époque press is an independent publisher based between Brighton, Dublin and New York. Established to promote and represent the very best in new literary talent.

Through a combination of our main publishing imprint and our online é-zine we aim to bring inspirational and thought provoking work to a wider audience.

Our main imprint is seeking out new voices, authors who are producing high-quality literary fiction and who are looking for a publisher to help them realise their ambitions. Our commitment is to fully consider all submissions on literary merit alone.

Our é-zine will showcase a combination of the written word, and other art forms, bringing together artists working in different mediums to encourage and inspire new perspectives on specific themes.

Website: https://www.epoquepress.com
Twitter: @Epoque_Press
Facebook: facebook.com/epoquepress
Instagram: @epoque_press

In their own words…

When did you start publishing?

époque press was established at the end of 2017 with our first title, El Hacho by Luis Carrasco being published in February of 2018 so you could say that we are the new team on the block, hoping to add to the rich and varied list of great independent publishers already out there.

What made you want to start publishing?

I have always been obsessed with literature, something which was fermented in me from an early age when my father would avidly read to me every night. It was this which made me undertake a degree in English Literature and instilled in me my life long passion for great writing.

Over the years I have watched with admiration as independent publishers such as Salt, Galley Beggar and Bluemoose have championed great writing and this inspired me to form époque press. I feel that there is always room for new publishers who wish to champion great writing and it is great to see the family of independent publishers supporting each other, all for the love and passion of literature.

At époque press, we are about seeking out great talent and then forming a close relationship with our authors in order to champion their work and get their writing out to as wide an audience as possible. We have a great team working on the editing and proofreading, and we also do all of our own cover design in-house, overseen by the extremely talented Adam Bentley. Our authors are engaged at every stage of bringing their book to publication and we love the creative spark this brings to us all.

What do you specialise in?

We specialise in Literary Fiction and we are interested in novels, novellas and complete collections of short stories. We appreciate that there is often a blurring of boundaries between genres so we are not ruling anything out.

We are particularly interested in writing which has a unique voice or narrative style. Hopefully, you will see this from our first three publications.

We also host a regular online magazine, the époque press ezine. Each edition is based around a specific theme and we are looking for submissions of short stories, poetry, spoken word, essays, visual art, play extracts and music. This is a multi-medium ezine, established to spark the sharing of creative ideas whilst champion great artistic talent. Details of our current theme and access to our current and past editions can be found at… https://www.epoquepress.com/ezine

Where are you based?

We are based Brighton in the UK and Dublin in Ireland.

Do you have a submission window, if so when?

We currently have an open submission policy for general submissions to our main imprint, although given the growing size of our ‘To Be Reviewed’ pile we may consider having specific submission windows in the future.

Full submission guidelines for both our main imprint and our ezine can be found at… https://www.epoquepress.com/submissions

Who are your team?

Sean Campbell – MD and Head Editor
Adam Bentley – Artistic & Print Director
Melanie McGinn – sub-editor, proofreader and reviewer
Shan Wilkinson- sub-editor, proofreader and reviewer
Louise Yates – sub-editors, proofreader and reviewer
Andrew Bird – Reviewer

Talk about some of our books:

We have been absolutely delighted to have the pleasure of working with three exceptional debut authors during 2018.

We started with the publication of El Hacho by Luis Carrasco. This novella deals with mans relationship with the landscape and the struggles of modernity verses tradition. It is set in Andalusia and has a very distinct narrative voice which soaks the reader in the environment. We were delighted to have received a cover quote recommendation from Jon McGregor for our very first publication, which read…‘El Hacho is a tiny diamond of a novel, told in a voice at once softly-spoken and fearless as hell. Luis Carrasco’s writing is new to me, but he reads here as if he’s been doing this for years; his control and restraint are masterly, and the end result makes for a cracking read.’

This was followed by the publication of The Groundsmen by Lynn Buckle, which was launched at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin in October 2018. This novel a is darkly poetic work which deals with the challenging themes of familial and domestic abuse. it is a powerful piece of work, with a narrative structure which encompasses five different voices from within the same family. June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker, said of it…’A dark compelling tale of under-the-covers failed decency and warped family relationships. This is a provocative and obsessive set of strange narrative voices that will leave the reader spinning, hurting and feeling utterly scalded. Generations affected by trauma live on in an unrelenting carousel of blame and denial, while hope in the child’s voice and a woman’s desire for change make the story powerful and affecting. Lynn Buckle is a fierce and fearless new voice in Irish writing.‘

Our last publication of 2018 was The Wooden Hill, a collection of sort stories by Jamie Guiney. As the title would suggest, each story charts a stage in our own life journeys, from the immense of a new birth, through childhood and adolescence, all the way to the death of a loved one. The collection explores what it means to be human at every stage of life. Miranda Dickinson, author of Fairytale of New York, said of the collection…ʻEvocative, lyrical and touching, The Wooden Hill is a stunning collection. Under Jamie Guiney’s pen the smallest detail becomes cinematic; characters breathe; landscapes live. Intensely personal, unflinchingly human, these are stories to savour, lingering long after the end. I adored this compilation.’

We are currently working with two authors whose work we will be bringing to publication in 2019, and of course, our submissions are open so who knows who else we will find for publication this year and beyond.

(originally published in 2018)