'Literature is the news that stays news.' Ezra Pound.

London, 10 January 2005

Portobello Books is a new venture devoted to making permanent news. A publishing house launched today in London, it intends to publish the very finest in international fiction and activist non-fiction. It will look to put out up to twenty original publications a year, and be fiery, energetic and unignorable in their cause.

Portobello Books Ltd has been brought into being by film producer Eric Abraham, founder of Portobello Pictures, an award-winning independent film production company, and Sigrid Rausing, anthropologist and founder of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, a grant-giving foundation in the human rights sector, in collaboration with Philip Gwyn Jones, publisher of HarperCollins' Flamingo imprint from 1996 to 2004. They have entered into an agreement with Atlantic Books, the lively UK offshoot of the US independent house, Grove Atlantic Inc.

A new imprint needs must focus on new writers, on discovering and nurturing the finest fresh talent. Philip Gwyn Jones hopes to sustain his performance at Flamingo, where he was responsible for acquiring and publishing three Pulitzer-winning debuts, four Orange-shortlisted debut novels, and two Booker-shortlisted debut novels. Amongst the writers Jones published are JG Ballard, Douglas Coupland, Anthony Doerr, Naomi Klein, Jhumpa Lahiri, Doris Lessing, Jim Lewis, Magnus Mills, George Monbiot, Samantha Power and Arundhati Roy.

Portobello Books will endeavour to be to authors (and their agents) an ally, a champion and a guardian. It will be unapologetically old-fashioned in its concentration on being exact, open, direct and helpful in its dealings with its writers. A publishing company would not exist without its writers, and it should never forget that.

Eric Abraham comments:
'The foreign-language films I have produced like Kolya (Academy Award for Foreign-Language Film, 1997) have confirmed for me the universal accessibility of good stories rooted in their own cultures and languages. Foreign-language films are so rarely available to us in cinema and likewise foreign-language fiction struggles to find a place in English-language publishing. Our hope is for Portobello Books to become a champion of the very best of foreign fiction as well as English fiction.'

Sigrid Rausing comments:
'This is a very exciting development for all of us. I look forward in particular to bringing more translated works both of fiction and non-fiction into the English- speaking market. There are many talented contemporary international writers who are still virtually unknown in this country because their work has not been translated. We want to create an imprint where exceptional international works are published and promoted alongside interesting new writing in English.'

Philip Gwyn Jones comments:
'Many say that there are too many books published, and they may be right. Yet, perversely, as lists are cut back, many of the finest books no longer fit the requirements of the market-dominating publishing conglomerates. As Canongate, Faber, Hesperus, Profile et al. have demonstrated in the last few years, there is an increasing amount of space in which an agile, enterprising, persuasive independent publisher can do great work in today's marketplace. Portobello Books aims to make the most of that space.'

Toby Mundy, MD and Publisher of Atlantic Books, comments
'Philip Gwyn Jones is one of the most distinguished publishing minds of his generation and we're delighted to be partners in the launch of his new enterprise. With his talents and track record, the support of Sigrid Rausing and Eric Abraham, and our publishing energy and ambition, I'm sure Portobello will establish itself quickly in the firmament of British independent publishers.'

Portobello Books believes that there is a clear commercial space, and a clear cultural need, for a new independent publisher intent on trading in the very finest storytelling from around the world. And as the world simultaneously shrinks and expands, twists and shifts, a British publisher, more now than ever, should turn outward to face that new world and engage with it.

It is hoped that Portobello will publish its first books in the autumn of 2005. Sales and distribution for the new list will be organized by Atlantic Books. Philip Gwyn Jones will be MD & Publisher of the new company. Sigrid Rausing and Eric Abraham will each be Co-Publisher. A publicist and an editor will be recruited presently. Its offices are to be at Notting Hill Gate.

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