Blog

We are pleased to announce that Manzu Islam's Godzilla and the Song Bird has been longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards.

Sponsored by Akan Books, the Diverse Book Awards return for their sixth year, once again highlighting the most inclusive, empowering, and representative books published in the UK and Ireland. This year there were over 250 entries across the categories of Picture Books, Children’s, YA and Adult.

Shortlist revealed: 8 September 2025

by Stewart Brown

Mervyn Morris, Anne Walmsley, James Berry, Stewart Brown (London, c. mid-1990s)

by John Robert Lee

for Anne Walmsley (1931 – 12 July 2025)

We were pleased to speak to Natasha Onwuemezi, for the annual Black Issue of the Bookseller about the history of Peepal Tree and the future of publishing. You can read the interview in the magazine here.

In an interview published yesterday, Managing Editor Jeremy Poynting and Associate Fiction Editor Jacob Ross talked to The Bookseller about 40 years of Peepal Tree Press.

Here's a snippet:

On Thursday 12 June 2025, Merle Collins was awarded the Barbara T. Christian Literary Award at the Caribbean Scholars Association's 49th annual conference. Dr. Chenzira Davis Kahina, presented Merle with the award for Ocean Stirrings at the CSA2025 Conference Gala in St Martin in June 2025. The prizes includes a certificate, plaque, cash award, and special Caribbean cultural gift.

OIur blog made number three in the list of the 25 best Caribbean book blogs by Feedspot. Feedspot analysed thousands of blogs on the web and ranked them by relevancy, authority, social media followers, and freshness. We're pleased to see The Caribbean Writer is number one, followed by Geoffrey Philp's blog. Hot on our heels is PREE at number 4, and our friends at the Journal of West Indian Literature at number 5. Caribbean Beat and Bocas also make the list, as well as several excellent book reviewers.

Date: Tuesday 17 June 2025, 15.30–7.30pm
Location: Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery
Cost: Free
Book online now

Join us for an evening of radical reading where we will be discussing Andre Bagoo’s The Dreaming, followed by a book swap social!

This is a guest blog by Peepal Tree Press intern Janelle Hawthorne

Akila Richards is organising a series of events in support of her latest pamphlet, Ritual for Mango (flipped eye, 2024). Events kick off in Worthing on 13 June at Audio Active, with live music and performance, before moving to Hastings. On 14 June, in the beautiful wood-panelled Durbar Room at Hastings Museum, there will be a live dance performance to poetry and live music.