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Four Walls Eight Windows

Defunct American independent book publisher

Four Walls Eight Windows was an American independent book publisher in New York City. Known as 4W8W or Four Walls, the company was notable for its dual commitment to progressive politics and adventurous, edgy literary fiction.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1987Founded1
  • HeadquartersNew York City1

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Four Walls Eight Windows was an American independent book publisher in New York City. Known as 4W8W or Four Walls, the company was notable for its dual commitment to progressive politics and adventurous, edgy literary fiction.2

The story

Four Walls debuted in the fall of 1987, under the direction of two young editors, John G. H. Oakes and Daniel Simon. (Simon had previously had an imprint under the same name at Writers and Readers Publishing.)

In 1995, Oakes and Simon parted ways. Oakes remained as publisher and Simon went on to found Seven Stories Press.

In 2004, Four Walls Eight Windows was acquired by the Avalon Publishing Group. Its entire list was incorporated into the Thunder's Mouth Press imprint of Avalon, of which Oakes became publisher. Thunder's Mouth Press itself was acquired in 2007 by the Perseus Books Group. (Oakes then became executive editor at Atlas & Company under James Atlas; he is now publisher of The Evergreen Review.) Perseus stopped publishing books under the Thunder's Mouth imprint in May 2007.

From Wikipedia’s article on Four Walls Eight Windows, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1987Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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