Years in business Jacaranda Books is celebrating this year


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completely with the pandemic, and Brandes and the team, like the rest of mankind, had to recalibrate. “In the end, the pandemic and lockdown turned out to be extraordi- nary for us. Having planned extensively through 2019 for this historic year of publishing, we felt we were not in the position to postpone, which most publishers did,” says Brandes. Further, the emergence of the Black Lives Mater movement also provided a galvanising force for readers who sought out the press’ list and “provided the ballast [it] desperately needed by buying lots of [its] books”. Brandes says the Twent in 2020 list is the press’ best achievement: “[It’s] the most groundbreaking and impactful publishing we have undertaken, and it is deeply gratifying to see over a quarter of the list recognised on major award longlists and shortlists.” Brandes points to Shola von Reinhold’s Lote, which swept both the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the James Tait Black Award, as an example: “This entire year of publishing directly and emphatically counters any notion that Black British writ- ing cannot compare on qualit, marketabilit or sales.” Also in 2020, the press joined forces with fellow independent press Knights Of for a crowd- funder that enabled them to raise substantial funds to support both presses as well as 10 other indies. By the end of the year, Jacaranda was crowned Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards, staffers Jazzmine Breary and Magdalene Abraha were named Bookseller Rising Stars and the press entered into a sales and distribution partnership with Hachete, which has been “trans- formative”, according to Brandes. In fact, 2020 saw the press turn its first “tiny” profit.


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Black British writers published by Jacaranda in 2020 as part of its Twenty in 2020 scheme; more than a quarter received literary prize recognition


“We hold the space for Black writers, their books and for Black publishing professionals to learn and grow,” Brandes says. “When I feel my head dropping (with fatigue, irritation, rage, defeat), I have this vision to cling to of a successfully diverse, inclusive, representational, Black woman-owned and operated, multi-award-winning, multimillionaire publishing empire.” This year, the press is “very intentionally” celebrating 10 years of publishing. While 2020 was undoubtedly a pivotal year for the press, Brandes stresses that “prior to that we had eight years of award-winning books and huge accom- plishments across the list, discovering new voices, bringing award-winning books to the culture and also creating that space for Black books from around the world to be seen.” Brandes adds: “I’m proud of the fact that we’re still here. Being able to continue publishing in this vein is something that excites all of us at Jacaranda and something that we look forward to. We are tentatively stepping into the enormous pool that is the US, but again, we’re going with a very clear ethos and a very clear perspective of what we think we can accomplish within that realm. We’re excited to discover what that could be.”


TheBookseller.com


Comment


Rewriting the narrative around Black writers in contemporary fiction


Jasmine Richards Author; Storymix founder


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hen it comes to the inclusion of kids of colour in young fiction, we have come a long


way. In 2018, when I started my book packager, Storymix, there was a dearth of protagonists of colour in the five to eight-year-olds space. I couldn’t find a single story featuring a kid that looked like my son. Starting a packager was a pragmatic


choice born of my experience and unique skill-set of being an author, a senior commissioning editor, a writing tutor and an expert in creating kids’ book IP (includ- ing stints at Working Partners and OUP). As a packager, I knew our titles could take up space on the shelves of bookshops and that we could publish them swiftly and offer a unique opportunity to incubate talented writers of colour and provide editorial support.


I knew Storymix could offer a unique opportunity to incubate talented writers of colour and provide editorial support


Since 2018, Storymix has


placed nine projects, including Remi Blackwood’s Future Hero series, Lola Morayo’s Aziza’s Secret Fairy Door titles and Serena Holly’s The Marvellous Granny Jinks books. With our small team, we have helped to launch and amplify several authors and illustrators, and in 2021 we won the Precious Creative Business of the Year Award. As an author, I had failed to sell a book


to a UK publisher under my own name. All my writing credits were under pen names and stories written to brief. Feedback from a publisher on one of my novels included: “Can she write something a bit more urban, please?” The conceit of Black children living in idyllic countryside, being


carefree and having magical adventures, just didn’t seem to fly. The misinformed trope still echoes today: that we all live in cities and that we’re new to Britain. This feedback was given a decade ago and, while we are making progress, there’s a way to go for real parity for Black creators. My fantasy middle-grade novels were


eventually published by HarperCollins US. That story of Black creators going to the US for success is not a new narra- tive either. But things are changing. My fantasy adventure The Unmorrow Curse, which features Black kids in the Cotswolds uncovering Norse runes, has found its way home and was published by the small but mighty indie publisher UCLan earlier this month.


Standing alone But alongside strides of success, there is still a sense of narrowness around the types of Black experience that is attrac- tive to the industry; a sense that if one of us fails, all of us fail; that the open doors might start to quietly swing shut. What I want us to talk about is how


we make sure equal and equitable repre- sentation remains as something beyond a trend. How do we sustain careers and give Black creatives the freedom to publish books beyond the labels the industry might want to give them? Being willing to discuss the hard


things and taking action every day is how we will sustain change. There have been some phenomenal publishing by the big companies but I want to celebrate the indie publishers and booksellers cham- pioning authors of colour. Booksellers like Woke Babies, This is Book Love, New Chapter Books and Round Table Books. Publishers like Knights Of or Lantana, which are publishing stories about everyday experiences that centre joy. These books will help change the culture and celebrate the multiplicity of the Black experience in the UK.


Jasmine Richards is a former children’s publisher and founder of Storymix. Her latest novel, The Unmorrow Curse, was published by UCLan in paperback this month (9781912979882, £7.99).


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