“Chance to reflect on what we do best.”

It’s been a devastating year dealing with both the pandemic and its consequences. The small presses – as elsewhere in the book industry – have been hit particularly hard. At Dahlia Books we’ve had to deal with cancelled launches and events, which has sadly decimated our book sales. We’ve enjoyed some temporary relief as we celebrated our tenth birthday online. This also gave us a chance to reflect on what we do best and next year, we’re looking forward to publishing two short story collections by British Asian writers, Mona Dash and Reshma Ruia.

With Covid restrictions likely to be in place for some time the gloom is set to continue. But as ever, something good has emerged from all of this and we’ve seen a huge shift to remote working and the opportunity that going online brings. I hope this trend continues. If things are to change in this industry we must start by looking at who is and who isn’t in the room. If our rooms are bigger, with better accessibility for all, than that can only be a force for good.

Once again, we’ve seen a huge push to address the lack of diversity in the industry and the revelatory #PublishingPaidMe hashtag brought into sharp focus how little has actually changed. I remain positive that the recent steps publishers have taken to level the playing field for Black writers coupled with tougher action by collective groups such as the recently formed Black Writers’ Guild will make for lasting change.