{{short description|American independent publishing company}} {{Infobox publisher |name=LittlePuss Press |founded=2020 |founder=Casey Plett, Cat Fitzpatrick |headquarters=Brooklyn, New York |status= |image= |imprints= |publications=Books|genre=Feminist literature, Transgender literature}}
'''LittlePuss Press''' is a small press from Brooklyn, New York, founded by Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":10" /> LittlePuss is a feminist press run by trans women.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":20" /> Their books have won awards including the Stonewall Book Award and Leslie Feinberg Award.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Albanese |first=Andrew |date=April 18, 2024 |title=Helen Elaine Lee, Joseph Plaster Among 2024 Publishing Triangle Award Winners |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/94849-helen-elaine-lee-joseph-plaster-among-2024-publishing-triangle-award-winners.html |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref>
== Background == Topside Press published Casey Plett and Cat Fitzpatrick's speculative fiction anthology ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere'' in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cerny |first=Dory |date=February 15, 2018 |title=Canadians Casey Plett, Kai Cheng Thom honoured by Stonewall Literature Awards |url=https://quillandquire.com/awards/2018/02/15/canadians-casey-plett-kai-cheng-thom-honoured-by-stonewall-literature-awards/ |access-date=2026-01-11 |website=Quill & Quire |language=en}}</ref> After Topside Press disbanded, Plett and Fitzpatrick co-founded LittlePuss Press to continue printing the anthology.<ref name=":3" /> Fitzpatrick had some previous publishing experience, beginning with her production of Sybil Lamb's ''I've Got a Time Bomb'', when they turned Lamb's zines into a book.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Cat |date=November 5, 2025 |title=Unearthing The Hidden History Of A Singular Trans Punk Zine |url=https://defector.com/unearthing-the-hidden-history-of-a-singular-trans-punk-zine |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=Defector |language=en}}</ref>
LittlePuss Press launched in 2020.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |last1=Beeck |first1=Nathalie op de |date=April 28, 2023 |title=Independent Spirit: LGBTQ Voices in Publishing |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/92149-independent-spirit-lgbtq-voices-in-publishing.html |access-date=March 17, 2024 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref> The name "LittlePuss" is a portmanteau of Plett's ''Little Fish'' and Fitzpatrick's ''Glamourpuss'' works.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Harron |date=December 27, 2022 |title=A Literary Scene Where Parties Are Part of the Agenda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/style/littlepuss-press-literary-parties.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
Plett and Fitzpatrick describe LittlePuss Press as "a feminist press run by two trans women", focusing on publishing works by authors that might struggle to get a publisher due to background, lack of prior publications, or unfinished manuscripts.<ref name=":10" /> They hope to support authors that have not even connected with other indie publishers, and want to publish books they help create with "eminent geniuses kind of just wandering around town".<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Ryan |date=December 15, 2022 |title=Breaking and Remaking the Trans Memoir: On Cecilia Gentili’s “Faltas” |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/breaking-and-remaking-the-trans-memoir-on-cecilia-gentilis-faltas |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref> Another motivation was to make space "for trans writing that was off-kilter, really unique, really creative, and not necessarily commercial."<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |last=Downing |first=Andy |date=April 9, 2025 |title=Amid social and political turmoil, Casey Plett continues to do the work |url=https://matternews.org/culture/words/amid-social-and-political-turmoil-casey-plett-continues-to-do-the-work/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Matter News |language=en-US}}</ref> They focus on publishing works by queer and trans authors, although they welcome submissions from anyone.<ref name=":3" /> One of their initiatives is The Trans Reprint Project, aiming to republish historical trans literature that is not currently available.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Germain |first=Vivienne |last2=Marx |first2=Willem |date=April 26, 2024 |title=23 Indie Presses to Support After the Close of Small Press Distribution |url=https://electricliterature.com/23-small-presses-to-support-after-the-close-of-small-press-distribution/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref>
LittlePuss takes inspiration from the collaborations between earlier lesbian presses and bookstores, who created their own networks of distribution for marginalized works.<ref name=":19" /> Some of LittlePuss's feminist press inspirations include Firebrand Books, Naiad Press, and Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. Plett said that Jeanne Thornton was a key mentor for helping her enter the publishing industry.<ref name=":20">{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Sophia |date=February 14, 2025 |title=How Women Keep Reinventing Independent Publishing |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/97102-how-women-keep-reinventing-independent-publishing.html |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref> Plett and Fitzpatrick are more involved with author writing than is standard for the publishing industry, and they publicize books via word-of-mouth like many other small presses.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Eugenios |first=Jillian |date=January 17, 2023 |title=Amid record book bans, queer writers come out swinging in 2023 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/record-book-bans-queer-writers-come-swinging-2023-rcna64994 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
Originally, LittlePuss Press works were edited by either Fitzpatrick or Plett. Other duties were divided so Fitzpatrick handled publicity-oriented work while Plett handled financial concerns. Both founders contributed personal funds to begin the press.<ref name=":10" /> From its first book, LittlePuss partnered with Small Press Distribution (SPD) to send its publications to bookstores, like many other indie publishers. However, SPD abruptly shut down in 2024, taking $12,000 in sales owed to LittlePuss.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Elizabeth A. |date=2024-04-17 |title=Hundreds of Small Presses Just Lost Their Distributor. Now What? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/books/small-press-distribution-closure.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250930131236/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/books/small-press-distribution-closure.html |archive-date=2025-09-30 |access-date=2026-01-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref> Plett said it was an unexpected blow but that LittlePuss adjusted with the help of personal networks who connected them to other distributors like Ingram, which became LittlePuss's new distributor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maher |first=John |last2=Kirch |first2=Claire |last3=Nawotka |first3=Ed |last4=op de Beeck |first4=Nathalie |date=April 19, 2024 |title=Want to Start an Indie Press? These Publishers Have Some Suggestions |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/94873-want-to-start-an-indie-press-these-publishers-have-some-suggestions.html |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref> In 2025, LittlePuss was one of 35 of SPD's former presses to receive an award from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, earning $15,000 and a one-year membership.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 21, 2025 |title=CLMP Awards Grants to 35 Former SPD Clients |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=5157 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref>
{{As of|2026|January}}, Emily Zhou, who previously published her debut work with LittlePuss, was an editor for the press alongside Fitzpatrick, while Plett worked as a publisher.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.littlepuss.net/about-us-1 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=LittlePuss Press |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Reception == Meg Reid of Hub City Press cited Plett and LittlePuss as an inspiration, in their care for authors and determination to fix holes they see in literary culture.<ref name=":20" /> S. Bear Bergman described the press's creation as a "deeply optimistic choice", naming Plett and Fitzpatrick "smartypantses" in a positive review for one of their first works.<ref name=":18">{{Cite web |last=Bergman |first=S. Bear |author-link=S. Bear Bergman |date=October 20, 2023 |title=A corporate podcast and a science fiction novel among Bear’s latest recommendations? |url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/clout-for-good-corporate-podcast-burning-stars-bethany-jacobs-258454 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Xtra Magazine |language=en-CA}}</ref> Luke Sutherland and Andrea Morgan were inspired by LittlePuss's influence on the Brooklyn trans literature community and decided to create Lilac Peril to emulate their work in Washington, D.C. Sutherland said Plett, Fitzpatrick, and Zhou "have built a culture where joy is the norm".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sutherland |first=Luke |date=November 18, 2024 |title=A Tale for the Time (and Being) |url=https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/a-tale-for-the-time-and-being |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Washington Independent Review of Books}}</ref>
''The New York Times'' profiled LittlePuss Press in 2022, but some criticized the paper for including a text box inside the profile "with links to fearmongering articles", and the textbox was later removed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drennen |first=Ari |last2=Gingerich |first2=Mia |date=February 8, 2023 |title=The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better? |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/new-york-times-helped-fuel-anti-trans-panic-2022-will-2023-be-any-better |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Media Matters for America |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":17">{{Cite web |last=Gabriel |first=Kay |date=Winter 2023 |title=#271 – Winter 2023 > Raw, Rude, and from the Future: DIY Trans Publishing Today, Joss Barton & Casey Plett, w/ Kay Gabriel |url=https://www.poetryproject.org/publications/newsletter/271-winter-2023/raw-rude-and-from-the-future-diy-trans-publishing-today |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Poetry Project}}</ref> Kay Gabriel described the contrast as "an extraordinary snapshot of the different aims of very mainstream liberal journalism right now", between "occasionally buttressing trans cultural creation" and repeating claims that aim to "limit access to trans medicine, as if the threats to trans safety were somehow separate from the concerted attempt to limit, or block entirely, access to transition care." Plett responded that she "hate[d] that some higher-up at the ''NYT'' put that infobox in there, and [she was] also not terribly surprised." She was pessimistic about institutions like this improving in their treatment of trans people, and wanted LittlePuss to be part of an independent institutional ecosystem to support trans writing.<ref name=":17" />
== Works == The first publication by LittlePuss Press was a reissue of ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere''. Plett said this was a helpful work to start the press with because it already had been edited and formatted.<ref name=":3" /> The original work's publication under a Creative Commons license also helped. LittlePuss began with a trial 1,000-copy print run for ''Meanwhile, Elsewhere'', selling out in a year.<ref name=":11" />
Their second publication was ''Faltas'', by Cecilia Gentili. It was the recipient of the 2023 Stonewall Award in the nonfiction category.<ref name=":3" /> Fitzpatrick had wanted to publish Gentili's memoir for years after hearing some of Gentili's stories at New York literary events. ''Faltas'' is an epistolary memoir, in the form of eight letters to people from her youth in Gálvez, Argentina. Hugh Ryan, reviewing for the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', said it "strikes a rare balance: at once agonizing and hilarious, angry and forgiving, beautiful and unbearable. In other words, it is an almost perfect reflection of the fullness of a life marked by triumph".<ref name=":11" />
=== 2023 === In 2023, they published ''Girlfriends'', by Emily Zhou.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=August 26, 2023 |title=Girlfriends |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/emily-zhou/girlfriends-zhou/ |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> Plett was the book's editor.<ref name=":52">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 5, 2024 |title=Meet the Transgender Fiction Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=https://electricliterature.com/meet-the-transgender-fiction-finalists-for-the-36th-annual-lambda-literary-awards/ |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref> ''Girlfriends'' won the 2024 Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Albanese |first=Andrew |date=April 18, 2024 |title=Helen Elaine Lee, Joseph Plaster Among 2024 Publishing Triangle Award Winners |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/94849-helen-elaine-lee-joseph-plaster-among-2024-publishing-triangle-award-winners.html |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref> It was a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction and the 2024 Ferro–Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction.<ref name=":52" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ferro-Grumley Awards |url=https://publishingtriangle.org/awards/ferro-grumley-awards/ |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=The Publishing Triangle |language=en-US}}</ref> S. Bear Bergman, reviewing for ''Xtra'', said the work was ''"great"'', with stories that were "finely observed and funny and, in a way I find a bit difficult to describe, so very queer."<ref name=":18" />
=== 2024 === In 2024, LittlePuss published ''Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix'', by Katherine Cross. The work debates the pros and cons of social media, investigating why social movements for marginalized groups often fail to sustain themselves on social media due to the platforms's choices to support intra-community violence in the hunt for increased platform engagement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhandar |first=Serena Lukas |date=April 11, 2025 |title=Should We Stay or Log Off? |url=https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/should-we-stay-or-log-off |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Briarpatch |language=en}}</ref> Roz Milner, writing for ''Full Stop'', said "Cross’s insights and experience as both a scholar and a poster make ''Log Off'' a book that’s fascinating reading and bound to stir up arguments."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Milner |first=Roz |date=September 27, 2024 |title=Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix – Katherine Cross |url=https://www.full-stop.net/2024/09/27/reviews/rozmilner/log-off-why-posting-and-politics-almost-never-mix-katherine-cross/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Full Stop |language=en}}</ref>
=== 2025 === In 2025, LittlePuss published two debut works: Vivian Blaxell's ''Worthy of the Event: An Essay'', and Anton Solomonik's ''Realistic Fiction''.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |last=Vachon |first=Erin |date=April 15, 2025 |title=LittlePuss Press Double Release: On Vivian Blaxell’s Worthy of the Event: An Essay & Anton Solomonik’s Realistic Fiction |url=https://therumpus.net/2025/04/15/littlepuss-press-double-release/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=The Rumpus |language=en-US}}</ref> Both books received positive reviews.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite web |last=Campbell |first=Willow |date=September 4, 2025 |title=In Order That You Should See Me: On Anton Solomonik’s “Realistic Fiction” |url=https://clereviewofbooks.com/anton-solomonik-realistic-fiction/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Cleveland Review of Books |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":16">{{Cite web |last=Borinsky |first=Agnes |date=May 26, 2025 |title=All That Lovely Old Transsexual Shit |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/all-that-lovely-old-transsexual-shit |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bradley |first=H Felix Chau |date=March 31, 2025 |title=Anton Solomonik’s trans stories are not a plea for acceptance |url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/books/anton-solomoniks-trans-stories-are-not-a-plea-for-acceptance-272354 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Xtra Magazine |language=en-CA}}</ref> Erin Vachon, reviewing for ''The Rumpus'', said "reading both LittlePuss books back-to-back is like attending a celebration with two different but equally sharp jokesters. Blaxell unspools a devastating meditation on life, sideswiping you with rapid-fire jokes. Solomonik spins fictions that feel like jokes before you realize you are devastated by them."<ref name=":14" />
==== ''Worthy of the Event: An Essay'' ==== ''Worthy of the Event'' is a book with seven sections on subjects like disappointment, becoming, beauty, disaster, and infinity.<ref name=":16" /> ''Publishers Weekly'', in a starred review, said: "teeming with wonder and wicked humor, Blaxell’s dispatches offer a boisterous trip through a formidable intellect".<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 7, 2025 |title=Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781964322995 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref> Agnes Borinsky, for the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', writes that Blaxell's "prose makes me want to get up out of bed and dance with it", with the book asking "What if transness—and by extension, trans writing—is better understood as nothing more or less than an experience of beauty?"<ref name=":16" /> ''Worthy of the Event'' is a finalist for the 2026 Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last= |date=March 16, 2026 |title=Finalists Announced for the 38th Annual Publishing Triangle Awards |url=https://publishingtriangle.org/2026/03/finalists-announced-for-the-38th-annual-publishing-triangle-awards/ |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=The Publishing Triangle |language=en-US}}</ref>
==== ''Realistic Fiction'' ==== ''Realistic Fiction'' is a set of eleven short stories.<ref name=":15" /> ''Publishers Weekly'' described ''Realistic Fiction'' as a provocative work exploring trans identity with "philosophical musings and highbrow wit", good for "fans of weird and punchy short fiction".<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 4, 2025 |title=Realistic Fiction by Anton Solomonik |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781736716885 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref> Sam Karagulin, writing for ''Full Stop'', said that Solomonik's "essential contribution to [the] robust and growing tradition [of trans literature] lies in his humorous skewering of trans masculine loneliness and privilege".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Karagulin |first=Sam |date=September 12, 2025 |title=Realistic Fiction – Anton Solomonik |url=https://www.full-stop.net/2025/09/12/reviews/sam-karagulin/realistic-fiction-anton-solomonik/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Full Stop |language=en}}</ref> Willow Campbell, for the Cleveland Review of Books, said Solomonik's "refreshingly self-aware, dark, maniacal prose allows these stories to resonate. Solomonik’s characters are at once trapped by the form of fiction and freed by it."<ref name=":15" />
==== ''Gendertrash from Hell'' ==== Also in 2025, LittlePuss published ''Gendertrash from Hell'', edited by Mirha-Soleil Ross. The anthology is a compilation of a 1990s trans zine of the same name created by Ross and her girlfriend Xanthra Phillippa MacKay in Toronto, Canada.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Bradley |first=H Felix Chau |date=November 4, 2025 |title=This trans zine from the ’90s has never been more relevant |url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/books/this-trans-zine-from-the-90s-has-never-been-more-relevant-277703 |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=Xtra Magazine |language=en-CA}}</ref> The original ''gendertrash'' helped shape a growing trans cultural movement and was well-remembered in the trans community, but had received little broader attention.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Fellini |first=Dallas |date=December 2025 |title=Gendertrash From Hell |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2025/12/art_books/gendertrash-from-hell/ |access-date=2026-01-10 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en}}</ref> The anthology, with an introduction by poet Trish Salah and afterword by historian Leah Tigers, was the first to collect the zine into a book and share it for a wider audience.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":12" /> The collection is a finalist for the 2026 Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant literature.<ref name=":4" />
=== 2026 === ''Persona'', by Aoife Josie Clements, was released in January 2026. The horror novel was Clements' debut. It received praise and affirmations of its scariness from Nic Anstett in ''Autostraddle'', Tobias Carroll in ''Vol. 1 Brooklyn'', and a starred review from ''Publishers Weekly''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anstett |first=Nic |date=February 19, 2026 |title=Let This Trans Horror Novel Ruin Your Day as Soon as Possible |url=https://www.autostraddle.com/persona-aoife-josie-clements-review/ |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=Autostraddle |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=Tobias |date=January 26, 2026 |title=A Very Particular Nightmare: On Aoife Josie Clements’s “Persona” |url=https://www.vol1brooklyn.com/2026/02/26/a-very-particular-nightmare-on-aoife-josie-clementss-persona/ |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=Vol. 1 Brooklyn |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 22, 2025 |title=Persona by Aoife Josie Clements |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781964322063 |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
In April, the press published ''Missed Connections with Tall Girls'', a poetry book by Gwen Aube.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carson-Holt |first=Elsie |date=April 23, 2026 |title=LittlePuss Press Celebrates Trans Community, Indie Publishing Ethos |url=https://indypendent.org/2026/04/littlepuss-press-celebrates-trans-community-indie-publishing-ethos/ |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=The Indypendent |language=en-US}}</ref> It was LittlePuss's first poetry book, and chosen because Plett felt she had to publish Aube's work after hearing Aube at an open mic. Aube had published the chapbook ''Pulp Necrosis'' in 2025, but ''Missed Connections'' was her first full book of poetry. It centered on the trans community, poverty, Windsor, and how people can have fun and work together for better futures.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=April 10, 2026 |title=Trans poet from Windsor to launch debut collection Friday evening |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-poet-gwen-aube-launches-missed-connections-with-tall-girls-9.7159471 |access-date=April 25, 2026 |work=CBC.ca}}</ref>
The press planned to publish Violet Allen's romantasy novel ''Plastic, Prism, Void: Part One'' in May 2026.<ref name=":5" />
== See also ==
* Arsenal Pulp Press * Cleis Press * Feminist Press * Instar Books * Zubaan Books
== References == <references />
Category:Feminism in New York City Category:Small press publishing companies Category:Transfeminism Category:Transgender literature Category:Transgender organizations in the United States Category:LGBTQ culture in New York City Category:2020 establishments in New York City Category:Feminist literature