Natasha Onwuemezi

Each year, the Black publishing issue offers a critical pause: a moment to reflect,not only on the books, voices and visions shaping Black British publishing today, but also on the wider systems in which they are trying to thrive. It is an issue produced with care, but also with urgency – because the stories shared here are not new. What is new is the increasing clarity with which they are being told, the precision with which patterns are being named, and the deepening call for change that will not settle for surface-level progress.

In many of the conversations we have had this year – with debut and established authors, publishers, editors and DEI leads – a shared thread has emerged: exhaustion with short-termism. As author and publisher Jasmine Richards puts it: “We are always the new voices. Give me established franchises. Give me a deep backlist and a long tail.” That desire, to build enduring careers, deep backlists and lifelong readerships, is echoed across these pages. We hear from writers such as Mel Pennant, whose late-in-life debut raises sharp questions about sustainability and support, and from Jacob Ross, associate editor at Peepal Tree Press, who reflects that mainstream publishers often invest in individual books, rather than in developing careers of writers – a pattern with serious implications for the longevity of Black authors.

What this issue of The Bookseller makes painfully clear is that the challenges facing Black professionals in publishing are not due to a lack of talent, tenacity or readership. The work is being done: books are being written, audiences reached and networks built. But the infrastructure around that work too often falls short. 

And yet, time and again, it is Black authors, editors and entrepreneurs who are plugging the gaps, with time, money, mentorship and emotional labour.

This year’s preview of forthcoming Black-authored books is thrilling in scope and substance. From genre-bending fantasies to urgent political memoirs, from retellings and “untellings” to bold experiments in form, these titles signal not a niche, but a rich and varied canon in motion. And still, the question remains: will they get the support they need to succeed, not just at launch, but long-term? That is the provocation at the heart of this issue. Not simply who gets published, but what happens next. Who gets to fail and be backed again? Who gets to grow? Who gets the benefit of the doubt?

Representation has moved beyond the page; it is now about power, positioning and permanence. What does it look like to truly invest in Black publishing? To see it not as a one-season cause or crisis response, but as a vital and valuable pillar of our literary landscape?

We continue to see glimpses of what a more equitable, expansive industry could look like – one that does not relegate Black writers and professionals to token roles or one-off debuts, but invests in long-term careers, platforms and creative freedom. This issue is our way of keeping the focus sharp – of refusing to let the conversation fade, and insisting that progress must look different this time.

Read the full issue here: https://content.yudu.com/web/1vcls/0A1xp12/BS270625/html/index.html?refUrl=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.thebookseller.com%252F