Cadmus Press is a newly established publishing company created to fill the growing demand for excellent English translations of outstanding literature from the regions collectively known as Eastern and Southeastern Europe. These regions encompass the broad geographical areas ranging from Western Europe to Russia, and include the many small nations along the Adriatic, Baltic, Black, and Mediterranean Seas.

This part of the world has been a cultural nexus since ancient times, fostering a rich and diverse cultural and literary heritage that is still poorly represented in translation. We hope to introduce some of the region’s exemplary works into English, the lingua franca of our times, to share with readers worldwide the particular voices borne of a geography that served as a cultural crossroads for millennia and then was silenced to the world behind an Iron Curtain for two generations. With 25 years of post-Socialism gone by, the writers represented by Cadmus Press offer literature that attests to the long melding of histories, cultures, and political systems. The stories are not only a product of their unique space and time, and the particular struggles and sensibilities that arose as a result, but bear witness, as does all great literature, as enduring narratives of humanity.

Cadmus Press is named after the first Greek hero and slayer of dragons, Cadmus, who was the brother of Europa. He was sent by his parents to find his sister after she was kidnapped by Zeus. He wandered for years, with many adventures and travails, but was never successful in finding her. Cadmus stands for the perpetual quest for identity and meaning that are particularly salient to this region of the world.