Coffee House Press

Coffee House began with Toothpaste, a mimeograph magazine founded by Allan Kornblum in Iowa in 1970. After taking a University of Iowa typography course with the acclaimed Harry Duncan, Kornblum was inspired to turn Toothpaste into Toothpaste Press, a small publishing company dedicated to producing poetry pamphlets and letterpress books. After 10 years of publishing letterpress books, Kornblum closed the press in December 1983; the following year, he moved to Minneapolis, reopened the press as a nonprofit organization, and began printing trade books. Concerned that the press's lighthearted name belied his serious commitment to the press's authors and readers, Kornblum renamed it Coffee House Press.

The press soon began to receive national acclaim. In the early 1990s, books like Donald Duk by Frank Chin and Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita (a 1991 American Book Award winner) drew national attention and also helped to cement the press's continuing reputation for publishing exceptional works by writers of color. As Kornblum once described it, "Coffee House Press has actively published writers of color as writers, as representatives of the best in contemporary literature, first and foremost—then, only secondly, as representatives of minority communities. That might be one of our most important contributions [to American literature]."

In July 2011, after a two-year leadership transition process, Kornblum stepped down to become the press’s senior editor. Chris Fischbach, who began at the press as an intern in 1994, succeeded him as publisher. In 2015, Coffee House partnered with Emily Gould and Ruth Curry on the Emily Books imprint. Anitra Budd succeeded Fischbach as publisher and executive director in August 2021.

Coffee House has published more than 300 books, with over 250 still in print, and releases 15–20 new titles each year. It has earned a reputation for long-term commitment to the authors it chooses to publish.

The press is currently located in the historic Grain Belt Bottling House in Northeast Minneapolis.