About Istrosbooks
Istros Books - where quality
has no borders
Istros Books
Where quality has no borders
At Istros, we believe that good literature can transcend national interests and speak to us with the common voice of human experience. Discovering contemporary voices and rediscovering forgotten ones, Istros Books works hard to bring you the best that Central aand SE European literature can offer – and that’s an area with some bloody good stories to tell! With the magnificent work of translators from all over the world, we manage to bring out a small, select number of titles each year to delight our readers. We hope you will become one of them.
What's in a name?
After a great deal of thinking about the areas of Europe we wanted to cover and the image we wanted to create, we arrvied at the name Istros Books. Istros is the old Greek and Thracian name for the Danube River, which winds its way down from its source in Germany and flows into Slovakia, thence on to cross many of the countries of central Europe: Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Its watershed also extends to other neighbouring countries, with one of the main Danubian tributaries, the Sava, serving Slovenia and Bosnia/Herzegovina, while also feeding the waterways and lakes of Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania. These are the countries of focus for Istros Books, evoking the image of the Istros river flowing carelessly across the borders of central and SE Europe and encapsulating the ideal of the free-flow of knowledge and the cultural exchange that books promote. Our hippocampus logo represents the river god, Istros – the spirit of the flowing waters of time, words and memory.
“The largest of the rivers of Europe, the Istros (Ister), rises from only a few springs and moves in a direction facing the first assaults of the sun. Later, many Rivers rise with one accord as though they were escorting him–for he is the King of the Rivers of that country–and flow perpetually, and those who live on their banks know each one by name. But as soon as they discharge into the Istros, the name which they had at their birth ceases to be used, they surrender it in his favour, all are called after him, and together pour their waters into the Euxeinos [Black Sea].”
Aelian, ‘On the Nature of Animals’ (2nd century AD)