Mad Bear Books is an independent publishing cooperative, imprint and literary community founded in 2012.
We believe in literary and aesthetic excellence.
We believe great books make the world a better place.
We put the writer and the artist at the centre of our approach.
Our readers want books full of beauty, passion and intelligence.
Our people are international. Our attitudes are global.
Our processes are tailormade for the projects we do.
Our name is taken from the legend of Balthasar’s Bear (see below*).
*Balthasar was a Frisian freedom-fighter, lord of Harlingerland. In 1540 his capital city, Esens, was besieged by a murderous army of puritanical killjoys from Bremen. The Bear (an itinerant dancing bear trapped in the city) was locked away in a tower in the city walls. Maddened by hunger, he climbed to the top of the tower and roared out, hurling bricks at the besiegers. This freaked them out and sent them scurrying back to Bremen. These days, Balthasar’s Bear no longer hurls bricks–but books–at the enemies of freedom, pleasure and joy… But he’s as Mad as he always was…
*Balthasar was a Frisian freedom-fighter, lord of Harlingerland. In 1540 his capital city, Esens, was besieged by a murderous army of puritanical killjoys from Bremen. The Bear (an itinerant dancing bear trapped in the city) was locked away in a tower in the city walls. Maddened by hunger, he climbed to the top of the tower and roared out, hurling bricks at the besiegers. This freaked them out and sent them scurrying back to Bremen. These days, Balthasar’s Bear no longer hurls bricks–but books–at the enemies of freedom, pleasure and joy… But he’s as Mad as he always was…
Mad Bear Books 