Tyrant Books


Tyrant Books is an independent book publisher based in Rome, Italy and New York, New York. It was created in 2009 by Giancarlo DiTrapano as an offshoot of New York Tyrant Magazine which was also founded by DiTrapano, in 2006.

History

Tyrant Books was created to publish books less suited to large publishing houses, often because their non-mainstream appeal. Giancarlo DiTrapano is quoted in the Los Angeles Review of Books as saying, “It would have taken forever for me to do anything I wanted to do , but I had a little money, so I started a press.”
In 2006 he founded New York Tyrant Magazine, which published “writers the big houses refused to touch.” The magazine was put on hiatus until December 2016, when it was brought back as an online journal, with Jordan Castro as the editor.
In 2009, the magazine marked the beginning of the publication’s transition to book publishing when it published 500 copies of the novella “Baby Leg” by Brian Evenson.
In 2013 Tyrant Books partnered with Fat Possum Records after DiTrapano met with Matthew Johnson, owner of Fat Possum Records. Johnson developed an interest in saving the publishing house — which was struggling financially — and became 50% owner. He took over the business aspects of Tyrant Books while DiTrapano was freed to focus more on the editorial side of the business.
In 2014 Tyrant Books published most successful book to date: “Preparation for the Next Life” by Atticus Lish, winner of the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Prize for fiction. As of January 2015 the book had sold 15,000 copies.

Publications of Tyrant Books