Sitting down with And Other Stories Assistant Editorial Producer Jo Higgs, we discussed the state of the publishing industry, and the value of And Other Stories’ approach and content. And Other Stories is a Sheffield-based publisher of fiction and non-fiction, with a self-proclaimed “shamelessly literary” eye. Focusing on translated fiction, or stories and authors who may not be in the public eye, And Other Stories publish a kaleidoscope of literature that gives way to new perspectives and ideas.
Higgs, tongue in cheek, described his job as telling “people who are much more talented and skilled” than him what to do: as assistant editorial producer, he is responsible for making books happen, and aligning everything together to get the story out into the world. Lauding the authors, editors and translators instrumental to the process, he remarked how “the books we publish are pretty great”. Indeed, And Other Stories has recently won not just the International Booker Prize with Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, but also a 2025 PEN Translation Award (for outstanding translations into English) with Verdigris, written by Michele Mari and translated by Brian Robert Moore. This is to say nothing of the other awards they have won: the company seems to have found huge success with a small business model, focusing on “shamelessly literary” work. Discussing with Higgs what he felt made And Other Stories so unique and successful, he highlighted their dedication to literature that breaks boundaries, assisted by their ingenious subscription model: members of the public can pay a certain amount of money to receive newly published books early, with the money going towards production and guaranteeing an audience for new releases. “If we had 1000 subscribers, that’s 1000 guaranteed sales of a given book”, Higgs explained. This allows the company to take risks and publish fiction that may not have an immediate audience. Higgs used the example of Signs Preceding the End of the World, by Yuri Herrera. In 2015, coming to them after being labelled untranslatable by a different publisher, their commitment to extraordinary literature enabled them to commission a translation and publish what went on to be their best selling book, winning the 2016 Best Translated Book Award for Fiction. In recent years, the values and approach gained from this early method have allowed the company to “push boundaries”, Higgs said, leading to a forward thinking and exploratory approach to publishing with huge rewards.
When discussing acquisition of authors, Higgs commented on the multiple ways in which new writing is found and published. And Other Stories only take agented submissions due to the sheer number of submissions they receive, but they also work with foreign fiction reading groups, translators and simply members of the company to discover new work. Joking that he is the only “monoglot” on the team, Higgs told me how wide-ranging the tastes of his coworkers are, and how “we’ll find that maybe an author isn’t being published”, allowing them to reach out. Given their wide reach and focus on unconventional books, I asked Higgs what kind of thing And Other Stories are looking for in the books they choose to publish. He was only able to speak to his own tastes, but I found a lot of what he said reflected in the books of theirs I have read: “I want a really strong voice, I want the prose to be bouncing off the page a little bit, and I want to really feel the characters”. He acknowledged the range of books they publish, united by their quality and unique talent, comparing Night of the Living Rez, their newly published collection of dark and gritty short stories, to a book in production at the moment called Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, which he described as “very sparse, looking like poetry on the page”. Ultimately, he said, And Other Stories celebrate “good literature, with great voices, doing something new”.
And Other Stories are also particularly known for their translated fiction. Using foreign language reading groups to decide what should be commissioned to translate, they are able to widen the access of books originally published in a different language, and introduce these to the English-speaking market. I asked Higgs what he thought translated fiction could bring to the English-speaking readership. “I think the work that translators do cannot be overstated”, he said. He highlighted the new experiences that translated fiction can bring, and laughed at how well-read he had believed himself to be before beginning to work for And Other Stories and discovering such a wealth of books he could never have found otherwise. Calling literature “sociology, history and politics wrapped into a largely fictional narrative”, Higgs spoke about how reading translated fiction can increase one’s understanding, compassion and appreciation of the other cultures.
When initially preparing for this interview, I looked at lists of the best selling books of 2025 and discovered that nearly all of them were by authors who had very strong social media campaigns, like Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins and Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yaros. I was interested in how someone working at a publishing house that focused on more niche novels felt about the current trends in popular literature. “People reading is better than people not reading”, Higgs emphasised, “therefore, there is a place in the world for these things.” He reflected on their immediate commercial impact, but also acknowledged that it was “a shame” how they dominate the charts, leaving little space for authors who aren’t already established through a series of work or existing intellectual property. He also brought up celebrity authors like Richard Osman who have an immediate access to the bestseller list: “it would be nice to see more indies”. However, the quality and thoughtfulness of And Other Stories’ publications will surely stand the test of time: smaller publishers like them and Fitzcarraldo Editions may be less mainstream now, but they are producing works of fiction that will be remembered and discussed decades in the future.
Finally, I asked Higgs what his favourite And Other Stories publications were. He began with Fire Exit by Morgan Talty, which tells the story of a man watching his Native American daughter grow up from afar, and the struggle the characters face when encountering race and racism. He also mentioned Anything That Moves, the autobiography of Jamie Stewart, member of art-rock band Xiu Xiu, so if anyone’s looking for recommendations – there you are. This interview was a fascinating and enlightening window into the world of a small publishing house, and the minds that make it what it is: unafraid, unique and thought-provoking.
