The history of Pluto Press
Pluto Press was founded by Richard Kuper in 1969. We had our origins in the growing political consciousness and radical political activity of the late 1960s, which saw mass mobilisation against the Vietnam War, a radical student movement, the growth of second wave feminism and militant workers’ organisations. Since then, we’ve been a home for voices that challenge the powerful and imagine a better world.
The name Pluto—taken from the Roman god of the underworld—was meant to convey the idea of hidden forces speaking back, of the underworld answering power.
The press began modestly. In those early years, it was a one-person, part-time operation, producing only a small number of titles. Things shifted in 1972 when Michael and Nina Kidron joined Richard Kuper, bringing with them energy, design innovation, and a sense of political possibility.
In the 1970s, Pluto published books and pamphlets for International Socialism (IS), the organisation that would later become the Socialist Workers Party. We eventually parted ways with IS by the end of the decade, choosing to broaden our reach while keeping our radical grounding intact. Some of our early successes from this era have stood the test of time—Sheila Rowbotham’s Hidden from History (1973) and Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer (1984), remain landmarks in feminist and social justice publishing.
Alongside political non-fiction, we published original plays by Caryl Churchill and David Edgar, crime fiction, and the innovative State of the World Atlas series, co-created by Michael Kidron and Ronald Segal. These striking atlases visualised global politics in a way that was accessible and compelling—an early example of how we sought to bring radical analysis to new audiences. We also became a distributor for[wa2] journals like Feminist Review and History Workshop, helping to foster a wider radical publishing ecosystem.
But the political and economic retrenchment of the Thatcher era hit hard. By the late 1980s, Pluto was struggling financially. In 1987, Roger van Zwanenberg, co-founder of Zed Books, stepped in to become owner and managing director. Under Roger’s leadership and with Editorial Director Anne Beech, we reoriented and rebuilt. The plays and fiction went, and a sharper global focus emerged.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Pluto became well known as a publisher of critical works on American foreign policy, most especially as the UK publisher of the political writings of Noam Chomsky. Pluto also published widely on Africa and the Middle East, and became the pre-eminent publisher of critical works on Israel and Palestine at a time when few other publishers would touch the subject. As it still does today, our publishing platformed voices ignored by the mainstream.
After 9/11, Pluto’s titles on Al Qaeda and the Taliban were suddenly in high demand. As the war on terror escalated, we responded with salient, uncompromising analysis of American imperialism, the global surveillance state, and political Islam. At the same time, we strengthened our academic publishing programme, particularly in anthropology—Thomas Hylland Eriksen’s textbooks became bestsellers, helping to cement Pluto’s reputation in academia.
In 2010, Roger van Zwanenberg retired and set up the Pluto Educational Trust to protect Pluto’s independence and ensure our that our radical ethos could never be compromised by outside pressure. Anne Beech became Managing Director in 2011. During her tenure, we went digital, converting our entire[wa3] backlist into digital formats. We also started developing our open access programme laying the groundwork for our sustained commitment to making radical scholarship widely accessible.
Pluto continued to publish bestsellers that solidified our reputation as a leading radical publisher. Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (2016) by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize. How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism (2015) by Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancıoğlu won the ISA Book Prize.
In 2015, we played a central role in relaunching the historic Left Book Club, which had been founded in 1936 to bring anti-fascist and socialist books to the masses. The revived LBC continues to foster collective reading and critical discussion across the UK today.
Recent years have marked a period of bold renewal and expansion for us – international ambition and renewed cultural relevance.
In 2017, Veruschka Selbach was appointed as Managing Director after the retirement of Anne Beech. The company restructured in 2018 to reflect a commitment to democratic and collective ownership. Our staff became shareholders and appointed a representative to the board, turning the press into a genuinely co-owned and democratically run organisation. It was a structural shift that reflected Pluto’s long-standing political commitments and set us apart in an industry increasingly shaped by corporate consolidation.
We have expanded our presence internationally, establishing a US office at the end of 2022, with staff now based in Las Vegas, building deeper connections with authors, academics, and movements in North America. We have also stepped up our digital publishing and marketing strategy, winning the IPG Nielsen Digital Marketing Award in 2021 and becoming known for an online presence that is as sharp and politicised as our books.
Our publishing programme is flourishing. We continue to publish urgent and boundary-pushing work across our core themes of anti-capitalism, feminism, anti-racism, abolition, decoloniality, and internationalism. Titles like The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks, Empire of Normality by Robert Chapman, and Transgender Marxism edited by Jules Joanne Gleeson and Elle O’Rourke received wide critical acclaim. Our Outspoken by Pluto series featuring books like Feminism, Interrupted by Lola Olufemi and Coercion by Kylie Chung have introduced us to new generations of readers.
Some books have found particular resonance in activist spaces—Abolition Revolution by Aviah Sarah Day and Shanice Octavia McBean went on to win the Bread and Roses Prize for Radical Publishing. The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence (2024) by John Pring – a copy of which was given to every UK MP – has had a profound impact on public discourse, policy debates, and the broader understanding of systemic failures within the UK’s welfare system.
Meanwhile, Pluto’s long-standing commitment to Palestinian rights has been recognised with awards for Ella Shohat’s On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements (2017) and a lifetime achievement honour for Sara Roy author of Unsilencing Gaza: Reflections on Resistance (2021) from the Palestine Book Awards.
Alongside our books, we continue to build a multimedia presence—our website is a hub for podcasts, author interviews, and political commentary, helping to extend the reach and impact of our publishing. Our Reading Room Project has established radical libraries and ongoing programmes of collaboration and learning in arts and community centres around the UK. We have deepened partnerships with organisations like The Stuart Hall Foundation, and sustained our work on the revived Left Book Club, keeping political education and collective reading at the heart of what we do.
Despite the immense challenges facing independent publishers—including a hostile political climate and growing commercial pressures—Pluto stays true to our values. Our independence, our commitment to radicalism, and our deep relationships with political movements and communities have ensured our continued relevance and growth. More than 50 years after our founding, Pluto Press remains what we have always been: a home for revolutionary ideas, published with conviction and care.