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London, 2nd October 2023
20 Publishers Recommend Books for Reading List in Support of Black History Month UK
Over 35 books recommended by 20 publishers are now available to browse as fully-searchable digital previews, as part of Exact Editions’ Black History Month UK Reading List. This year’s theme, ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, pays homage to black women who had contributions ignored, ideas appropriated, and voices silenced.
Participating publishers – including Vintage, Pan Macmillan, Granta, and Harvard University Press – have submitted a range of fiction and non-fiction books that recognise the contributions of black people around the world, celebrate black history, and confront racism. A selection of book recommendations that focus on Black History Month 2023’s theme, ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, include: Sisters in the Struggle edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas and V.P. Franklin (New York University Press), Poems on Various Subjects, Religion and Moral by Phillis Wheatley with a memoir by B.B. Thatcher (Renard Press), and Different Strokes by Cecil Harris (University of Nebraska Press).
The books were uploaded through Exact Editions’ ‘Reading Rooms for Books’ platform, a free book preview tech that allows publishers to choose the number of pages available to preview and a shop link to re-direct users to. The reading list is powered by Exact Editions’ virtual book collection tech, a paid feature included in ‘Reading Rooms Pro’ that allows publishers to digitally display multiple books side by side for events, reading lists, and promoting book series.
Click below to access Exact Editions’ Black History Month UK Reading List:
Black History Month UK Reading List (available until 1st November 2023)
Find out more information about each book
Will Dady, Publisher at Renard Press, said: "We’re thrilled to see some of our titles in Exact Editions’ list celebrating Black History Month – a wonderful way to explore and promote underrepresented writers and encourage engagement with a part of history that has been skated over for aeons. Our list seeks to broaden the literary canon and raise voices that have traditionally been neglected, and seeing our titles in round-ups like this is such a pleasure.”
Meris Ryan-Goff, Marketing & Publicity Manager at Lund Humphries, said: “Lund Humphries is proud to publish books on a diverse range of topics and artists, and we're very pleased to contribute our books (The Front Room and Hurvin Anderson) to this excellent reading list put together by Exact Editions in celebration of Black History Month. The Reading Rooms 'collections' function is a great way to gather and give insight into books on a common theme.”
Rhian Davies, Marketing Coordinator at Manchester University Press, said: “Manchester University Press is committed to promoting the diversity of our authors and fostering awareness and understanding of the rich history, culture, and contributions of Black individuals and communities. Reading lists serve as invaluable tools for educating individuals on vital topics. They offer diverse perspectives, comprehensive knowledge, and historical context, allowing readers to develop a well-rounded understanding of complex issues."
Michael Schmidt, Publisher & Managing Director of Carcanet Press, said: “Our task as publishers is to make things public, and these Exact Editions’ reading lists are a wonderful resource, a democratic space, a library for everybody. Kei Miller is one of the most original poets to have emerged from Jamaica in recent years. His anthology of Caribbean writing introduced a number of younger poets into the Anglophone bloodstream, as it were. This reading list creates a wide context for the writing involved - cultural, historical, ideological."
Ryan Picazio, Vice President and Director of Marketing at Hackett Publishing, said: “Exact Editions readings lists offer curious readers the chance to explore a diverse and fascinating collection of books that they may not have found otherwise. We are delighted to include two titles from the Hackett Publishing catalogue in this list to help celebrate Black History Month, the prose English translation of the West African epic Sunjata and White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I. The reading list helps bring attention to these classic works and all of the wonderful titles on display."
Georgia Lea, Digital Content Manager at Combined Academic Publishers, said: “Combined Academic Publishers is a strong advocate of university press publishing and seeks to promote to a broader readership work of scholarly, intellectual or creative merit. We are delighted to be participating in Exact Editions’ Reading List to recognise and celebrate black history, salute pioneering black women, and introduce our university press clients’ important and diverse books to new readers.”
Adam Hodgkin, Chairman of Exact Editions, said: “Exact Editions is delighted to welcome and facilitate a collection of 38 books from 20 publishers. These rich books are testimony to the depth and variety of writing on black history and culture today.”