by Hannah Fox, Final Year BA English Literature with Media Studies & Library Champion
I am a final year BA English with Media Studies student and last year I was fortunate enough to secure an eight-month placement with independent publisher HopeRoad. Founded by Rosemarie Hudson in 2010 after realising that bookshops and libraries predominately contained books written by white, male authors, she spotted a need for increased diversity within the publishing industry. Rosemarie’s enthusiasm stems from a desire to read texts that connect with her own interests, such as her life in the Caribbean, and believed that others would share her passion. For this reason, HopeRoad’s mission is to promote literature from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, placing key themes of identity, cultural stereotyping, and disability central to their books. Additionally, HopeRoad’s new imprint Small Axes focuses on the re-publishing of significant post-colonial texts, all of which remain equally as important today for their contribution to shaping contemporary cultural shifts.
The books published by HopeRoad are young adult, classic fiction, and fiction. With the target audience primarily being young adult and adult readers, HopeRoad often publish books that have a teen protagonist dealing with themes commonly faced by teenagers, including relationships and family difficulties. These mainstream topics are also integrated with their key themes to ensure their mission is achieved.
Through the variety of tasks that HopeRoad provided, I achieved my aim of gaining an insight into the different roles within the publishing industry. For example, my work included researching authors and book prizes, proofreading, using social media to contact bloggers, video creation and promotional campaign work. I had a fantastic internship with HopeRoad, which was not only was very rewarding, but incredibly educating into the importance of supporting diverse authors.
As part of this year’s University Represent campaign, novels published by HopeRoad that have been made available in the library are:
The Tainted by Cauvery Madhavan
A Match Made in Heaven ed. by Claire Chambers, Nafhesa Ali and Richard Phillips.
With additional novel recommendations from founder Rosemarie Hudson:
More Auspicious Shores – Barbadian Migration to Liberia, Blackness, and the Making of an African Republic
African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele.
Caste – The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson
Perfect for Christmas presents or for your own personal reading, make sure to check them out and support diverse authors!
