About Peirene

An award-winning independent publisher of new voices and great books from across the world.

Peirene Press was founded by novelist and journalist Meike Ziervogel, with the goal of bringing translated European novellas to a UK audience. Peirene began publishing in 2010 with Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi, translated by Adriana Hunter. In the twelve years since this first (extraordinary) book, they have published over forty books, featuring translations from seventeen languages and twenty countries. Peirene titles have been listed for the International Booker Prize (previously the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) seven times, and have been awarded numerous other accolades.

In 2021, Peirene changed ownership and is now run by Stella Sabin and James Tookey. In the Spring of 2022, they announced a new direction for Peirene, including the company’s re-location to Bath, a full re-brand by Glasgow-based Art Director Orlando Lloyd, and plans to publish a diverse range of books from beyond Europe. They are proud to take Peirene forward into a new and exciting chapter, building on the last ten years, whilst widening the scope of what Peirene can do.

‘A class act’

The Guardian

‘The foreign literature specialist’

The Sunday Times

‘Literary cinema for those fatigued by film’

The TLS