An Indie Salon

Independent publishing is a cool and exciting part of the world of books, and we’ve invited three publishers along, with some of their authors, to entertain us and show us the strength of indie!

Rough Trade Books, is a publishing house brought to you by the minds behind Rough Trade Records. This adventure in ‘capitalism’ is in the spirit of the pioneering independent record label, trading books and other wares of the same originality and radical direction.

Nina Herve, co-director will be joined by Hastings-based authors Jen Calleja and Richard Phoenix to talk about and read from their books. Man Booker International Prize-shortlisted translator Jen will be introducing us to her new book Goblin Hood, and Richard will be looking at the transformative potential of working to support creative young people make the music and art they want to, through his non-fiction title Do Your Own Thing.

époque press founded in October 2017 with the aim of publishing great literary titles by authors from diverse backgrounds who may have been overlooked by the large global publishing houses.

Sean Campbell, MD and Editor in Chief will be joined by Effie Black and Lisa Fransson. Effie will be sharing thoughts from In Defence of the Act, longlisted for the Women's Prize in Fiction 2024, a queer perspective on what happens to us when we are boiled in the trials and tribulations of life. Lisa will introduce us to Robert Bunny (a toy bunny rabbit) who is the only voice of reason in her novel The Shape of Guilt.

Prós Publishing is a new publishing house set up by Eilis Olsen and Pearl Olsen to support independent and diverse voices. Pearl will be sharing some of her work and talking about Prós with Dr Tola Dabiri. 

The event will be opened by James Prentice and Chris Connelley, local researchers, who have produced a visual and biographical book that documents the process of 'gentrification' in St Leonards On Sea.

This event will last approximately 105 minutes with an interval.