Offord Road Books seeks submissions from BAME writers

Independent poetry publisher Offord Road Books is opening its submissions window exclusively to writers from black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds until March.

Offord Road Books is a small independent press publishing new work in poetry, working with writers including Somerset Maugham Award winner Melissa Lee-Houghton, Dylan Thomas-shortlisted James Brookes and A.K. Blakemore, winner of the Melita Hume Prize.

Editors Martha Sprackland and Patrick Davidson Roberts, who are poets themselves, are seeking manuscripts from underrepresented groups, and to this end will be spending the January and February reading submissions only from BAME writers.

The press initially opened its submissions window to BAME writers for the month of January, but has extended the window due to uptake.

Sprackland told The Bookseller: "It started slow, but as January progressed we started to see it snowball as more and more submissions came in. In fact, given the exit velocity, we have decided to extend the window into February, so as to get as many of these submissions in as possible. We've had some pieces of exceptional quality."

To submit, authors should sent their manuscript with a covering letter to OffordRoadBooks@gmail.com, with 'January 2018' in the subject line of the email or visit the press' submissions page here.

In November, fellow independent publisher Influx Press opened its submissions exclusively to women of colour in a bid to expand the range of voices and scope of work it publishes.