The new independent publisher Foundry Editions is excited to announce its launch in Summer 2024, publishing the first three English-translation titles from their award-winning catalogue of stories from and about the Mediterranean Basin.
Based in London, Foundry Editions is founded by Richard Village, a passionate linguist who speaks Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese and has always had his ears and eyes open to exciting writing in these languages. Foundry Editions’ ethos is threefold: a love for discovering and sharing new voices, a love for the Mediterranean and the people and lands that surround it, and a love of internationalism and reading across borders.
The independent publisher aims to bring to the attention of the English-speaking world literary gems written in languages from the Mediterranean Basin, with high-quality translations always produced directly from the original language.
Richard Village said, “We are on a mission to uncover authors who are new to English speakers, and to share the joy of reading their stories, which come from a part of the world that has always been a source of cultural and emotional inspiration for English-language readers.
“Foundry Editions wants to bring that writing to a wider audience. Because of the increasing acceptance of non-Anglophone cultural output as part of the mainstream and the more porous nature of national and linguistic boundaries, the need for dedicated presses who can satisfy the increasing demand for international fiction and have the courage to bring it to market, is also growing. We want to be an exemplary part of that significant cultural movement that puts quality translated fiction into the hands of readers.”
All Foundry Editions titles have been beautifully designed with a consistent branded look, created by Richard and Hélène Marchal from Murmurs Design. The striking aesthetic is inspired by iconic design and artists from the origin countries and reflects the distinctive nature of the countries and regions represented, as well as the bold and transporting quality of the writing.
Foundry Editions will be launching their catalogue from June 2024 with three titles for summer that not only showcase the quality fiction the Mediterranean Basin has to offer but offer unique social commentaries and viewpoints from the region.
The first country to be spotlighted is Cyprus, in Constantia Soteriou’s inventive novel BRANDY SOUR, translated from the Greek by Lina Protopapa. Set against the backdrop of the Cypriot civil war, Soteriou cleverly uses Nicosia’s iconic Ledra Palace Hotel – built in the fifties as the first grand hotel in the region, and a symbol of the island’s modernisation – as a metaphor to explore the turbulent history of the Republic of Cyprus. Winner of the 2023 National Book Prize in Cyprus, The Guardian’s Lucy Popescu describes it as a “story that celebrates human resilience and deftly takes us through the years of the Cypriot conflict.”
Foundry Editions’ second title hails from Italy, bringing Maria Grazia Calandrone’s critically and commercially acclaimed autobiographical piece, YOUR LITTLE MATTER, to English readers for the first time. Translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri, Calandrone explores the heartbreaking reasons why a mother might abandon a child, in turn giving voice to the impoverished, marginalised women of the Italian South. Shortlisted for the 2023 Premio Strega, Your Little Matter combines poetic and philosophical insight with forensic investigation to reflect on a real-life case which helped prompt social and legal reforms in Italy.
Lastly, Foundry Editions turns its attentions to Spain with its third, atmospheric title, FAR. Written by one of the queens of Spanish noir, Rosa Ribas, and translated from the Spanish by Charlotte Coombe, Far is Ribas’ first foray away from crime fiction. Painting a truly evocative picture of post-crash Spain, Ribas’s satirical novel places her unnamed characters in an urbanisation in the middle of the nowhere, one of the many that were built in Spain, but never finished due to the country’s financial crash.
Foundry Editions will be publishing one further book this year, eight books in 2025, with the ambition of eventually publishing between ten and twelve books a year, and will release further info in due course. Find out more about Foundry Editions on their website here, and follow the latest updates on Instagram via @foundryeditions.
For all publicity enquiries, please contact Midas: Hannah.Bright@midaspr.co.uk & Emily.Laidlaw@midaspr.co.uk
