Italian publishing house 21letters is opening an U.S. subsidiary, 26letters, which is publishing its first title this month. The company was founded in Modena in 2019 by Alberto Bisi and publishes six titles per year, with a focus on translated fiction and graphic novels; its Italian name derives from the fact that there are 21 letters in the Italian alphabet, and the U.S. name reflects the use of 26 letter in English.

Authors on the publisher’s Italian list include Lois Lowry, Yu Miri, Walter Mosley, and Mikhail Shiskin. The first U.S. title is Sempé in New York, a collection of covers the French-born cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé drew for the New Yorker magazine. The art work will be accompanied by an original essay on New York as inspiration for Sempé, who died in August 2022. The book will be published on December 5 and will be distributed by Cardinal Publishers Group.