Bitter Lemon Press has launched Labyrinth Press, an imprint dedicated to international literary fiction published mostly in translation. Labyrinth Press aims to build on Bitter Lemon Press's international approach while creating a home for literary voices beyond its crime list.
François von Hurter, publisher and co-founder of Bitter Lemon Press, said, "The labyrinth has always been a powerful literary symbol. It represents the pleasure of becoming immersed in a story and the excitement of discovering unexpected paths. That is the tradition we are claiming with this list: international fiction you enter at your own risk--fiction that gets under your skin before it lets you go. Every book we choose has to earn its way to the centre."
The first title, which will be published in March 2027 in the U.S., is Ósmann, Ferryman of the North by Joachim B. Schmidt, translated from the German by Jamie Lee Searle, a historical novel inspired by the life of Jón Magnússon Ósmann (1862-1914), a legendary ferryman from northern Iceland. Schmidt is the author of Kalmann and Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain.
In early 2028, Labyrinth Press will publish Une forêt by art critic and essayist Jean-Yves Jouannais. A philosophical novella in the tradition of Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard, the book has been a major critical success in France.