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Vintage imprint Square Peg is to grow its cookery list as it marks its fifth birthday this year.
The move follows the appointment of Caroline McArthur as senior editor last year, joining Square Peg director Rosemary Davidson and senior editor Rowan Yapp.
McArthur brought experience from a previous role at BBC Books, which led to publication of the imprint's first tie-in, Spice Trip by Stevie Parle and Emma Grazette, last October.
Further culinary titles to come include The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (28th Feb, £20, hb) by US food blogger Deb Perelman, with the emphasis on pleasureable and delicious recipes; Ms Cupcake by Melissa Morgan (May, £16.99, hb), a collection of indulgent vegan cake recipes; The Little Book of Scones (June, £9.99, hb), with sweet and savoury recipes; The Vietnamese Market Cookbook by Van Tran and Anh Vu (1st August, £20, hb); Primrose Bakery Celebrations, following on from the Primrose Bakery Cupcake books (October, £17.99, hb); Meringue Girls by Alex Hoffler and Stacey O'Gorman, with recipes for candy-stripe meringue kisses (£12.99, hb, Sept); and The Drunken Kookbooc, coming in November, and pitched as the precursor to the bestselling The Hungover Cookbook, giving recipes for the snacks you want to make when you come in from a night out.
Senior editor Rowan Yapp said: "With the street food, start-up trend in cookery, lots of really interesting, diverse cooking people are able to come to the fore, and we can respond to it." Though cookery is a growing area commercially, the plan for Square Peg is to publish quirkier titles with more niche appeal, continuing the imprint's strong relationship with special sales avenues and independents.
Yapp added that the imprint is being more creative to engage with readers, with plans to run Square Peg-branded events at festivals. This follows on from the success at Christmas of its central London pop-up shop and activities at the Chorleywood Literary Festival.
Davidson said Square Peg will do further TV tie-ins, too, though the main focus will remain on "bijou" titles with the potential to become strong backlist sellers. Davidson said: "The ethos has always been to enhance the quality of the books, and the production side of things. I love all that side, and I think that we are still continuing to think of books as objects that are enough on their own you wouldn"t get much more out of an e-book, once you have one of our finished products."