HopeRoad Publishing Crowdfunding campaign

As HopeRoad Publishing approaches 15 years in publishing, it’s launching a CrowdFunding and investment drive to raise £75,000 to secure its two-year plan. Founded by Jamaican-British publisher Rosemarie Hudson in 2010, HopeRoad focuses on publishing writers from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean and the diaspora to ensure these voices are heard and satisfy the thirst for stories from these regions. Pete Ayrton, the founder of the ground-breaking independent publisher Serpent’s Tail, is the editor of HopeRoad’s imprint, Small Axes. HopeRoad is at the forefront of diversity publishing in the UK, catering to readers and a market that remains under-represented.

As Stephen Page, Chair of Faber & Faber, says: ‘For over a decade HopeRoad has played an important role in discovering writers from Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia, and bringing them to readers around the world. Rosemarie Hudson, as founder, brings both editorial and publishing acumen to the company, as she has throughout her distinguished career, always committing to excellent writing and opening up literary pathways between culture.’

HopeRoad is uniquely placed to play a vital role in bringing original, authentic, and undiscovered talent to readers. Like many independent publishers, we have faced unprecedented pressures on our cash flow and sadly have not been able to attract Arts Council England funding. With our 15th anniversary approaching, now is the time to take our publishing to another level, and overcome these financial challenges.

Rosemarie Hudson says: ‘I’m delighted and saddened at the same time to launch this crowdfunding campaign. We have been in the publishing business since 2010 and I’m so proud of what we have achieved in that time, publishing ground-breaking and diverse authors such as: John Agard, selected for the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry; Fatima Daas, hailed by The Guardian as the ‘voice of a new generation’; Kamala Markandaya, whose centenary was recently celebrated by BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking; Ferdinand Dennis, awarded the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize: Nicola Garrard, whose debut was longlisted for the Branford Bose Award and an FT Best Book of the Year; Namita Gokhale, founder-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival; Pete Kalu, winner of the BBC Playwrights Award; Max Lobe, winner of the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma; and Tony Fairweather, founder and curator of the Windrush Collection and the Windrush Exhibition.

But there is still so much more work to do to improve diversity in the authors that are published and read here in the UK and beyond. Black, Asian and minority ethnic and working-class audiences are still being undervalued by publishers, and need strong champions, as Goldsmiths University of London’s Rethinking Diversity in Publishing report (2020) confirms.

To see our books please visit: https://www.hoperoadpublishing.com/