Peepal Tree Press, Author at Akashic Books

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Peepal Tree Press

Peepal Tree Press is home of the best in Caribbean and Black British fiction, poetry, literary criticism, memoirs and historical studies.

Peepal Tree is a wholly independent company, founded in 1985, and now publishing around 30-40 books a year. We have published over 250 titles, and are committed to keeping them in print. The list features new writers and established voices. In 2009 we launched the Caribbean Modern Classics Series, which restores to print essential classic books from the 1950s and 60s. We are grateful for financial support from Arts Council England. We are also home to Inscribe, a project which supports writers of African & Asian descent in the Yorkshire region.

Our focus is on what George Lamming calls the Caribbean nation, wherever it is in the world, though we are also concerned with Black British writing. We publish fiction, poetry and a range of academic and non-fiction titles. Our goal is always to publish books that make a difference, and though we always want to achieve the best possible sales, we’re most concerned with whether a book will still be alive in the future.

We are based in Leeds in Yorkshire, part of a growing, independent publishing sector outside London. Everything happens at 17 King’s Avenue, in the Burley area, a rundown, multicultural part of Leeds (where business rates are low and you can get a good massala fish across the road). Visitors are always welcome and over the years a good many of our writers have called by. One was Tony Kellman, Barbadian poet and novelist, who found the only warm place during the Leeds winter was by the boiler in the basement!