Miss Rosen Editions is an illustrated book imprint specializing in publishing contemporary urban culture.
Founded in 2005, by Sara Rosen during her tenure at powerHouse Books, Miss Rosen Editions works directly with authors to craft volumes of historic significance. With a focus on the grassroots art and culture New York City from 1970 through the present, Miss Rosen Editions is dedicated to preserving old-school legacies while cultivating exciting new talents in the fields of art, dance, fashion, film, graffiti, literature, music, and photography. Selected by Paper magazine for their 2006 Beautiful People issue, Carlo McCormick noted, “Miss Rosen’s combination of intelligence, gumption, and good taste marks her as a natural publisher.”
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Miss Rosen Editions each receive highly specialized, individualized attention in every aspect of book publishing. Collaboration is the name of the game. Beginning with the editorial process, Miss Rosen works with the author to photo edit the artwork and develop a visual or narrative sequence for the book, identifying areas where text elements such as essays, extended captions, and thumbnails would best support the work. Art direction, book design, and production are done with the author and publisher to produce the ideal physical form for the work. Miss Rosen provides sales and marketing strategies to support each book with a clearly defined plan for publicity, events, exhibitions, and branding opportunities. She has partnered with organizations and companies including Boost Mobile, Central Park Summerstage, Contact Photography Festival, colette, Film Forum, Lincoln Center, and Shellac to produce original and innovative ways to deliver books to domestic and foreign markets.
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Miss Rosen Editions includes:
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It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, the First Latino Hip-Hop DJ by Ivan Sanchez and Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeno (June 2009) recounts the rocky path Wiz traveled from the streets of the South Bronx to the New York penal system—through which he found his redemption in the love of Hip-Hip culture.
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Pillage by Brantly Martin (June 2009), the first powerHouse fiction release, is a brutal satire that explores the formulaic nature of our society and the different ways people plug in or detach. Drug, sex, and entitlement play no small part. It takes place for the most part in downtown Manhattan and is told in the first person through the increasingly delusional Cracula.
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Belgrade Belongs to Me: Photographs by Boogie (February 2009) shows the city from the inside as the former Yugoslavia began its rapid disintegration into war and the slow resurrection of a people who have fought for centuries for their survival.
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Vandal Squad: Inside the New York Transit Police Department, 1984–2004 by Joseph Rivera (December 2008), the only book on graffiti told from the perspective of law enforcement, recounts the days and nights spent in pursuit of some of New York City’s most notorious vandals.
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We Are Experienced: Photographs by Danielle Levitt, Interview by Mark Jacobs (November 2008) provides a series of portraits depicting adolescents in a variety of urban, suburban, and rural settings, as individuals and in groups, loaded with signifiers both mainstream and marginal—including football stars, anorexics, wiccans, punks, prom dates, snowboarders, and baton twirlers.
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Do Not Give Way to Evil: Photographs of the South Bronx, 1979–1987 by Lisa Kahane (July 2008) is an unbelievable portrait of the South Bronx and its citizens, as the borough slowly began to recover from the devastating effects of “benign neglect.”
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Hamburger Eyes: Inside Burgerworld by Ray Potes (February 2008) Hilarious yet scary, hardcore yet charming, the Hamburger Eyes crew have been putting out the illest lil’ photography magazine the world has ever seen. Now, in their first book, they put you through the grinder with photographs by Ray Potes, David Potes, Stefan Simikich, Jason Roberts Dobrin, Ted Pushinsky, Boogie, Tobin Yelland, and countless other upstarts.
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New York State of Mind by Martha Cooper (November 2007) takes you back to a time when New York City was battling back from the brink of bankruptcy, when people made the most of their environment and maintained the dignity of a city that has never gone out of style.
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Wild Style: The Sampler by Charlie Ahearn (July 2007) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the landmark film that helped launch hip hop to the world. Featuring never-before-seen photographs, film stills, archival ephemera, and behind-the-scenes stories from its stars including Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinones, LADY PINK, ZEPHYR, Patti Astor, Busy Bee, Grandmaster Caz, and Glenn O’Brien, as well as insights into the film’s influence by artists and writers, including Sacha Jenkins, Melle Mel, Biz Markie, Cut Chemist, and DJ Krush.
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Bears by Kent Rogowski (June 2007) is a series of portraits of the most unusual sort: ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed. They are at once hideous yet cuddly, disturbing yet endearing, absurd yet adorable, while offering a metaphor for us all to consider. These bears, which have lived and loved and lost as much as their owners, have suffered and endured through it all. It is by virtue of revealing their inner core might we better understand our own.
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Bombshell: The Life and Crimes of Claw Money, Texts by Patti Astor, Martha Cooper, Roger Gastman, Sacha Jenkins, Maripol, Minya Quirk, DAZE, MISS17, and WEST (April 2007), a retrospective by famed graffiti writer, fashion designer, fashion stylist, vintage clothing collector, and all-around diva Claw Money, who makes her film debut as the only female writer featured in Doug Pray’s documentary, Infamy.
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It’s All Good: Photographs by Boogie (October 2006), a gripping look at the predators and prey in the drug game today, this book features crackheads, junkies, and gangsters living in the projects of Bedford Stuyvesant, Bushwick, and Queensbridge, New York, a place where pathos prevails, tension is always evident, and escape is one rock, one shot, one glock away.
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Pees on Earth: Photographs by Ellen Jong, A Conversation with Annie Sprinkle (May 2006), a collection of self-portraits taken while publicly urinating around the world, this book is a light-hearted look at one of the few truly universal human activities.
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We B*Girlz: Photographs by Martha Cooper, Text by Nika Kramer, Introduction by Rokafella (November 2005), the first book to feature female breakdancers around the world today, in their own words with photographs by famed hip-hop archivist Martha Cooper.
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Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985–2005, Text by Ricky Powell, Charlie Ahearn, Glenn O’Brien, Zoe Cassavetes, ZEPHYR, DR.REVOLT, QUIK, and TEAM (September 2005), the midlife magnum opus of famed street, celebrity, and hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell, best known for his cult public access television show, “Rappin’ with The Rickster.”
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Covers courtesy of powerHouse Books