Island Press - Publishing

Publishing

Today, Island Press publishes around 40 titles a year and has over 800 titles in its library covering topics that range from ecosystem services to ecological restoration to climate change adaptation to conservation and the built environment. Its books are published around the world in over 15 languages including Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, and Macedonian.

Throughout the 1980s, Island Press’s title list focused primarily on books for environmental professionals and academics, with much of its focus on ecosystem-based management and ecosystem services movements. By the start of the 1990s, the Press started to think seriously about how to reach a broader audience. The result was the creation of the imprint Shearwater Books in 1992. From its inception, Shearwater was intended as a forum for books that explore the interrelationships of nature, science, and human culture through literary non-fiction, biography, and cultural anthropology. In 1994, Island Press and Shearwater published The Naturalist, the book from Pulitzer Prize-winner E.O. Wilson, which the Los Angeles Times called, “…one of the finest scientific memoirs ever written, by one of the finest scientists writing today”. Over the years, Island Press has expanded its interest areas by offering books on old-growth forests, renewable energy, the built environment, and marine conservation. In addition to E.O. Wilson, Island Press has worked with a wide array of scientists, policymakers, and conservationists including Paul R. Ehrlich, Donald Kennedy, Joseph J. Romm, Jay Inslee, Peter Gleick, Jan Gehl, Peter Calthorpe, Bill McKibben, Allen Hershkowitz and Robert Glennon.