New Beacon Books
 | |
| Status | Open Tuesday -Saturday 11am - 6pm (Thursday 11am - 8pm) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 |
| Founders | John La Rose (1927–2006), Sarah White |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Headquarters location |
Stroud Green Road London, N4 United Kingdom |
| Nonfiction topics | Black culture; Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature |
| Official website | New Beacon Books – Internet Archive Image of Official Website 2014 |
New Beacon Books is a British publishing house, bookshop, and international book service that specialized in Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature.[1][2][3] Founded in 1966 by John La Rose and Sarah White, it was the first Caribbean publishing house in England.[4][5] New Beacon Books was widely recognized as having played an important role in the Caribbean Artists Movement, and in Black British culture more generally.[6][2] The associated George Padmore Institute (GPI) is located in the same building where the bookshop resided at 76 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, London.
History
New Beacon Books started out as a publishing house that was run out of the Hornsey, North London, flat of John La Rose and Sarah White.[4][3] It was named after the Trinidadian journal The Beacon, which was published between 1931 and 1932.[2][7] In 1967, La Rose and White moved New Beacon Books to new premises, in Finsbury Park, where the company also began to function as a specialist bookstore.[2] Early publications included Foundations by John La Rose (1966), Tradition, the Writer and Society: Critical Essays by Wilson Harris (1967), and a new edition of John Jacob Thomas's 1889 study, Froudacity (1969).[8][7]
Other notable works published by New Beacon Books include: Edward Kamau Brathwaite, History of the Voice: The Development of Nation Language in the Anglophone Caribbean (1984); Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home (1980) and Myal (1988) by Erna Brodber; Martin Carter, Poems of Succession (1977); Lorna Goodison, I am Becoming my Mother (1986); Mervyn Morris, The Pond (1973) and Shadowboxing (1979); and Andrew Salkey, A Quality of Violence (1978).
The 50th anniversary of New Beacon was celebrated with a series of events held during the latter part of 2016,[9] including an International Poetry Night on 3 December internationally acclaimed poet and GPI Trustee Linton Kwesi Johnson at the British Library,[10] As she had explained at the start of the celebrations: "In 2017 New Beacon will be undertaking a reorganisation so its traditions and vision can continue into the future though not necessarily within the same structures."[9]
See also
References
- ↑ Donnell 2002, p. 299.
- 1 2 3 4 Phillips 2011.
- 1 2 Sankar 1996.
- 1 2 Alleyne 2002, p. 41.
- ↑ Johnson 2006.
- ↑ Walmsley 1992, pp. 90–91.
- 1 2 Alleyne 2002, p. 42.
- ↑ Walmsley 1992, p. 90.
- 1 2 Carl Palmer, "UK's First Black Publisher And Bookshop Celebrates 50th Year", The Voice, 15 August 2016.
- ↑ "Beacon of hope: The tiny bookshop that gave a big voice to black writers", BBC – Arts, 6 December 2016.
Sources
- Alleyne, Brian W. (2002). Radicals Against Race: Black Activism and Cultural Politics. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-527-4.
- Donnell, Alison, ed. (2002). "New Beacon Books". Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. London: Routledge. pp. 299–300. ISBN 0-415-16989-5.
- Johnson, Linton Kwesi (4 March 2006). "Obituary: John La Rose". The Guardian. p. 39. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- Phillips, Caryl (2011). "John La Rose". Colour Me English. London: Random House. ISBN 9781409028925.
- Sankar, Celia (September–October 1996). "A Caribbean publisher's radical beacon". Americas (English ed.). 48. ISSN 0379-0940.
- Walmsley, Anne (1992). The Caribbean Artists Movement, 1966–1972: A Literary and Cultural History. London: New Beacon Books. ISBN 9781873201015.