Melville House is an independent publisher founded in 2001 in order to publish Poetry After 9/11. The book, an anthology of poems written by New York poets, was inspired by poems sent to the book blog, MobyLives, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
The book was widely successful, and Melville House soon expanded its list to include books of literary fiction, political and activist nonfiction, cookbooks and books on food, and a classics line called The Art of the Novella. The company has published two Nobel Prize winners — Imre Kertész and Heinrich Böll — and numerous New York Times bestsellers. It particularly prides itself on the diversity of its list, and on the publication of debut authors.
Melville House UK was founded in 2012.
