Antidote Books, which is being run by former HarperCollins UK executive Joel Simon, will focus on “ambitious, idea-driven books that meaningfully shape public conversation”, High Line said.
In 2024, Blair told a JC event in London that censorship of Jewish-themed books or of Israeli authors had “accelerated” since October 7.
He said at the time: “The people doing the censoring are not stupid. They’re not going to get back to me or any other agent and say they declined because the author is Jewish. They’d lose their job. It’s much more subtle than that.”
On the launch of High Line, he said: "I've spent my career working alongside extraordinary writers who are unafraid to challenge assumptions or push the boundaries of our thinking with incredible storytelling.
“The opportunity to build a publisher that combines serious commercial ambition with a genuine commitment to creative freedom was not just exciting, but something I felt was truly needed in the publishing sector.
“That is why High Line exists: to champion distinctive voices, publish exceptional books, and connect them with the broadest possible readership.”
Dara Horn, one of the authors who will be published by new imprint (photo: Michael Priest)[Missing Credit]
The two imprints are due to publish their first books early next year. Odessa’s authors include Israeli journalists Matti Friedman and Amos Harel, Dara Horn – who has just published a follow-up in the US to her bestseller People Love Dead Jews, entitled The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living – and Adam Louis-Klein, founder of the new Movement Against Antizionism.
Jackie Klein said: “Odessa Editions launches at a moment of real opportunity, both in terms of phenomenal Jewish and Israeli writers needing a supportive and safe home, and readers across the world looking for more extraordinary Jewish voices across both fiction and non-fiction.”
Child, who is not Jewish, said: "The world is in a ridiculous mess, and we won't fix it by silencing people, ignoring ideas, or sticking to what we think we know. High Line aims to give a voice to those who need one, and I hope the result – no doubt in turn inspiring, intriguing, infuriating, but always interesting – will inch us toward some kind of sensible progress.
"This is exactly what publishing should be doing, as we continue to navigate a troubled century."
High line backer: Dan Senor[Missing Credit]
According to the Wall Street Journal, “published writers with overtly Jewish books say their agents have dropped them from their roster; writers are being asked by editors to purge Jewish or Israeli elements from their books”.
Some agents now posted on their websites that “they aren’t interested in ‘Zionist’ submissions,” the paper reported.
Friedman, whose book about the Zionist paratroopers sent into Europe in 1944, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, was published earlier this year, told the WSJ: “I can’t say there’s a ban on Jewish or Israeli books. But I know for a fact that it’s very difficult to get Israel-related books published and that Israeli authors are often either ignored or expected to sign declarations of support for BDS and to use the word ‘genocide’ as the price of entry.”
