Swift Press and Owers launch imprint focused on challenging groupthink

Independent publisher Swift Press has launched Forum, an imprint that will focus on publishing books that question contemporary orthodoxies.

It will be led by George Owers, formerly at Polity Press, who has joined as editorial director.
Forum’s first title is Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America by the New York Times columnist John McWhorter. It will be followed in June by Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance by Mustafa Akyol.

Books already acquired for 2023 include Mary Harrington’s Feminism Against Progress, Rakib Ehsan’s Beyond Grievance: What the Left Gets Wrong about Ethnic Minorities, and psychology professor Luke Conway’s Liberal Bullies: Why the Left has an Authoritarianism Problem and How to Fix It.

At Polity Press, Owers commissioned and edited books including Despised by Paul Embery, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry, and The Dignity of Labour by Jon Cruddas. He has a PhD in the history of political thought and was the youngest Cambridge city councillor ever elected.

"I’m very excited to launch Forum," he said. "There is huge scope to publish thinkers who expand the realms of debate and aren’t afraid to question contemporary orthodoxies. It is sorely needed and I am looking forward to publishing bold, original books that challenge groupthink."

Swift recently picked up Kate Clanchy’s Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, along with her prose backlist, after Pan Macmillan parted company with the author following criticism of the book.

Mark Richards, publisher of Swift Press, said: "We’re thrilled to be welcoming George to Swift and to be launching Forum. We’ve very much admired George’s commissioning at Polity Press, and his fearless publishing of books that enable debate rather than shut it down is exactly what Forum stands for."