.

• Content Focus:

• The focus is on critical social studies: books on topics such as gender studies; National Socialism/ Shoah/ Holocaust; emigration/ exile; psychological, physical, and sexualized violence and subsequent traumatization; mental illness; extreme life situations; reappraisal of GDR history; mourning; death; (auto-) biographical books/ career paths/ women's lives; and alternative lifestyles.

  Nonfiction books appear in the »Substance« series; (auto-) biographical books in the »Nahaufnahmen« [Close-ups] series, and pamphlets, debates, etc. in the »Feminists speak out« series. Additionally, there are literary books in the »Bellevue« series, children's books (3-6 years) in the »Ruby & Morticia« series, and comics, graphic novels, and Art Brut/ Outsider Art in the »Raumnahme« [Taking space] series.

• Organization and Decision-making Process:

• Marta Press is an independent publisher with professional sales and marketing structures. There is a permanent team of two, which deals primarily with creating the program, funding, graphics, etc., and several freelance colleagues who take care of graphics and PR.

• Financing and Support:

• »We make good books and we’d like this work to be acknowledged for its contribution to promoting cultural diversity. Financial support for reading tours, trade fair participation, readings, and the like would be great; but both the City of Hamburg and the federal German government still hesitate to award grants to small, independent publishers.«

• Conditions and Political Situation:

• Marta Press sees itself as a feminist, left-wing publisher and offers a balanced program of nonfiction, fiction, children's books, as well as graphic novels and works on/of art brut. Our core topics are a common thread in all of these varied genres. For we at Marta Press, publishing is a vital means of spreading the word on important issues, a form of political resistance, and a source of deep and lasting knowledge. In times of increasing anti-feminism and right-wing extremism, books like these are needed more than ever.

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