Comma Press is a not-for-profit publisher specialising in the short story and fiction in translation. It is committed to a spirit of risk-taking, and aims to put the short story at the heart of contemporary narrative culture.

They publish collections by new and established authors, interdisciplinary collaborations between authors and experts, and translation commissions devised to identify cutting-edge (often marginalised) voices from across the world. Their award-winning publications include The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim, Tea at the Midland by David Constantine, You Should Come With Me Now by M. John Harrison, The Sea Cloak by Nayrouz Qarmout, and the first ever collection of science-fiction from Palestine, Palestine +100.

In 2017 they won Northern Soul’s ‘Northern Publisher of the Year’ award, and in 2019 and 2020 we were shortlisted by The British Book Awards for ‘Small Press of the Year’ (North of England).

Comma Press also works as a writer development agency, delivering short story courses throughout the year, and hosting the annual National Creative Writing Industry Day to give every kind of aspiring writer access to advice, knowledge and skills from industry professionals.

Comma Press founded the Northern Fiction Alliance in 2016 alongside three other leading independents, Peepal Tree Press, Dead Ink Books and And Other Stories, and have since been joined by a range of publishers such as Bluemoose Books, Saraband and Valley Press. The Alliance is a radical publishing collective devised to showcase the creativity, diversity and outward-looking agenda that sets publishers in the North of England apart.