Indie publisher Bareknuckle Books to release first book this month

New Brisbane-based independent publisher Bareknuckle Books will release its first book this month, one of six new titles planned for the next year.

Bareknuckle Books will specialise in literary fiction, ‘upmarket’ nonfiction and poetry. Its first title Improvised Dirges is a collection of new and old poetry by A G Pettet.

The publisher is led by editor-in-chief Brentley Frazer, who is joined by ‘a group of poets, writers, journalists and academics who have collaborated on publishing projects and performance platforms since 1995’, including US author and academic Kris Saknussemm and local true crime author Lindsay Simpson.

Consulting editor Sún Etheridge told Books+Publishing the publisher will be ‘actively searching for new cutting edge literature in all of its permutations’. ‘We believe that mass market publishing has let down literature by choosing which books to publish based on “what is popular” according to the Nielsen BookScan statistics,’ said Etheridge. ‘We believe books are not dead … new independent “organic” presses are popping up worldwide.’ 

For more information about Bareknuckle Books, visit the website here.