Legend Press partners with South African publisher Blackbird Books

Legend Press is partnering with South African publisher Blackbird Books to help bring more African literary voices to a wider global audience.  

The deal was made between Lauren Parsons, commissioning editor of Legend Press, and Thabiso Mahlape, managing director of Blackbird Books. 

The long-term partnership will see three novels published by Legend Press in 2023, with more titles planned for 2024 and beyond. The first three novels are Invisible Strings by Naledi Mashishi (July 2023), No Be from Hia by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda (September 2023) and An Image in a Mirror by Ijangolet S Ogwang (November 2023) with world rights excluding Southern African Development Community (SADC), US and Canada for all titles.  

The books were carefully selected by Parsons and the team at Legend Press and will be repackaged to bring the novels to new readers. The deal follows Canadian independent publisher Rising Action, which launched a partnership with Blackbird Books in 2021, and have published three novels and one memoir to date. 

Blackbird Books was founded in August 2015 by publisher Mahlape to establish a home for new African narratives. The publisher said it is concerned with publishing “stories that cut to the core and reflect the African experience” concentrating on young black authors who “would otherwise not have the opportunity to tell the stories that shape and showcase the wealth of their African experiences”. 

Parsons said: “I am so incredibly proud of all Legend Press and our authors have achieved over the years. The list has grown into a collection of established literary talent, as well as original debuts, and what this partnership offers is an opportunity to continue discovering new talent. Working with Blackbird and Rising Action is such a natural extension of our list, providing stories that will not only entertain, but also inspire. I couldn’t ask for better allies to work with and am thrilled for readers to discover all the brilliant books we’ll be releasing next year.” 

Mahlape added: “New talent is my passion, what I seek to do with Blackbird Books is a continuous exploration of how we can amplify these voices. Collaboration is the one strategy that makes the most sense to me and so I am very excited about this partnership and what it means for our authors. It’s a privilege to be able to showcase our talents to a wider audience. I am equally thrilled to be working with Legend Times team and look forward to making the relation stronger.”