The Kennebec River in Solon, Maine. Photo by Ramona du Houx
We are an independent literary publishing house established with a focus on the places and history that form us, the things that inspire us, and the imaginative worlds that feed us.
We were founded in 1998, quite literally in a cabin in the woods next to a little brook that feeds into the Kennebec River in Maine. Our first prototypes came before the internet era, before digital printing. We remember DOS. Some of our early manuscripts were typed on a typewriter. Even though we’ve enthusiastically embraced new technologies, we operate with the same level of attention to detail that it takes to type out a manuscript letter by letter and bind it by hand. We see publishing as a craft.
We are not interested in standard categories and distinctions. We are interested in work that explores the edges and isn’t afraid of the shadows, that glows in the dark, has sharp claws, an animal gaze, and occasionally sleeps in sunbeams. We love genre-bending–academics who break out into fiction, imagination embraced in essay-writing. We are not always interested in what is easy and popular, though we do love a good story. We believe that words can emancipate the world.
Polar Bear & Company is an imprint of the non-profit Solon Center for Research and Publishing.
PB Co. 