Peepal Tree Press

Peepal Tree Press was first conceived in 1984, after a paper shortage in Guyana halted production of new books in the region. It was officially founded in 1985, and was named after the sacred peepal trees transplanted to the Caribbean with Indian indentured labourers, after founder Jeremy Poynting heard a story of workers gathering under the tree to tell stories. and was included in their 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2023 National Portfolios (prior to this, the company was a Regularly Funded Organisation from 2006). Peepal Tree was initially one of only two publishers of primarily Black-interest titles funded by the Arts Council. Peepal Tree Press has published more than 450 titles, and maintains a commitment to keeping them in print. The focus of Peepal Tree Press is "on what George Lamming calls the Caribbean nation, wherever it is in the world", though the company is also concerned with Black British writing and South Asian writers of British or Caribbean descent. The list features new writers and established voices, as well as posthumous work from Caribbean writers such as Mahadai Das, Neville Dawes, Anthony McNeill, and Gordon Rohlehr. This remit includes translations of French, Spanish and Dutch Caribbean writers, as well as English-language writers. Christine Craig, Opal Palmer Adisa, Angela Barry, Ishion Hutchinson, Dorothea Smartt, Alecia McKenzie, Una Marson, Shivanee Ramlochan, Jack Mapanje, Patience Agbabi, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Daljit Nagra, Grace Nichols, Lemn Sissay, John Agard, Vahni Anthony Ezekiel Capildeo, Raymond Antrobus, Keith Jarrett, Rishi Dastidar, Gemma Weekes, Pete Kalu, Maggie Harris, Courttia Newland, Jackie Kay, Jan Lowe Shinebourne, and Kamau Brathwaite. It is a core member of the Northern Fiction Alliance—alongside Comma Press in Manchester, Dead Ink in Liverpool and And Other Stories in Sheffield—which aims to raise the profile of UK publishing outside of London and in the North of England. ==History ==

After World War II, UK publishers such as Heinemann, Longman and Faber developed various English-language African, Caribbean and Asian writers series. In 1970, James Currey and Heinemann Educational Books (HEB) launched the Caribbean Writers Series to republish notable Caribbean writers, modelled on its earlier African Writers Series (1957) and Writing in Asia Series (1966). The UK was often considered better placed to sell to places such as the Caribbean because of its "ex-colonial" profile. These were academic lists, and so the books were often expected to be representative of a nation or culture. 1960s–1980s In the mid-60s, Leeds had a literary scene which attracted writers from around the world. During this period, Peepal Tree Press' founder Jeremy Poynting befriended Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o at the University of Leeds, who inspired his interest in Caribbean literature. At that point a lecturer in further education and a trade unionist, this friendship led Poynting to pursue a PhD in Caribbean literature at the University of Leeds. He first visited the Caribbean in 1976 as part of his research. La Rose and White were also involved in the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) and organised the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books with Jessica Huntley of Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications. By the 1980s, the Caribbean titles published in the UK were already at risk, as marketing to overseas audiences was considered unprofitable. 1990s With the help of his son, Poynting moved production to his home garage, using a second-hand Rotaprint offset printer held together with an elastic band and a folding machine paid for with an Arts Council grant (in their 1991/2 funding cycle). The press published two notable debut poetry collections that year: Bernardine Evaristo's Island of Abraham and Kwame Dawes' Progeny of Air. In 1996, Peepal Tree published writer and school teacher Beryl Gilroy's In Praise of Love and Children, which she had written in the 1960s but had struggled to get published. The press would go on to publish all her subsequent work. It was only around this time that Poynting quit his lecturer position and became Managing Editor full-time. 2000s In 2004, Peepal Tree Press launched its Inscribe programme to widen the press' "adaptive development services" for writers of African and Asian heritage in the UK. Dr Kadija George and Dorothea Smartt were hired to lead the programme. and Seepersad Naipaul's Gurudeva and Other Indian Tales. Since expanding, Peepal Tree has been involved in a number of partnerships. These include partnering with the Geraldine Connor Foundation on Windrush learning resources; 2020s In 2020, Peepal Tree published academic Corinne Fowler's Green Unpleasant Land, which was selected by Bernardine Evaristo as an Observer Best Books 2021. The book was the target of a negative campaign by the Conservative Party's Common Sense Group and Restore Trust for exploring connections between the British countryside and the empire. This was part of a wider campaign against the National Trust's Colonial Countryside project. Dominic Davies of City, University of London, described the campaign as an "hysterical reaction" that nevertheless validated the book's central argument. In 2020 and 2021, Peepal Tree authors won several notable awards, including the T. S. Eliot Prize and Ondaatje Prize (both for Roger Robinson's A Portable Paradise) and the Costa Prize (for Monique Roffey's The Mermaid of Black Conch). ==Impact==

Today, Peepal Tree continues to produce books in the UK for the Caribbean market, because of the challenges involved in producing and distributing the books within the region. Jeremy Poynting has said that Caribbean writers are less likely to be published, so they remain his priority. Peepal Tree has also republished many out-of-print Caribbean books from the 1950s onwards as part of its Caribbean Modern Classics series. Most of these books were only available second-hand at collectors' prices, if at all. Peepal Tree has also been credited with supporting writers in the Caribbean at a time when other presses and institutions did not, including helping to establish a regional press in Trinidad for Caribbean writers, along with Akashic Books, called Peekash Press. Peekash is administered locally by Bocas LitFest. According to Aliyah Ryhaan Khan, Peepal Tree is especially important in platforming Indo-Caribbean literature:The press is dedicated to the re-issuing, preservation, and growth of Caribbean and Black British literature, with a specific and unique interest in Indo-Caribbean literature. It would not be remiss to say that most—not all, Shani Mootoo and other Canadian-Caribbean authors have other avenues open to them—Indo-Caribbean fiction and poetry that gains an international audience outside of the Caribbean does so through the efforts of this press.Al Creighton, in Stabroek News, also points out the Peepal Tree has republished one of very few modern works depicting the Indigenous heritage of Guyana in Couvade: A Dream Play of Guyana by Michael Gilkes. In Indigenous Guyanese culture, couvade is a traditional ritual in which a man experiences sympathetic pregnancy alongside his partner. Beryl Gilroy's Inkle and Yarico, which also portrays Indigenous Caribbeans, was shortlisted for the 1996 Guyana Prize for Fiction. Peepal Tree also aims to support Black British writing in the broader sense, More recently, Leeds City Council's The Literary North report noted Peepal Tree's contribution of "40 years of innovative publishing" in the city. Peepal Tree has published the debuts of authors such as Kwame Dawes, Kevin Jared Hosain and Bernardine Evaristo. have spoken about the value of working with Peepal Tree, who can dedicate more time to an individual writer and will support a writer throughout their career. She said she particularly appreciated the mentoring and editing process at Peepal Tree:I believe my experience with Peepal Tree Press was unique because I got access to care and to support and to a real concern about the writing. I don't know if new authors always get that kind of time. It made me feel worthy, at least in that small moment sat in the office [...] The experience of being edited I took as a masterclass of how to edit. I carry those lessons with me every day. In 2010, Christian Campbell's Running the Dusk won the 2010 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. It was also a finalist for both the Cave Canem Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the Best First Collection. In 2017, Jacob Ross won the inaugural Jhalak Prize for his novel, The Bone Readers. In 2022, it was also selected as part of the Big Jubilee Read programme, celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II with books by 70 writers from across the Commonwealth. In 2018, The Bookseller noted that independent presses, including Peepal Tree, "dominated" on that year's Jhalak Prize list. In 2020, Roger Robinson's A Portable Paradise won the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize and Ondaatje Prize. In 2021, Monique Roffey's The Mermaid of Black Conch won the 2020 Costa Novel and Book of the Year Awards. the Rathbones Folio Award and The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses; The book is inspired by Taíno mythology and the African water spirit Mami Wata. In 2023, Mslexia noted that indie presses, including Northern indies such as Peepal Tree and Carcanet, dominated the prize lists once again. Peepal Tree and its titles have also won the Casa de la Américas Literary Award, the Clarissa Luard Award for innovation in publishing, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the Felix Dennis Best First Collection Prize. This was followed by two more joint publications: Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean in 2015; and New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean, edited by Karen Lord, in 2016. Recognising the continued dearth of publishers in the Caribbean, Peekash was created to embed a local publishing house within the region, drawing upon the resources and expertise of Akashic in Brooklyn, NY, and Peepal Tree in Leeds, UK. To fulfil this mission, editorial control and the daily operation of Peekash was transferred to the originators of the CaribLit project, Bocas LitFest, in 2017. HopeRoad was set up in 2010 by Rosemarie Hudson, who was joined by Pete Ayrton (founder of Serpent's Tail) in 2019. Ayrton handles the Small Axes imprint, reissuing "post-colonial classics" that were previously out of print. HopeRoad will select and edit its own books, while Peepal Tree handles production and distribution. Inscribe Peepal Tree Press is also recognised for Inscribe (and Young Inscribe), an imprint and writer development project that supports emerging writers of African and Asian descent in the UK. Founded in 2004, and Dorothea Smartt, Young Inscribe supports emerging writers in Yorkshire aged 18–30, and has previously mentored writers such as Samatar Elmi, Adam Lowe, and Zodwa Nyoni, among others. In 2021, the Inscribe Readers & Writers Group published an anthology, Weighted Words, edited by Jacob Ross. Inscribe's work in Leeds has resulted in many Peepal Tree writers being recognised for their work. publishes anthologies of contemporary Black British and British Asian writing, such as Red: Contemporary Black British Poetry (edited by Kwame Dawes), Closure: Contemporary Black British Short Stories (edited by Jacob Ross), Filigree: Contemporary Black British Poetry (edited by Nii Ayikwei Parkes) and Glimpse: An Anthology of Black British Speculative Fiction (edited by Leone Ross). It also publishes chapbooks and pamphlets of Black British writers, including Sai Murray, Degna Stone, and Maya Chowdhry. New Caribbean Voices In November 2017, Peepal Tree Press was awarded the Clarissa Luard Award for Independent Publishers, with plans announced to use the £10,000 prize money for a podcast project, New Caribbean Voices (inspired by the BBC World Service's Caribbean Voices radio show). The podcast launched in 2019, hosted by the British Guyanese-Grenadian poet Malika Booker and produced by Melody Triumph. The first episode featured Barbara Jenkins reading from her debut novel De Rightest Place, Shivanee Ramlochan reviewing Caribbean books, and music by Chris Campbell. SI Leeds Literary Prize Peepal Tree Press is a founding core partner in the SI Leeds Literary Prize for unpublished fiction written by Black and Asian women resident in the UK, along with the Leeds chapter of Soroptimist International and the Ilkley Literature Festival. The prize launched in 2012 and is biennial. The press also published the prize's inaugural winner, Minoli Salgado and her novel A Little Dust on the Eyes, in 2014. The book was later shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Kit de Waal was shortlisted for the second biannual SI Leeds Literary Prize, in 2014. In November 2023, Peepal Tree published The Unheard Stories, edited by Saima Mir. It is an anthology of essays by SI writers, judges, and patrons, announced to celebrate 10 years of the prize. ==References==