Tyrant Books is preparing to resume publishing following Luke Goebel’s acquisition of 50% of the indie press, which was founded in 2009 by Giancarlo DiTrapano as an offshoot of his literary journal, New York Tyrant Magazine, and has remained largely dormant since DiTrapano’s sudden death in 2021.

Matthew Johnson of Fat Possum Records, who provided early funding for Tyrant, retains a 50% ownership stake in the press.

For Goebel, his acquisition of a 50% share of Tyrant marks a return to the press where he once served as an unpaid assistant. He will now oversee Tyrant’s editorial direction and expansion. During his first stint at Tyrant, Goebel helped publish Atticus Lish's Preparation for the Next Life, which won the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Goebel acquired his 50% ownership from Giuseppe Avallone for what he told PW was “nearly three times what [the indie publisher] Catapult had offered. I did it for one reason: to ensure that Tyrant would never be absorbed into any corporate ecosystem whose financial roots trace back to power structures fundamentally misaligned with what this press represents.”

“Tyrant is not—and will never be—part of that sector,” Goebel continued. “Giancarlo was the face of Tyrant and the original founder and I’m keeping with his ethos. I will now take that role with as much humility as I can manage to summon.”

Tyrant’s backlist stands at 23 titles, and nearly 20% of the books the press has published have been adapted into major motion pictures. With Johnson’s continued participation, the revived Tyrant Books is likely to continue to blend literary publishing with broader cultural and multimedia ambitions.

“I’m proud to carry Gian and Matthew’s fight forward,” Goebel said. “Tyrant exists to challenge the status quo, and the publishing world still needs a press that refuses to be softened, bought, or made polite."

Goebel, who is an author and screenwriter, added that his intention is to make Tyrant “better than the Big Five. Better than the well-funded startups with glossy marketing decks. Better because we care about sentences. Because we care about risk. Because we publish books that alter the interior weather of the reader.”

More details about Tyrant’s titles will be announced later this year, but Goebel offered hints of the books he wants to publish: “Real ones. Dangerous ones.”

Tyrant’s titles will be distributed by Consortium.