Transit publishers Adam Z. Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy recognized among Post Next 50
Photo: Arsenii Vaselenko
BERKELEY—Transit Books publishers Adam Z. Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy have been recognized among The Washington Post’s Post Next 50, the newspaper’s “annual look at the people who are actively reshaping how America thinks, works, connects and creates.”
A profile of Levy and Nelson Levy for the Post by Sophia Nguyen charts Transit’s ten-year evolution from its genesis in their Oakland apartment to “the possibly unique position of being a nonprofit press with a roster including both a Nobel laureate and a TikTok sensation.” Jon Fosse’s 2023 Nobel win and the unexpected success of Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men, which has now sold over half a million copies, “helped them weather the turbulence of the last few years—including when, last spring, they were one of dozens of small publishers who had their federal funds slashed.”
“More than that,” writes Nguyen: “Transit is thriving.” Levy and Nelson Levy discussed Transit’s rapidly growing list, which will add twenty books in 2026. “If we think of the list as a container, we’re always thinking about ways that we can push against the sides and grow that vessel,” said Levy.
“We’re incredibly honored by this recognition, which places Transit alongside a list of politicians, lawyers, researchers, and scientists on the frontlines of issues impacting society right now,” said Levy and Nelson Levy.