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In the midst of Black History Month, the legacy of a number of Black publishers are remembered—and those they paved the way for call for further progress, writes Liv Facey
October is the time of year in which people seek to educate themselves on the history of Black British people. They seek to learn about the contributions Black people have made to the UK, including to the cultural scene. Black British figures in UK publishing are rare, and those that are here can often be rendered invisible. The reality is the UK publishing industry has seen many great Black people who continue to inspire those aiming to further diversify the industry today. The Bookseller asked a number of Black publishers for their thoughts on the sector (see Comment, right), who inspired them, and what more there is to do before UK publishing reflects the society around it.
Historically, Black figures in publishing houses have given Black British people a place in print to voice their protests and truths. The UK’s first Black publisher, New Beacon Books (founded by John La Rose), has for more than 50 years provided Britain with quality Black stories from Africa and the Caribbean. Alongside Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications (founded by Eric and Jessica Huntley), New Beacon Books has been at the heart of many notable Black British movements, including the New Cross Massacre Action Committee, the Black Education Movement and The International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books (1982–95). Their work has united Black British people in literature and connected Black publishers and intellects in order to further what they were already doing to diversify the publishing industry.
This persistence for change continued with pioneer Margaret Busby, the UK’s first Black female publisher, who found solidarity outside the mainstream (i.e. predominantly white) industry. A maverick publisher, Allison & Busby (founded by Busby and Clive Allison) published writers such as Sam Greenlee, who had been rejected by mainstream publishers. Busby partly credits being Black for her passion for publishing, as it “brought an awareness of certain books that particularly interested me because they showed perspectives on the world with which I could identify and wanted to share.”
Busby herself highlights Glenn Thompson, who founded the Writers & Readers Publishing Co-operative, Errol Macdonald (of Knopf Doubleday), agent Marie Brown, Charles Harris (who started Amistad Press), and Paul Coates of Black Classic Press. In the UK, Busby cites the initiative of Verna Wilkins in starting the children’s imprint Tamarind Books in 1987, the editor and critic Ellah Wakatama, and agent Elise Dillsworth.
A new perspective
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf co-founded Cassava Republic in 2006, and launched in the UK in 2016. She says Black publishers “allow for marginalised communities to own the means of production and their own stories without being an afterthought or a political response to external pressure.” The work of publishers such as Cassava Republic reflects what we’re not getting from the mainstream: work that showcases a range of African experiences, stories that show Black writers and their books can—whatever mainstream publishing thinks—sell. HopeRoad is another often-cited example.
Valerie Brandes’ Jacaranda Books shows that Black-led publishers do something that the mainstream doesn’t. They enable Black writers to be themselves and tell their stories. Jacaranda Books celebrates the diversity within diversity, shown with its #TwentyIn2020 initiative, which is the biggest collection of Black authors published in the same year. The indie’s sales, publicity and marketing manager Jazzmine Breary says that the project—as well as the work of inclusive publisher Knights Of—is a clear message that “if we can do it—as small as we are, with much more to learn and achieve—then the wider industry can and should do even more.” For Aimée Felone, co-founder of Knights Of, it is also about pushing back against an “overwhelming tendency to self-congratulate on basic-level progress” when progress has been “incredibly slow”.
Change at the top?
The endurance of these publishers has contributed to changes within the mainstream. Hachette has launched Dialogue Books, Penguin Random House #MerkyBooks, and HarperCollins has appointed Nancy Adimora as its talent and audience development manager. In the past six months we have seen the launch of both the Black Agents & Editors’ Group, and the Black Writers’ Guild. There are also people like Magdalene Abraha (Jacaranda), Lemara Lindsay-Prince (#Merky), and Melissa Cummings-Quarry and Natalie Carter of Black Girls Book Club, who are among those further challenging the industry.
These Black British figures’ work has emphasised that while we are changing the industry for ourselves, the majority of the publishing industry has a way to go. It’s a road that can start with them not being afraid to say the word “Black”, and presenting Black writers as part of the mainstream, getting published through traditional routes. As Dialogue Books’ Sharmaine Lovegrove says: “Black British writers hold the same culture as white British people, but have the brilliant extra culture(s). We need to have editors who aren’t worrying about ‘how will X writer fit in if they are Black?’, it’s a total misunderstanding of where we are from and how we grew up—in Britain!”
Busby references the African proverb that Chinua Achebe used to quote: “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” And she adds: “It is crucial for us to tell our own tales of victory. It is crucial for the industry, at every level and in every department, to enrich itself by having a workforce that reflects society, whether in terms of ethnicity, class, age, gender or ability.”
The work of all these publishers and incredible figures has taught us that until then, we need to boost and support the work of Black-led or diversely-led companies that work hard to not only tell stories of Black pain, but quality stories of every Black feeling and experience. We need to continue shining a light on the industry’s systemic practices. We need to expose people to literature in which they can see themselves so that Black is no longer alien to them, and they will become richer in knowledge for it. We need to continue the work of those figures who are working hard to give Black writers and readers the chance to be equal in the publishing industry, despite the continued resistance.
Liv Facey is a freelance journalist who is currently studying English at university.