Istros Books | independent publishing house | books from unfamiliar places, undiscovered writers

Featured titles

Balkan Bombshells

Balkan Bombshells

An anthology of writing from Serbia and Montenegro

Feb. 2023

Price: £ 10,99

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Canzone di Guerra

Canzone di Guerra

Publishing the backlist of the great Daša Drndić

April 2022

Price: £ 9,99

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Like a Prisoner

Like a Prisoner

Remarkable testaments to human endurance by Fatos Lubonja

Sept. 2022

Price: £ 9,99

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Latest news

The Masterpiece listed for the Dublin Literature Award

The Masterpiece listed for the Dublin Literature Award

Debut author Ana Schnabl has been honoured with a longlisting for her novel, The Masterpice 

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Home by Andrea Tompa wins PEN Award

Home by Andrea Tompa wins PEN Award

Our first Hungarian title is granted a PEN Translates award

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My Rivers

My Rivers

Our newest title by Bosnian author Faruk Šehić has been announced

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Let's Go Home, Son announced

Let's Go Home, Son announced

Just announced- our 2023 title

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At Istros Books, we believe quality has no borders.

Istros Books was set up in 2011 in order to publish and promote literature in translation from Central and SE Europe. In its short history, it has managed to prove itself at the forefront of discovering and promoting exciting new works, ranging from essays and flash fiction to historical novels.

We are proud to continue our committment to bringing you fresh and exciting works in English translation, and to develop our publishing partnerships with Peter Owen in the UK, Beletrina in Slovenia and V.B.Z. in Croatia. 

"A rather wonderful and admirable list."

John de Falbe, John Sandoe Books

"I hope this small and adventurous publisher brings out more."

Nick Lezard, The Guardian

"Istros Books has brought a change to the publishing scene by highlighting a region that had until recently been terra incognita."

Literature Across Frontiers

"Susan Curtis’s pioneering independent list, Istros, which since 2011 has been publishing outstanding fiction from southeastern Europe and the Balkans."

Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

"...nourishment to readers hungry for the best new European fiction, and to those wondering where the new generation of post-Yugoslav novelists are."                    

Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian