Originally posted on Independent Book Review
2021 was a badass year for indie press books.
This isn’t anything new.
Indie presses are always pushing boundaries, bending genres, breaking new ground, and changing the scope of the literary landscape.
This year, some of the finest books came from indie presses. They made impressive strides alongside the big-budget publishers with novels, nonfiction, and poetry that grabbed readerly attention not because of their prominent space at your local Barnes & Noble, but because those who read them grabbed the shirts of those who were nearest to them, thrust a paperback into their chests, and said, “This. You’ve got to read this.”
Here at IBR, we’re reminded every year why our focus on indie press books is just about the best decision we ever could have made.
We’ve sifted through a lot of books this year–from the big indies, the mid-level indies, the small presses with the biggest hearts–and some really amazing ones have come through our gates. This list could have been much longer, trust me, but we managed to dwindle it down to an impressive thirty-five.
These are the books we’re thrusting into your chests. These are the ones we believe that you’ve just got to see.