Erewhon Kensington Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Publication Date: October 21, 2022
Contact: Martin Cahill
Email: martin@erewhonbooks.com
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. ACQUIRES EREWHON BOOKS
NEW YORK, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp., one of the foremost independently-owned commercial publishing houses in the United States, has acquired Erewhon Books, an independent publisher dedicated to literary speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy.
As part of the deal, which closed on October 1, 2022, Erewhon Books becomes an imprint of Kensington Publishing, and beginning with the Fall 2023 season, will release twelve new hardcover titles within its first year. Editorial direction and leadership for the imprint will continue under Erewhon Publisher Sarah Guan, a two-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor, who joins Kensington along with the rest of the Erewhon team: Martin Cahill, Publicity and Marketing Manager; Cassandra Farrin, Director of Publishing and Production; Kasie Griffitts, Sales Associate; and Viengsamai Fetters, Editorial Assistant.
Steven Zacharius, President and CEO, Kensington Publishing Corp., said, “The diverse, high-quality list Erewhon has built and the level of support they’ve been able to offer their authors as a small, but effective and passionate team is impressive. It also very much aligns with Kensington’s own ethos as an independent company driven by reader interest with a focus on developing and building authors’ careers. We are excited to amplify Erewhon’s considerable strengths while advancing their vision for thoughtful, effortlessly strange literary speculative fiction.”
Founded in 2018, Erewhon has garnered accolades for books that champion the unusual, the uncanny, and the hard-to-define. It is home to experimental and groundbreaking work by an array of diverse and marginalized authors, from breakout talents such as H. A. Clarke, Angela Mi Young Hur, Victor Manibo, and Kay Chronister, to more established authors, including C. L. Polk, E. Lily Yu, Benjamin Rosenbaum, and Cassandra Khaw.
The acquisition encompasses Erewhon’s backlist and existing frontlist titles scheduled through 2024. Current distribution and fulfillment agreements for Erewhon Books will remain in place until January 1, 2023, when the imprint will move to Penguin Random House Publisher Services division, which distributes all Kensington Publishing Corp. books.
“From its inception, Erewhon Books has published thought-provoking work that examines a wide array of experiences of the world,” said Sarah Guan. “With Kensington’s robust reputation in the industry behind us and with the powerhouse of their distribution through Penguin Random House, Erewhon now has the opportunity to give our authors and team a greater platform than ever before. We are looking forward to building the next phase of Erewhon’s growth, as our future has never been brighter!”
David Lamb and Susan Reich of Book Advisors LLC brokered the transaction and served as lead investment banking representative for Erewhon Books.
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About Kensington Publishing Corp.:
Kensington Publishing Corp. is an independent, family-owned book publisher founded in 1974 and based in New York City. Known for the diversity of the authors and books it publishes, Kensington releases more than 300 fiction and non-fiction titles each year, providing readers with a range of popular genres such as thrillers, romance, historical fiction, cozy mysteries and non-fiction, as well as true-crime, western, and speculative fiction titles. The house of New York Times bestselling authors, including Fern Michaels, Lisa Jackson, William W. Johnstone, Joanne Fluke, Mary Monroe, Dr. Jen Gunter, Ellen Marie Wiseman, and many others, its imprints include Kensington Books, Dafina, Zebra, Pinnacle, Kensington Cozies, Citadel Press, Lyrical Press, and Erewhon Books. Visit them online at KensingtonBooks.com.
About Erewhon Books:
Erewhon Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp., publishes thoughtful, effortlessly strange speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. Founded in 2018, its list includes indie bestsellers, a Canada Reads finalist, titles shortlisted for both literary and SFF awards, and multiple features in the New York Times Book Review and “Best of NPR” list. Erewhon celebrates the unique, diverse, and underrepresented identities and communities of the world with books that ask hard questions about issues of sociopolitical change, power and privilege, and the impact of ideas and technologies, all through the lens of entertaining, thought-provoking, and risk-taking speculative fiction. Learn more at ErewhonBooks.com.