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Hagfish

@hagfishbooks

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independent publisher and agency bringing unforgettable books back into print, run by @naomihuffman and @juliaringo

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Happiest of publication days to our dear Joan Silber, author of the exquisite IN THE CITY, and one of our most perceptive living American writers.

IN THE CITY is the story of a young woman who moves to New York seeking adventure and new experiences, and to feel herself transformed. But her ideas of freedom and identity are quickly challenged, and she must face the difficult work of making a life of her own in an indifferent world.

Order your copy at your favorite indie, @barnesandnoble, or at the link in our bio. by @hagfishbooks

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Hagfish in @nytstyle, written by @quinnmoreland, photos by @tesslomayer.

We’re grateful each time our project with the strange name finds its people.

Thanks to our books and authors for reminding us all the time that the decision to start Hagfish was one of the best we’ve ever made. by @hagfishbooks

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If you know your Lux, you know that we love to talk about unhinged female narrators (we even made a hat for the bisexuals among them.) Well, Helen, the narrator of Rosalyn Drexler’s The Cosmopolitan Girl, from 1974, definitely gets membership in this exclusive club. Drexler, better known as a painter and an erstwhile professional wrestler (!), wrote the book as a spoof of 1970s women’s magazines and advice columns, which the narrator reads assiduously.

We suspect that this “outrageous comedy that upends the promise of heterosexual love” will appeal to our readers. So we’re thrilled to partner with Hagfish, a publishing house focused on lesser-known and out-of-print works mostly by women, for the chance to get your own free copy.

For a limited time, new subscribers to Lux will also receive The Cosmopolitan Girl. This offer is limited to the first 25 subscribers (U.S. only), so don’t wait! Subscribe on our website by October 30. 🎀 by @hagfishbooks

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• UPDATE: More seats added! • Join us next week at Garth Greenan Gallery to celebrate our reissue of The Cosmopolitan Girl, Rosalyn Drexler’s 1974 novel about a young woman who falls in love with a talking dog.

Penny Arcade, Rachel Comey, Joumana Khatib, Christine Smallwood, and Natasha Stagg will read from Drexler’s fiction while surrounded by the art, ephemera, and writings gathered in My Life Has a Life of Its Own, the gallery’s major exhibition of her work.

Come spend an evening in Rosalyn Drexler’s New York: funny, filthy, glamorous, unruly. RSVP required; link in bio! by @hagfishbooks

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19 days ago

Our studio is expanding! Please join us in welcoming three brilliant editors to our studio staff: @maddiecrum @michelejmoses and Mallika Rao.

Collectively, their editorial experience ranges across book publishing, legacy media, podcasting, and teaching, and we’re thrilled to continue building our studio with their talent and expertise.

Writers, agents, editors—if you want to learn more about working with us on a project, get in touch: hello@hag.fish. by @hagfishbooks

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2 months ago

*** SOLD OUT ***

Join us this summer to read and discuss four recently-reissued novels of excess and psychological unraveling set against the steaminess of high summer: think head-pounding hangovers, crying on the dance floor, and nights that go on and on and on. Registration is open until July 1; sign up at the link in our bio.

Book list 📚
Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker (1962)
Lives of the Saints, Nancy Lemann (1985)
Fish Tales, Nettie Jones (1984)
The Love Life of a Cheltenham Lady, Dinah Brooke (1971)

These books invite us to examine the disintegration of the self through heightened confrontations with unrequited desire, narcissistic lovers, dysfunctional family, soured friendships, and rampant misogyny. We promise it’ll be fun!

This is an in-person book club. We’ll meet in the backyard of one of our favorite bookstores in Brooklyn, @unnameablebooks (In the event of inclement weather, we’ll meet over Zoom). The conversation will begin at 7:00 pm and last 60-75 minutes. This is a BYOB book club! We’ll bring a couple bottles of wine; feel free to bring something cool and refreshing to share. by @hagfishbooks

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Coming October 2026: Cynthia Buchanan’s MAIDEN, a postmodern tragicomedy about a thirty-year-old virgin on a hero’s quest to find true love.

Fortune Dundy moves to a swinging singles apartment complex named Villa Dionysus, hoping to find romance amid the sand and suntan oil of Southern California. Instead, she finds a cast of desperate seekers, including her embittered roommate Biscuit and a handsome dentist named Skip. First published in 1972, MAIDEN is a glitter-and-blood tale of longing and delusion, and Fortune is one of literature’s great antiheroines: hopeful, absurd, and unforgettable.

A native of Arizona and Texas, Cynthia Buchanan received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of the Americas and held a Fulbright fellowship in Spain. A novelist, essayist, and playwright, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and elsewhere.

Preorder MAIDEN at our website (link in bio), at @bookshop_org, @barnesandnoble, or at your favorite indie bookstore.

Cover design: @claire_hungerford
For sales: @consortiumbooks by @hagfishbooks

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Today we’re thrilled to announce our TWO fall releases—starting with Rosalyn Drexler’s THE COSMOPOLITAN GIRL, a 70s cult-classic that upends the promise of heterosexual love, on sale September 2026.

Helen trains her dog Pablo to speak, walk upright, and wear men’s clothing so she can sneak him into the hotel where she lives. Before long, she and Pablo fall in love. Guided by the “anything goes” attitude of women’s magazines and advice columns, Helen entertains the affections of her other suitors—an arsonist, a pervert, a radio DJ with extremist politics—and struggles to form a coherent worldview of her own. First published in 1974, THE COSMOPOLITAN GIRL is an outrageous (and prescient) comedy about romance and the American attraction to grifters and blowhards.

Born in the Bronx in 1926, Rosalyn Drexler was a celebrated Pop artist, author of nine novels, a playwright, a screenwriter, a Guggenheim Fellow, a three-time Obie winner, an Emmy recipient, and a professional wrestler. She passed in 2025, months after Hagfish reissued her 1972 novel TO SMITHEREENS.

Preorder THE COSMOPOLITAN GIRL at our website (link in bio), at @bookshop_org, @barnesandnoble, or at your favorite indie bookstore.

Cover art: “Chain Smoker” by Rosalyn Drexler, 1960; Acrylic and paper collage on canvas, 16 x 12 inches. Used with permission.

Cover design: @claire_hungerford
For sales: @consortiumbooks by @hagfishbooks

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In her essay “What Gets Kept,” the writer Joyce Johnson reflects on her relationship with Jack Kerouac, the cost of his fame, and the pricelessness of memory, in @newyorkermag today.

We are honored to announce that, as of late last year, we now represent Joyce Johnson. Joyce is best known for her memoir MINOR CHARACTERS (1983), detailing the life of Elaine Carr and other lesser-known women of the Beat Movement; it won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983. We look forward to sharing news of forthcoming reissues of Joyce’s acclaimed novels, which include COME AND JOIN THE DANCE (1962), BAD CONNECTIONS (1978), and IN THE NIGHT CAFE (1983), in the future. Read more about Joyce and her nearly sixty-year career at our site. by @hagfishbooks

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UPDATE: SOLD OUT. Please join the waiting list!

Join us on May 26th at @solasbarnyc in the East Village to celebrate our reissue of IN THE CITY by Joan Silber.

Following a brief reading from the book, Joan will join @marlowetatiana, author of the intoxicating novel HAPPY HOUR, in a conversation about the self-discovery (and delusion) involved in being young and (mostly) free in a city indifferent to your dreams.

Link in bio! 🔗🔝 by @hagfishbooks

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Today on TCI 🌀Book editors and Hagfish (@hagfishbooks) co-publishers Julia Ringo (@juliaringo) and Naomi Huffman speak with writer Alexa Margorian (@alexamargorian) about reading as a communal and private pleasure, making a commitment to the people you work with, and feeling empowered by independence. Read the interview via the link in our bio. 📗

ID: A roundup of quotes from a conversation with Book editors and Hagfish co-publishers Julia Ringo and Naomi Huffman that read…

Slide 1: “There are things that are not on the internet. There are things that are not saved, but they can still be found. They can still be discovered, recovered.” -Julia Ringo

Slide 2: “I have a big distrust of information that is easily available, and I think everyone should. It’s healthy to have that distrust. It feels so satisfying to find something out on your own after much effort, that maybe no one else is looking for.” -Naomi Huffman

Slide 3: “A lot of what I find very worthwhile are pursuits that are full of friction. Whether that’s the way that you live in a city, or the way that you work with your coworker, or the way that you choose to build your taste, I think friction is really important.” -Naomi Huffman

Slide 4: “This notion that everything is supposed to get more and more convenient simply because it can is really poisonous to the development of taste and the work of making art.” -Naomi Huffman

Slide 5: “Social media is constantly trying to tell you that the most popular and loud and attention-seeking person or thing or idea is the best thing you can experience—or at least is the most important thing to experience simply because everyone else is paying attention to it.” -Naomi Huffman

Slide 6: “When you read a lot of things you don’t like, you follow your instincts to what you do. You have to risk embarrassment as well. You have to risk liking something that other people don’t like and standing up for that, and figuring out what draws you to it.” -Julia Ringo

Slide 7: “Reading can be part of this ongoing conversation between the people who are meaningful or influential in your life.” -Julia RIngo by @hagfishbooks

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We’ve sent the first seven issues of our members-only newsletter, featuring recommendations for our-of-print books by the should-be-more-famous writers Beryl Bainbridge, J.C. Sturm, Nell Dunn, Gina Berriault, and more. Become a member now and liven up your to-read list! by @hagfishbooks

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