Peepal Tree Press

Peepal Tree Press Home of the Best in Caribbean and Black British writing. Decolonising bookshelves since 1985.

Look At YouAmanda Smyth"brilliant... touching... sometimes tragic"—Reed J, Netgalley
07/03/2025

Look At You
Amanda Smyth

"brilliant... touching... sometimes tragic"
—Reed J, Netgalley

4 "brilliant... touching... sometimes tragic" Written by Reed J for Netgalley on Friday, February 28th, 2025 Even as short as this book was, this was brilliant. A touching and sometimes tragic tale of life. ... overall Smyth’s prose here is what made this so touching. [...] the feel of the book an...

06/03/2025

Look At You
Amanda Smyth
"interesting and original"
—Bookseller 1405765, Netgalley

05/03/2025

Look At You
Amanda Smyth

"I enjoyed this unique format as it felt like a patchwork quilt of her life with each patch lending its unique story to the whole... a great, thought-provoking read!"
—Mika A, Netgalley

04/03/2025

Look At You
Amanda Smyth

"This coming of age novel and overall story of Amanda’s life was so captivating, authentic, and interesting. Highly recommend!"
—Alexa A., Netgalley

Children of the Ghetto: Black Music in Britain, Vol 2Kevin Le Gendre"Le Gendre deftly weaves together music analysis, in...
03/03/2025

Children of the Ghetto: Black Music in Britain, Vol 2
Kevin Le Gendre

"Le Gendre deftly weaves together music analysis, interviews, socio-cultural history and light biograph­ical writing on a variety of seminal figures from the “Queen of Northern Soul”, Gloria Jones, to the punk singer-songwriter Poly Styrene. Along the way he delves into the rise of the National Front, the sus law and Rock Against Racism. . . . Le Gendre’s book adds significant colour and depth to the popular collective image of this period’s musical landscape." —Aida Amoako, The Times Literary Supplement

Class acts Written by Aida Amoako for The Times Literary Supplement on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025 Le Gendre deftly weaves together music analysis, interviews, socio-cultural history and light biograph­ical writing on a variety of seminal figures from the “Queen of Northern Soul”, Gloria Jones...

In NetGalley UK's Books of the Month, April 2025: Look At You by Amanda SmythAdvance Praise“Delicate, beautiful, intense...
28/02/2025

In NetGalley UK's Books of the Month, April 2025: Look At You by Amanda Smyth

Advance Praise
“Delicate, beautiful, intensely moving. Her best yet.” Claire Adam

“Through a succession of vignettes that quietly build and blossom and a minimalist prose that masterfully illuminates the inner lives of individuals inhabiting complex worlds, Amanda Smyth has created a marvellous tapestry of a novel.” Chloe Aridjis

“A beautiful, moving, and cleverly structured collage of a novel where huge tectonic plates of emotions grind and move under the surface of cool, spare, radiant prose.” Neel Mukherjee

“Look At You sinks seamlessly into the reader’s heart and consciousness. Smyth's pared back, understated prose guides us to big feelings and considerable drama… Smyth writes like a lovechild of Jean Rhys. A remarkable novel. I loved it.” Monique Roffey

“What an engaging and absorbing novelist Amanda Smyth is, always coming at complex human relationships, passions, misunderstandings and loyalties from an unusual angle, and in beautifully crafted prose.” Amanda Craig

“Look At You uses an almost filmic montage of setting, incident and character to reveal the complexity of its central character. Every chapter has the precision and subtlety of a short story and together they offer just enough continuity to allow the reader to be both carried by the overall narrative but also to be becalmed in the simple understanding of how it is to be a person without direction, essentially alone in the world. The mixing – the editing – of these vignettes is beautifully executed. Worlds open up, understanding is granted, the pages flew by.”Jonathan Davidson

“Unfurling with an unassuming grace that belies its cumulative power, Look at You is beguiling, engrossing, penetrating, real.” Claire Kilroy

https://www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book/547360

NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley community to discover, request, read, and review.

A nice little plug for Amanda Smyth's forthcoming novel, Look at You around the 11-minute mark. Thank you, Savidge Reads...
06/02/2025

A nice little plug for Amanda Smyth's forthcoming novel, Look at You around the 11-minute mark. Thank you, Savidge Reads! The book is out 24 April 2025 (£10.99 RRP).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zIVILzCZe0

'Amanda Smyth writes like a descendant of Jean Rhys...a born novelist' ALI SMITH

‘Smyth’s writing is as lushly beautiful as the landscape she describes’ THE TIMES

‘Like Alice Walker, Smyth vividly and empathetically re-creates gender and racial tensions’ ELLE MAGAZINE

More about the book here: https://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/look-at-you

Review copies are also available at NetGalley, for those eager reviewers out there.

February is here, so time to chat about the books I got last month in January with a . Some of the books I got from publisher. Some that I got from ...

30/01/2025

Remembering the late Nobel laureate for literature (1992) Derek Walcott of Saint Lucia 1930-2017. Saint Lucian poet John Robert Lee pays tribute in a memorial poem titled "White Cedar". His photo of W

We’re delighted to share the winners of the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2024. Peepal Tree is a proud partner of the SI Leeds...
18/11/2024

We’re delighted to share the winners of the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2024. Peepal Tree is a proud partner of the SI Leeds Literary Prize, and has supported the prize since its inception.

We’re delighted to announce the winners of the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2024. Peepal Tree is a proud partner of the SI Leeds Literary Prize, and has supported the prize since its inception. The 2024 winners are as follows:

11/10/2024

Registration for the masterclass, with a fee of TT$900, is currently open, with limited places remaining. Further information on registration is online at academy.bocaslitfest.com. Registration for the masterclass, with a fee of TT$900, is currently open, with limited places remaining. Further infor...

11/10/2024

Happy National Poetry Day! Here's my 'Fibonacci Poem for the James Webb Space Telescope' from Time Cleaves Itself :) The Fibonacci sequence is in the syllables... and it recurrs through the shapes of another poem in the collection, 'Wine' (the dance, not the drink). Enjoy!

VD: Captioned video of a woman reading a poem. She has shoulder-length afro-mixed curly hair, light-brown skin, wearing a stripy short-sleeve top; and moves her arms and hands to echo the words of the poem. Behind her are books, files, plants, an undersea coral artwork, and a door. To her right is a large attic window with light coming through the edges of closed blinds.

Find out more about the book: https://jedapearl.com/time-cleaves-itself-jeda-pearls-debut-poetry-collection/

This is tonight!
11/10/2024

This is tonight!

It's always wonderful when authors' work reaches a wider audience. Congrats, Yvonne Weekes!
11/10/2024

It's always wonderful when authors' work reaches a wider audience. Congrats, Yvonne Weekes!

28/09/2024

Posted • Final podcast episode! Inspired artist takes us through her creative odyssey from reluctant teen to pioneering, seed-planting, eco-music cultivating international poet 🌱

A must-listen for all those wanting to write us into a greener world – link in bio

28/09/2024

We were so pleased to publish Kevin Jared Hosein's 2016 book, The Repenters. Some advice for writers.

28/09/2024

3 DAYS LEFT for PAY WHAT U CAN!!!!!When I started writing I couldn’t afford workshops and it stopped my progress. Throughout September the online video workshop, full of prompts, tips and tricks, is pay-what-you-can. We’re not going to let budget stop your progress. So to improve your poetry quickly check the LINK IN BIO

28/09/2024

Through The Looking Glass

This week, the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival takes on the Brooklyn Book Festival for the first time and we ready like is J'ouvert morning to bring the (metaphoric) oil and mud and paint to downtown Brooklyn. We are present in a main book festival event and as a sponsor of an official bookend event.



Through The Looking Glass presented by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival

Main Stage - 209 Joralemon Street

Sunday September 29 at 2pm



Join Caribbean-born, global legends Lorna Goodison from Jamaica, Esmeralda Santiago from Puerto Rico, and Barbara Jenkins of Trinidad & Tobago - natural-born storytellers, who as emigrants keenly observed the world around them with insight, grace, and sharpness, reflecting a deep connection to the cultures, countries and indigenous stories that flowed from their memories to the tips of their pens. Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican, Jenkins, author of The Stranger Who Was Myself, and Jamaican Poet Laureate Goodison, author of From Harvey River, are joined by moderator Lauren Francis-Sharma (Book of the Little Axe).

Co-presented by the Center for Fiction

bklyncbeanlitfest

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Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5:15pm

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Our Story

Peepal Tree is a wholly independent company, founded in 1985, and now publishing around 20 books a year. We have published over 300 titles, and are committed to keeping most of them in print. The list features new writers and established voices. In 2009 we launched the Caribbean Modern Classics Series, which restores to print essential books from the past with new introductions.

We are grateful for financial support from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation since 2011; we were a regularly funded organisation from 2006. Arts Council funding allows us to sustain Inscribe, a writer development project that supports writers of African & Asian descent in England.

We are based in Leeds in Yorkshire, part of an important independent publishing sector outside London. Everything happens at 17 King’s Avenue, in the Burley area, a rundown, multicultural part of Leeds (where business rates are low and you can get a good massala fish across the road). Visitors are always welcome and over the years a good many of our writers have called by.

BY FOUNDER AND MANAGING EDITOR JEREMY POYNTING