Benjamin Taylor's THE BOOK OF GETTING EVEN and Steerforth Press in the Boston Globe

Sitting back from publisher's role, his eye for talent's still true
By Kathleen Burge / August 3, 2008

Early this summer, a little-known novel ("DeNiro's Game") published by a little-known publishing house (New Hampshire's Steerforth Press) won one of the world's largest literary awards.

Roland Pease, fiction editor for Steerforth Press in New Hampshire, has been instrumental in discovering new writing talent, such as Rawi Hage, author of 'DeNiro's Game.'

HE READS 'EM BEFORE WE DO
It was a coup for a Cambridge man, Roland Pease, who edited the US version of Rawi Hage's book, which was first published in Canada. But it was not his first.

Pease, who ran his independent literary publishing house Zoland Books for 15 years, has a knack for finding talented but undiscovered writers among the hundreds who slog through manuscripts that will never become the pages of a book.

At Zoland, Pease was the first publisher of Ha Jin, who later won a National Book Award for his novel "Waiting." Pease also published the first book of poems by Anne Porter; her work became a finalist for a National Book Award for poetry. Porter, the widow of artist Fairfield Porter, was 83 when Pease put out her first book.

At Steerforth, where Pease, 61, has been fiction editor for the past few years, he chooses only a few books each year for publication. But several have won acclaim. Four of his past five titles, including Castle Freeman's "Go With Me," were named to Barnes & Noble's "Discover Great New Writers" series, said Chip Fleischer, Steerforth's publisher.

"His track record has been unbelievable," he said.

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