Nightboat Books (Publisher)

Nightboat Books is a small, nonprofit press that was founded in 2004. They have since published 280 works in a variety of categories, but they tend toward works that traditional publishers would find risky or unconventional.

Nightboat Books (Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 Catalog)

History and Mission Statement

Nightboat Books was formed in 2004 by Kazim Ali and Jennifer Chapis. Kazim Ali served as the press first publisher at the time, and Nightboat's first book published was The Lives of Spirits/Glasstown: Where Something Got Broken by Fanny Howe in 2006. In 2007 American poet Stephen Motika took over as the senior publisher, and in 2025 the company has a credited staff of fifteen editors and publishers. Nightboat Books has been based in Brooklyn, NY, since 2018, but they have previously had locations in Beacon, Cold Spring, New York, and Callicoon.

Nightboat Books strives to take risks and create audiences for unconventional materials. They host a publicly and unapologetically queer staff with a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, all of whom share a desire to publish works "rich with poignancy and intelligence."

Name

The name Nightboat is meant to signify passage through the unknown. It might be a reference to the boat of Charon, the ferryman of the undead in Greek mythology. The organization's official website says that "The name Nightboat signifies travel, passage, and possibility—of mind and body, and of language."