Bremond MacDougall and Lisa Cooper are the founders of the new publishing house Quite Literally Books. Their first three books are reissues of Jessie Redmon Fauset's Plum Bun, Nelia Gardner White's The Pink House, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher's The Home-Maker.
Q: What inspired you to create Quite Literally Books, and how was the company’s name chosen?
A: We've been friends since we were 12, and reading was a foundational part of our friendship from the beginning. That and our shared love of Stevie Wonder, the Austin Public Library, and our 7th grade English teacher Mrs. Marcus. So really QLB has been 40-plus years in the making.
At some point during one of our lengthy lockdown telephone calls, we were wondering aloud, as new 50-year-olds are wont to do, how to shape this next chapter of our lives.
Looking longingly at her bookshelf, Lisa said, “You know, I really wish we could just have our own publishing company.” And Bremond said, “Well, why couldn’t we?”
And that’s actually how it started.
In addition to being bibliophiles, we both love diving into history and reading old books. We both consider ourselves to be well-read, so we were surprised by the many prolific women authors from the early 20th century we had never heard of. And that got us considering bigger questions like, Why have so many women authors been lost to history?
The simple answer, at least in part, seems to be that male critics and scholars were the arbiters of the American literary canon in the early 20th century, and they just didn’t seriously consider works by American women authors as “literature,” either because of the subject matter—the home, relationships, the interior lives of women—or because it was women who were writing them.
So Quite Literally Books was born with the intention of creating new editions of ought-to-be-in-print books by authors, mostly American women of a certain age, so to speak. We hope to put them back onto shelves and back into the conversation of who is included in the American literary canon and who gets to decide.
Then there’s our appreciation for physical books– we love the places that house them, our favorite libraries and bookstores. We love the feel and smell of books printed on really good paper. We love how a beautiful cover can beckon to you from the shelves. We thought how amazing it would be to print books that are not only a delight to read but also delightful objects in and of themselves.
As for our name, we worked for weeks thinking of various names. We came up with some that were too silly, some that were too serious, and after a particularly intense week, a bunch that were too weird. One late night, Lisa texted Bremond with “Quite Literally Books!” And Bremond said, “That’s it!” And we both heaved a great sigh of relief and went to sleep.
Q: How did you choose the first three books to publish?
A: When we consider a book to reintroduce to today’s reader, the most important thing is that it has to be a good read, pure and simple. Is it unputdownable? Is it one we think you’d like to cozy up to and spend a few joyful evenings with?
Beyond that, it needs to feel relevant, as it’s not our intent to give these books new lives just for the sake of history. We’re hoping to shine light on authors and works we feel hold value for us today, and we think all three of our first books, despite having been written decades—and in some cases, a century—ago are still fresh, each in its own way.
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Q: What do you think those books say about women writers from an earlier era?
A: We think that it says women are still thinking about the same things!
The Home-Maker is about the division of labor in a household and what happens when spouses land on an unconventional set up that nevertheless works for them.
Plum Bun explores what’s given up and what’s gained when you let other people define your identity.
And The Pink House is about a dysfunctional family and the interior life of a young girl navigating them. All three are thematically in sync with books that are being published today.
It’s amazing how much progress there’s been in many ways, and also how some things haven’t changed much in the past 100 years. In some ways, that speaks to a lack of progress, but it may also say something about what it means to be human.
As for the authors producing these books in the early 20th century, women have always faced a battle in finding the time, space, and resources to pursue their creative lives, and actually, that's still very much the case today.
Q: How have the two of you collaborated on this project?
A: We work together on every aspect of every book together – from research to selection to design. Truly, it’s been a joy because even when we don’t agree on everything, we both respect the other’s viewpoint so much that we are continually learning from one another.
Q: What will you be publishing next?
A: Our second list will contain our first cookbook (which is also full of tips on entertaining), a feminist utopian novel by a woman whose name will probably be familiar to you if you were an English major, and a third book that we're currently in the process of selecting – so please stay tuned…
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: We just want to put some good books back onto the shelves and into readers’ hands. And we want QLB to be a home for readers who maybe haven't found their reading community yet. These days, there are lots of options out there in the digital world, but we hope to be a little more analog in our approach.
That said, you can find us at quiteliterallybooks.com and on Instagram @quiteliterallybooks. We pack each and every book ordered from our website with our own two hands! And please do reach out, and let us know what you think!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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