Hogarth, the new fiction imprint from Crown, has impeccable roots: it's a direct descendant of Hogarth Press, which was founded in London in 1917 by Virginia and Leonard Woolf and published--with Leonard famously at the hand-operated printing press--some of the best and most significant writers of the 20th century, including Woolf herself, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Mansfield and Sigmund Freud. In 1946, Hogarth was bought by Chatto & Windus, which is part of Random House U.K.; in recent years Hogarth has been relatively quiet. Until now.
"I like to say that what began in London in 1917 finds new life in New York in 2012," said Molly Stern, senior v-p and publisher of Crown and head of Hogarth, whose first titles begin appearing in May.
Hogarth aims to continue the Woolfs' tradition of publishing "the newest, most exciting writing" by focusing on "character-driven, voice-driven, issue-driven books that have an awareness of the world," Stern said, adding that Clara Farmer of Chatto & Windus, her equivalent at Hogarth in London, calls them "noisy books." There will be no more than four books a season, which will allow Hogarth "to give each books its due," Stern added.
Among the noisy titles for 2012 (more about these books and the rest of this year's list below):
- The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, the first major novel about the Afghanistan war.
- The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu, about women coming of age in the Israeli Defense Forces by one of the National Book Award's "5 under 35" group last year.
- The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam, set in the Chinese community in Vietnam during the Vietnam War by the winner of the Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary prize.
- I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits, a novel by a former member of the Jewish Satmar sect that sheds light on its secrets.
Hogarth is using decidedly modern ways of getting the message about these books out. Many "intense conversations" are already taking place on Twitter, Facebook and GoodReads, Stern said. (Hogarth's website awaits the current redesign of Crown's website.) In the digital age, she continued, "passionate word of mouth can catch like wildfire. Something seen as small back in the day can be as big as anything today. It's just about finding the right books and right elements to communicate about them."
Design is also very important for Hogarth books. One striking example already: Hogarth printed 1,500 copies of ARCs of its first four titles and has packaged them as a collector's set--even hand-numbering the sets.
Some authors will be touring, and Stern said Hogarth is "staying connected with booksellers who are important to our success." Stern has already traveled cross country, introducing many booksellers to Hogarth. Noting that booksellers have such a range of customers whose tastes differ, she said, "I have faith that we can deliver something really special for all of them."
The Hogarth list lends itself to a wider range of publicity because so many titles are issue oriented. For example, earlier this year a Wall Street Journal story about Anouk Markovits called "Providing a Path to a Secular Life" focused on the author's support of Footsteps, an organization that helps ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic people who want to leave their communities.
The revived Hogarth is an unusual transatlantic effort that is marked by "both autonomy and a lot of valuable interdependence," as Stern put it. Hogarth in New York is acquiring books for a range of markets--from North America to world or selected territories--and the London branch is also acquiring and publishing, but will publish only titles that Hogarth in New York plans to publish.
Clara Farmer, publishing director of Chatto & Windus, and Random House U.K. head Gail Rebuck have been, Stern said, "incredibly supportive and trusting" about Hogarth, which she called "a jewel in a crown of many jewels. It's a very healthy partnership that allows a lot of freedom to both parts."
For Stern, "it's an absolute dream come true to start something new and distinctive within Random House." She joined Crown in 2010 after a stint as editorial director of fiction at Viking, where she worked with, among others, Geraldine Brooks, Lev Grossman and David Benioff. "I learned a great deal about publishing fiction from some of the best in business," including Claire Ferraro and Kathryn Court. She also enjoys publishing nonfiction, a Crown emphasis.
Hogarth editors, who share "very good taste and are passionate and persuasive," as Stern put it, include Alexis Washam, a senior editor who was at Penguin and has been at Crown a year and a half; senior editor Lindsay Sagnette, who joined Crown in late 2010 from St. Martin's; and Zachary Wagman, who has been an editor at Vintage Books. "They're doing all kinds of things from contributing commercial nonfiction to Crown to working on Hogarth," Stern added.
You can just see Virginia and Leonard Woolf smiling down on this new incarnation of their labor of love.