Salamander Street merges with Wordville

Independent publishers Salamander Street and Wordville are merging from 1st February.

Wordville Press will acquire Salamander Street’s business, merging both publishers’ backlists and taking over the publication of new titles and submissions. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Salamander Street, established by George Spender in 2019, specialises in books about theatre and performance. Wordville Press, winner of the Society for Theatre Research 2022 Theatre Book Prize, started life as a PR agency set up in 2021 by Lucy Tertia George. The joint backlist will include 67 plays, seven books of poetry and 11 non-fiction books about the performing arts. 

In 2023, the newly expanded imprint will be publishing a book by playwright and NYU tenured professor Carol Rocamora. Titled Crisis, it explores playwrights who used the stage to address crises of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will be published in May. Two new plays translated by Anthony Burgess, "Chatsky" and "Miser! Miser!", will be released in the same month, while an anthology of queer poetry is planned to coincide with Pride month in June. A collection by Leeds-based poet Seki Lynch will be part of Leeds City of Culture.

Tertia George said: “Salamander Street’s titles have massive appeal to culture lovers. It will be a privilege to champion these authors and their work. Wordville has a track record in publicity and we’ve gone full throttle on the books we’ve published so far. We’re eager to get word out about Salamander Street’s books and to work with important new titles to share stories of the individuals and organisations that helped shape the performing arts.” 

Spender will have a non-executive role in the new business while continuing his role as creative producer and tour manager for singer-songwriter Mary Spender and co-writing London: Acid City with Carl Loben, editor of DJ Mag. He said: “With a world tour on the horizon for 2024, and my own writing to do, it’s a great relief to have found such a good home for the Salamander Street list. Lucy George has achieved an impressive amount with Wordville and I’m excited to continue our work together.”