UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Palewell and interesting

Palewell Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher based in London.

‘We focus on books that foster justice, equality and environmental sustainability,’ said senior editor Camilla Reeve. ‘Since 2016, an increasing number of our books have been written by or are about refugees. We’ve also published some outstanding collections of nature poetry, like Adam Horovitz’s The Soil Never Sleeps.’

Camilla started Palewell Press fifteen years ago to support her own poetry and novel-writing. ‘In January 2016, recently retired from a career in IT, I relaunched the press – to focus on the two subjects I cared about most – human rights and climate change – and to help build a sustainable world that can support itself and all its peoples, in which they share equally and are protected from abuse and injustice.

Palewell Press books may be fiction or non-fiction, but they all reflect its core passions. ‘We’re looking for books that speak about human rights, the environment or social history,’ said Camilla. ‘They need to represent the author’s personal beliefs and to be written lucidly and powerfully. If they are about a minority to whom the author doesn’t belong, it must be clear why they are being written. We’re particularly interested in works of creative non-fiction.’

Palewell Press is networked internationally. ‘Before the pandemic, our face-to-face events included launches, festivals and panel discussions. During lockdown we used Zoom to launch books, thereby reaching a wider audience – both people in other countries and those in the UK who can’t travel due to health or other reasons. When we return to face-to-face events, we hope to keep that wider audience by having live-streamed video in the room,’ said Camilla.

The Press’s first translated title launched in October – Butterfly of the Night by Kurdish refugee author, Haydar Karataş, translated by Caroline Stockford.

‘We hope to publish more translated work in future,’ said Camilla. ‘Palewell Press is proud to be a founding member of the Changing Wor(l)ds Network of publishing professionals and cultural activists, supporting and disseminating radically marginalised voices in literature. We collaborated with them on The World is for Everyone, an anthology of poetry by Pamoja – a group of refugee, asylum-seeking and irregular migrant women based in Nottingham; and we hope to have further joint projects with the Changing Wor(l)ds Network.’

Palewell Press publishes work in many different genres. ‘Long and short fiction, memoir and other non-fiction, anthologies, poetry collections and pamphlets. In some cases, we allow mixed genres, eg, poetry and short story.’ The Press publishes around ten titles each year.

Prospective authors will be aligned with Palewell Press’s concerns. ‘Have a look at the books we publish, better still, buy one or more of them – this will show you better than I can what we are looking for in a submission,’ said Camilla. ‘Beyond books submitted to Palewell Press, we want all people to feel entitled to write on subjects that really matter to them, and not to be marginalised or silenced by their circumstances.’

For poetry, submit ten pages of poetry or ten poems. For long fiction submit the first 10,000 words and a 300-word synopsis. For short fiction collections, submit one story and a one-line description of the others in the collection, and for non-fiction, submit the first 10,000 words, a chapter plan and market information. ‘Before submitting, authors will need to buy a bundle of Palewell Press books, costing around £20. This supports our pro bono mentoring of marginalised writers,’ said Camilla. Palewell Press published in print and ebook formats. Authors receive ten free copies of their printed book and royalties. Details: email: enquiries@palewellpress.co.uk; website: https:// palewellpress.co.uk/