The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience.
In the early 1990s, books like Donald Duk by Frank Chin and Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita (a 1991 American Book Award winner) drew national attention and also helped to cement the press's continuing reputation for publishing exceptional works by writers of color.
[13] Other national award-winning titles include American Book Award winners Somewhere Else by Matthew Shenoda (2006), The Ocean in the Closet by Yuko Taniguchi (2008),[14] American Library Association Notable Book Miniatures by Norah Labiner (2003) and ALA Best First Novels List selection Our Sometime Sister, also by Labiner (2000).
In 2011 Coffee House published Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner, one of the year's most critically acclaimed novels, drawing national and international attention to the press.
[15] Other award-winning Coffee House Press authors include Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman, Frank Chin, Kao Kalia Yang, David Hilton, Laird Hunt, and Brian Evenson.