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Faber is launching Faber Editions, a new list with a focus on spotlighting "radical voices" from its archive and other selected works.
Titles will be published quarterly, with covers inspired by design heritage and formatted as flapped paperbacks. Each will feature a new foreword by a contemporary champion and released with "frontlist energy".
Launching in August is Rachel Ingalls’s Mrs Caliban, originally released in 1982 with fans including Patricia Lockwood, Marlon James and Sarah Hall. Exploring a housewife’s passionate affair with a frogman, the book is introduced by Irenosen Okojie.
It will be followed by Wilson Harris’ 1960 book Palace of the Peacock in November. Chronicling a riverboat crew’s voyage into the rainforest, the novel is celebrated as "genius" by Jamaica Kincaid in her new introduction.
In February 2022, Carmen Maria Machado will be introducing the third Editions title, Kay Dick’s 1977 lost dystopia They. Faber won a five-way auction for the book earlier this year after Curtis Brown agent Becky Brown discovered it in a charity shop. Further titles will be announced in the autumn.
Editor Ella Griffiths said: "For almost a century Faber has prided itself on writers who “make it new” - but it feels crucial, and incredibly exciting, to always be diversifying what that means. With the Faber Editions list, we wanted to create a thrilling, inclusive space to celebrate radical literary voices from history which speak not only to our present, but our future. Published with frontlist energy, these outstanding novels embody that spirit, and we can't wait for new generations of readers to experience their magic."
Designer Pete Adlington said: "Our mandate for Faber Editions was to create a bold and diverse series style that matched the subversiveness and eclecticism of the list. In a nod to our heritage, the Editions branding is a reimagined version of the original Faber Paper Covered Editions strip created by Berthold Wolpe in the 1950s. This striking branding alongside a limited colour palette and focus on arresting typography creates a platform that will allow a varied array of designers and artists to contribute to future Editions, while ensuring the list coheres visually with a collective voice."