Berlin-based Hebrew-language publishing house Altneuland Press has announced a copublishing program with three U.S.-based small presses. Together with New Vessel Press, Steerforth Press, and Deep Vellum, Altneuland will begin by publishing 3-5 English-language next year in the U.S. market and will expand to 6-8 titles within the first two years. The program is led by Altneuland's editor-in-chief, Dory Manor, and advised by the International Booker Prize–winning literary translator Jessica Cohen.
Beginning in the fall of 2026, Altneuland will publish a mix of Hebrew works in translation and original English-language nonfiction and literary fiction aligned with its mission to promote a diasporic vision of Hebrew literature, rather than one that is "national or state-bound," the company said. The press was founded in 2024 by Manor and Moshe Sakal with funding from Migdalor, a cultural initiative based in Berlin. It will now operate in both Berlin and the U.S., with the goal of establishing a dedicated U.S.-based editorial team.
Altneuland will kick off its English-language program with In the Belly of the Whale by Ruth Margalit (co-published with Steerforth)—an original English-language collection of the journalist's political and cultural profiles originally published in the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine, "reexamined in light of Israel's current situation." This will be followed by two books translated from Hebrew that Altneuland has already published in German—Our Lady of Kazan (New Vessel), a "modern classic novel" in translation by Maya Arad, and Bandit (TBD), Israeli writer Itamar Orlev's award-winning debut novel.
“Hebrew has always transcended geography,” said Manor. “We're expanding its scope—not as a tool of nationalism, but as a global language of thought, imagination, and memory.” By publishing Hebrew-language books in Germany, Altneuland said it is resurrecting a robust publishing tradition stretching from the 16th century up until WWII.
Sakal said that Altneuland's U.S. expansion feels natural at a moment when readers are expressing "growing curiosity about voices that speak honestly and critically to the realities of Israel and its diasporas." Hebrew is "a portable, outward-facing language—one that addresses identity, migration, belonging, democracy, and cultural imagination," he added. By combining Hebrew translations with English-language originals, Sakal hopes that Altneuland's U.S. titles can help facilitate an understanding of "secular, plural, humanistic forms of Jewish life," whether within or outside the Israeli diaspora.
