Elephant Rock Books

History

Elephant Rock Books was an independent publishing company based in Connecticut from 2010-2023.[1] The press was founded by Jotham Burrello in Chicago in 2010.[2] Burrello decided to start the press while talking with his former teacher, Patricia Ann McNair, about her work; her book The Temple of the Air became Elephant Rock's first publication and went on to win positive reviews and several awards.[3]

The publisher was backed by a multimedia company, Elephant Rock Productions, which handled accounting and banking.[4]

Books

Elephant Rock published The Biology of Luck by Jacob M. Appel which won the Independent Publisher Book Award for U.S. North-East, Best Regional Fiction in 2014.[5]

Elephant Rock published Briefly Knocked Unconscious By A Low-Flying Duck, an essay anthology of the 2nd Story Collective[6] that has won multiple literary prizes.[7]

In 2014 the press moved into the young adult fiction market with Jessie Ann Foley's novel The Carnival at Bray,[8] which was named a Printz Honor Book.[2]

Elephant Rock published The Art of Holding On and Letting Go, a debut novel by Kristin Bartley Lenz that is a Junior Library Guild Selection[9] and Great Lakes Great Books Award[10] honor book from the Michigan Reading Association.

Other books published by the press: A Vacation on the Islands of Ex-Boyfriends by Stacy Bierlein, The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid by John McNally, and Borrowed by Lucia DiStefano.

References

  1. ^ Alex Stedman, "Independent publisher survives against odds", Columbia Chronicle, November 26, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Clare Kirch, "Small But Mighty Presses Prevail at ALA Awards", Publishers Weekly, February 5, 2015.
  3. ^ Mark Eleveld, "Midwest familiarity breeds ‘edgy’ stories", Chicago Sun-Times, February 3, 2013, via HighBeam Research.
  4. ^ Scenes: Elephant Rock Books: An interview with Jotham Burrello by Jotham Burrello in American Book Review Volume 35, Number 6, September/October 2014 p. 28, doi:10.1353/abr.2014.0118
  5. ^ "2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Results". Independant Publisher. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  6. ^ Briefly Knocked Unconscious By A Low-Flying Duck: Stories from 2nd Story, Publishers Weekly, February 18, 2013.
  7. ^ American Writer, July 2013
  8. ^ Donald Liebenson, "Elephant Rock Books enters Y.A. with 'The Carnival at Bray'", Chicago Tribune, June 20, 2014.
  9. ^ "Junior Library Guild Selections, 2012-2025". TeachingBooks. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  10. ^ "Great Lakes Great Books Award". Michigan Reading Association. Retrieved 5 November 2025.


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