Financial struggles threaten future of HopeRoad

Independent African, Caribbean and Asian fiction and non-fiction specialist HopeRoad is in danger of closing down if it does not receive a vital cash injection, its founder Rosemarie Hudson has said.

The indie publisher, which has championed diverse authors since starting up 12 years go, has been left in a precarious position since last year’s lockdowns and has been relying on Arts Council England grants to survive. 

Hudson said business had been "rough" since the pandemic, adding: "Covid hit everybody sideways — but I think because of our size we weren’t in a position to benefit from the various grants during this period and so we haven’t recovered at the pace of other publishers."

Her team includes a part-time publicist and paid intern, alongside Serpent’s Tail founder Pete Ayrton. For editorial and design work, she relies on freelances — which meant HopeRoad was not eligible for former chancellor Rishi Sunak’s furlough grants. Hudson said the press survived 2021 by "making do" and pushing back titles, which has put pressure on the 2022 list.

"The August title is now coming out in October and we don’t want to be releasing any titles around Christmas because [our books] just won’t be noticed", she said.

"We’re really hanging on by our fingernails — and they’re all broken," she added.

Hudson is seeking financial help and collaboration from the publishing community. Since launching 12 years ago, she has bankrolled the business herself, relying on generous friends and the support of Arts Council England (ACE). She has been the recipient of small grants from ACE, receiving enough to publish one or two paperbacks at any one time. 

"The Arts Council has been really generous, so we’ve been very lucky in the past but we cannot rely on them solely, now that  they receive more applications than the funds they have," she said.

“We are now at an anxious point where we need investment immediately.”

The press’ upcoming titles include Inspector Dreadlock Holmes and Other Stories by John Agard, which is due to publish on 20th October. In September, it will publish Dream Like Me: South Asian Football Trailblazer by Minisha Tailor, who is said to to be the first South Asian football female coach.

Next year, the press hopes to release Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings – A Windrush Story by Tony Fairweather in paperback as  part of the 75th anniversary of the landing of the "Windrush".