Emma Burger is the founder of the new press Gold Coast Editions, bicoastal in the sense that it's based in Chicago's Gold Coast, with roots in Tribeca. Gold Coast Editions is for fans of Prozac Nation, Kate Moss, and Mary Gaitskill, and people who maybe kind of believe the conspiracy theory that sunlight is different now than it was in the 90s.
Emma and I met in Chicago, and became inseparable when we roomed—and saw Geese perform live—together at Boise's Treefort music and arts festival, where we'd been invited to take part in panels on independent publishing. Emma, a brilliant writer, is among the hardest-working people I know, and the most generous. She's helped me, countless times, figure out not only what I should read for an event, but what I should wear. Her advice is invaluable and her editorial eye hasn't once led me astray.
Maybe that's why I'm so thrilled she's started a press, and jumped at the opportunity to talk to her about it.
—Francesca Kritikos
Your press, Gold Coast Editions, bridges Chicago with New York City. Two cities that are often pitted against one another, for no reason, really. You’re from New York but live in Chicago now. How does Chicago feel different to you than New York? And how do you feel when you’re back in New York, visiting, now that you’ve been in Chicago for a couple years?
Anytime I tell someone here that I’m originally from New York, their first question is almost inevitably which city do I like better? It’s tough, because New York is my hometown and inarguably the center of the known universe (at least in the lit world), but Chicago feels much more liveable. I’m a very sensitive person and New York can feel very overwhelming—I can get a little manic and overstimulated when I’m there, which I don’t in Chicago. Before moving to Chicago two years ago, I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan for ten years, and I always say that Chicago feels like a good middle ground between New York and Ann Arbor. You get the big city feel of being in NY, with some of the peace and quiet of being in a smaller Midwestern town.
At the risk of alienating some New York writers, I’d also say that the scene in NY can feel a little saturated. It feels, to me, like there’s still some opportunity in Chicago to do something a bit more alternative and underground, as compared to NY, which already pretty much has everything and everyone it could possibly need. That’s one thing I love so much about your imprint, SARKA. You’re putting Chicago on the literary map! Or Hobart, which has made Detroit into a hub as well. Also…I can afford a nicer apartment in Chicago than I could in New York.
What about Gold Coast, the neighborhood in Chicago, draws you in? What does it represent for you?
Ironically, part of the reason I love the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago is because it feels a bit New York to me. I went to high school on the Upper East Side, and it definitely has a bit of the UES charm that I find very calming. There are beautiful old houses here and mansions with secret art galleries. There’s a storied private library, a renowned ballet school, some incredible old-school hotels, the beautiful lakefront. I guess it feels very 20th century and civilized to me. Currently, I’m planning a move to West Loop, but I’m glad to have named the press after my current neighborhood, where it was founded. There’s something about this area that feels both dignified and literary to me.
We’re both children of the 90s—1996 to be exact—who are obsessed with the 90s aesthetic, an aesthetic we didn’t really live firsthand. What really does it for me is the stripped-back, low-effort style, and the kind of dark, depraved shadow lurking beneath it all. What about that time period speaks to you, and why did it inspire you to start a press?
Part of me feels like a bit of a poser because I was hardly sentient for the part of the 90s I actually lived through. That said, it’s very personal for me. I’ve written and spoken about this before, but I lost my mom to cancer in 2001, when she was only 38 and I was five. My mom was a writer—she worked in the publishing world as a reporter and an editor, first for Sports Illustrated, and later for a small press called Bishop Books, run by her friend, Morin Bishop. In that way, it feels like I’m carrying on her legacy through my writing and by starting a press of my own.
I really romanticize her era—the era when she was writing and publishing and globe-trotting on the magazine’s dime. I think a lot of us do! It was a different world then, and publishing was in its prime. Online, I see a lot of writers waxing poetic and posting memes about wanting to get into journalism and publishing based on what they saw growing up in Almost Famous, The Devil Wears Prada, 13 Going on 30, etc. I was raised on those movies, and raised—in the first five years of my life—surrounded by writers and editors. Both of those influences made me feel like writing was not only a viable career path, but a very glamorous one too. That’s partly what I’m hoping to recapture with my press. Since opening to submissions, I’ve heard from quite a few Gen X writers who resonate with the vision, and also seek to bring back some of that energy, that aesthetic.
Where, and how, in our current era do you feel closest to the 90s? For me it’s when I’m having such a busy day I don’t have time to check Instagram, or when I make myself a martini and watch an old movie while my phone’s on DND. Something about being inaccessible, which has frankly been stolen from us.
Great question. Getting dressed in what I think is a chic outfit and listening to Liz Phair, Elliott Smith, Mazzy Star, Pixies, Built to Spill, PJ Harvey, I feel close to the 90s. Right now, I walk to work through Gold Coast and can easily imagine I’m going into some glossy magazine office (I’m not—I work at Northwestern Memorial Hospital), but that feels very 90s to me.
Gold Coast Editions plans to publish books—what about a journal? Why focus on books?
The press was first conceived on a late night phone call with Elizabeth Ellen. I was debating either starting a publishing imprint or a magazine, but decided to go with books (for now), because it was more exciting to me, and I felt like there was a greater need for more presses. There are so many authors out there sitting on great manuscripts, and not enough places to reasonably publish them, whereas it felt like there are already so many incredible literary magazines out there. I’m in the querying process right now for a novella I wrote, and I know I’m not alone in my frustration with the process. My hope with the press is that I’m bringing something brand new into the world that people are really longing for. I definitely have a distinct vision for the types of books I’d like to publish, and I’m very happy to say that several books that fit that vision well have already found a home with Gold Coast.
What makes a Gold Coast Editions novel?
Voicey, place-based novels for sure. I’m looking for books that hook me from the very first page. These are listed on my site, but some of my comp authors are Anthony Bourdain, Emma Cline, Leslie Jamison, Julia May Jonas, Melissa Broder, Otessa Moshfegh, Allie Rowbottom, and Elizabeth Wurtzel. I guess I don’t mention Jeffrey Eugenides and Jay McInerney there, but they’re huge influences on my aesthetic as well. As a bit of an aside, I’ve noticed I’ve been getting so many men submitting, and not as many women, despite how many women are on that list! Maybe I’m projecting a masculine air—I’m not sure—but for whatever reason, that’s been the trend. All that to say, I hope I get many more female writers in my inbox in the coming months!
Your book, Spaghetti for Starving Girls, was one of my favorite novels of 2025. It captured the essence of a 90s girl to me—messy, real, complicated, trying to figure shit out. And the prose is so specific, clear, simple but not basic. How does your own writing inform your approach as an editor-in-chief?
Thank you so much! It means a lot to me that you read my first book and liked it. My writing, like everyone’s, comes from my brain and is the deepest reflection of myself. I write about what most captures my attention, what obsesses me. In my fiction, yes, but especially in my essays. Limerence, intimacy, power, class, music, cities, the body. The same themes that I explore through my writing are what I’m really drawn to as an editor and publisher. If readers are looking to submit and are wondering what interests me as an EIC, that’s as good a place as any to start.
You’re hosting a launch party in Tribeca on Halloween for the official Gold Coast Editions launch party. Why a party and not a reading? And what can partygoers expect?
I want it to be fun! Readings are very fun in their own way, but it’s a different vibe than a party. I want both literary and non-literary people alike at the launch, and I know not everyone wants to spend their Halloween going to a reading, so a costume party felt more fitting. The launch will be at the loft in Tribeca where I grew up, which feels very much on brand for the press. Partygoers can expect great music, drinks, costumes—and to be reported on! Expect dispatches in Hobart, Zona Motel, and hopefully elsewhere, so I need people to give these journalists some good fodder. You won’t want to miss it! For details, DM me on Instagram at @goldcoasteditions or @emmakaiburger :)
Do you have any events besides the launch party in Tribeca coming up?
I rented out the upstairs of Delilah’s, Chicago’s coolest 90s-era punk bar in Lincoln Park, for an AWP offsite reading on Friday, March 19th, 2027. There are going to be readings from some amazing writers (details to come). I’m very excited about the people who’ve already committed to reading, and I’m hoping it will draw a big AWP crowd. Beyond that, there will be a historic launch party for my first book coming out with the press in March 2027, and the second, which is due out in September 2027. Again, details to come!
What’s your dream for Gold Coast Editions?
My dream is to put out incredible books in line with my vision, which I hope is clear to people by now. Essay collections, novels, narrative nonfiction with its finger on the cultural pulse. For now, my current pace is about two books per year, but eventually, I’d like to scale that and be able to put out even more. There are so many small presses I admire—Short Flight Long Drive, SARKA, House of Vlad, Clash, Haskell Industries, Rose Books, Tyrant, Two Dollar Radio, Stalking Horse Press, Non Canonical American Literature—the list goes on. I’ve already learned a lot by reading their books and talking to some of these publishers, and am excited to be joining their ranks. I’m confident that I’m contributing something new to the scene, and my hope is that authors recognize that and find a home for their work with Gold Coast. As I mentioned, I already have the first two books I’ll be publishing and love them both so, so much. If manuscripts like those continue to find their way to me, I’ll be very happy. I’m so excited to grow my list, and put more of the types of books I love out into the world.
