26th Street Books, a new publisher based in New York and Chicago, has launched under the banner of “bringing new approaches to the art of true crime,” beginning with Convergence, a “nonfiction novel” to be published on September 17. Coauthored by Jonathan Dixon and Gregg Owen, Convergence follows one of Owen’s first murder cases as a Cook County prosecutor, and will be followed by five more books about his career in the courtroom, per an announcement. 26th Street Books plans to publish three more titles in 2026, with worldwide distribution by Ingram.
Founded by Dixon, Owen, and writer Nelly Reifler, 26th Street intends to pursue a different tone than popular true crime narratives, one that “emphasizes how a story is told, looks for story elements in unusual places, and keeps complex, fallible human beings at its center,” per the announcement.
The publisher takes its name from the Chicago courthouse on 26th Street and California Avenue, where Owen tried homicides as an assistant state’s attorney after leaving a decade-long career as a rock musician in the Chicago-based band Jerico.
While Dixon has a background in nonfiction, he said that it “made sense” to treat Convergence like a novel given the high-stakes, emotionally fraught nature of its content. “Because of Gregg, I had first hand knowledge of how he and some of his colleagues thought, what happened behind closed doors, and how they prepared to try life and death cases,” he said.
Convergence is unique in that it is told from Owen’s perspective, Dixon added, whereas most other true crime—if it aligns with a specific POV—sides with the defendants.
Starting a press was not on Dixon and Owen’s radar initially, but Reifler, a longtime friend of Dixon’s, inspired the idea after getting involved as an editor. “I came on board after Jonathan and Gregg had reached an exciting fork in the road, when a well-known literary agent responded enthusiastically to the manuscript,” Reifler said. “When the three of us began to talk about our vision for the series—as well as what we each loved to read—it became clear that a new publishing company was being born.”
Luckily, for Dixon and Reifler, the DIY approach to publishing came naturally. “Nelly and I were both punk rock kids,” Dixon explained. “As young people we saw bands starting their own independent record labels, booking their own shows, publishing their own zines.”
Currently, 26th is run by Dixon, Owen, and Reifler, with the help of a publicity and marketing team, though Dixon said that, like rallying people from a music scene to form a band, he thinks the team will expand organically as the press grows into its niche.
