| Parent company | Start Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Distribution | Books International andSimon & Schuster |
| Publication types | Books |
| Fiction genres | Erotica, romance, lgbt, collection & anthologies, fiction, nonfiction, sexual health, sexual education |
| Official website | www |
Cleis Press is an American independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality,erotica,feminism,gay and lesbian studies,gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 inMinneapolis, Minnesota. It later moved toSan Francisco and was based out ofBerkeley until its purchase by Start Media in 2014.[1] Its founders wereFrédérique Delacoste,Felice Newman andMary Winfrey Trautmann,[2] who collectively financed, wrote and published the press's first bookFight Back: Feminist Resistance to Male Violence in 1981. In 1987, they publishedSex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry by Delacoste with Priscilla Alexander.[3]
Over the years, Cleis Press has published nonfiction books bySusie Bright,Annie Sprinkle,Edmund White,Essex Hemphill,Gore Vidal,Christine Jorgensen,Matthue Roth,Patrick Califia,Violet Blue,Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson andTristan Taormino, among others. Fiction published by Cleis Press includes works byAchy Obejas,Stephen Elliott,Erastes (author), reissues of classiclesbian pulp fiction (includingAnn Bannon's historicBeebo Brinker series), the Nancy Clue series byMabel Maney,Virginia Woolf's first completed novel,Melymbrosia, and an English-language novel set in North Korea,Jia by Hyejin Kim. Other Cleis Press authors areLori Bryant-Woolridge,Cole Riley,Mitzi Szereto,Neil Plakcy,Radclyffe,James Lear, andRichard Labonté. Cleis Press' erotic anthologies have included work from well known story writers Sacchi Green, Shanna Germain, Jeremy Edwards, Michelle Augello-Page, Charlotte Stein, ADR Forte, and Teresa Noelle Roberts.
Cleis Press produces many erotica collections and self-help sex guides, includingThe Ultimate Guide to Fellatio,The Whole Lesbian Sex Book, andThe Good Vibrations Guide to Sex. Some of their collections includeBest Gay Asian Erotica,Best Bisexual Women's Erotica, andBest Lesbian Bondage Erotica, and annual anthologies titledBest Gay Erotica,Best Lesbian Erotica, andBest Women's Erotica. In winter of 2010, they began of yearly anthology ofbondage erotica, starting withBest Bondage Erotica 2011. Cleis Press also publishes a wide variety of other thematic collections, includingRachel Kramer Bussel'sPlease, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists,Alison Tyler'sFrenzy: 60 Stories of Sudden Sex,Mitzi Szereto's multiple-genre anthologies and Kristina Wright'sgenre-themed erotic romance anthologies andBest Erotic Romance series.
In 2000, Cleis Press founded Midnight Editions, a human rights imprint that aims to present fiction, nonfiction, and photojournalism from regions where repression and censorship are endangering creative expression. Midnight Editions publishedThe Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, a 1986 memoir byformer political prisoner andAmnesty International board memberAlicia Partnoy,[4] as well asThe Diary of a Political Idiot: Normal Life in Belgrade byJasmina Tešanović.
Cleis Press has also published a number of books ontransgender issues, includingPatrick Califia'sSex Changes: Transgender Politics andLoren Cameron'sBody Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits. More recently, they also publishedThe Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals, byStephanie Brill andRachel Pepper, a guidebook for the friends and families of transgender andgender-nonconforming children, which addresses significant social, legal, and medical issues.
The press has been the recipient of many awards, including theFirecracker Alternative Book Award for Outstanding Independent Press twice (in 1997 and 1999),[5] and severalLambda Literary Awards in 2010.[6]
In 2014, Cleis, along with theimprints Viva Editions and Tempted Romance, was purchased byStart Publishing,[7] the book division of Start Media. The staff members of Cleis departed shortly after the transition.[8] Cleis is currently run by Start Publishing in Jersey City, NJ.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
