10th Anniversary Editions

Simon Weekes becomes an overnight celebrity after his heroics during the 7/7 Bombings. But Simon can't afford the newfound fame and attention - he has too much to lose.

July 7, 2005. Simon Weekes is travelling on the London Underground when his tube carriage is wrecked by a bomb blast. Virtually everyone is killed and almost all the survivors are severely injured. Except for Simon.

Having quickly and calmly organised the small band of survivors out of the wreckage and to safety, word of Simon's heroics get out in the days following the bombing. Now under the full glare of the media spotlight, he becomes an overnight celebrity, hounded for interviews and regularly approached in the street by autograph hunters.

The only thing is, he doesn't want all the attention. He can't afford it. He has too much to lose.

A stunningly crafted debut short story collection, The Blink That Kills the Eye takes a poetic torch to the shadows of daily life, illuminating the characters, situations, emotions and dilemmas that pour into even the most ordinary existences.

From building sites to prison cells... from the birth of love to the last moments of breath... poet Anthony Anaxagorou expertly navigates through the tangled nets of invisibility, desperation and power to bring us time-defining tales of tragedy and hope - commenting on the irony of our shrinking capacity to really see ourselves or each other in a world increasingly defined by appearances and dangerous preconceptions.

While each story stands affectingly on its own, Anaxagorou also weaves an affecting chronology, the lives of the characters overlapping and intertwining as they develop individually.

Exploring themes of invisibility, alienation, abuse, and loss, this brave and touching short story collection shows the poet-educator at his soul-stirring best.

Kayo is a young Tokyo housewife and mother. Outwardly, she is no different from other young mothers, but her secret sets her apart. She belongs to a kind of club, which involves luxury, beautiful clothes and accessories.

The club makes it possible for Kayo to escape her tedious life, to become someone else and to embrace a dazzling new world. But it quickly becomes an obsession, a drug, the way to both paradise and hell. Can she find her way out of the dark underworld of debt, lies and prostitution? Or is she doomed to exchange one form of loneliness for another?

A deeply absorbing novel about the "holes" that suddenly appear in women's lives, My Beautiful Shadow is a powerful cautionary tale about consumerism gone mad.

Winner of the McKitterick Prize 2018.

"Never cover an assignment without collecting a brown envelope," Boniface had said. "It is a real life saver for all journalists in this country."

Ifiok, a young journalist working for the government radio station in Lagos, Nigeria, always aspires to do the right thing, but the odds seem to be stacked against him. Government pressures cause the funding to his radio drama to get cut off, his girlfriend leaves him when she discovers he is having an affair with an intern, and kidnappings and militancy are on the rise in the country. When Ifiok travels to his hometown to do a documentary on some ex-militants' apparent redemption, a tragi-comic series of events will make him realise he is unable to swim against the tide of corruption.

Building on the legacy of the great African satirist tradition of Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Ayi Kwei Armah, Radio Sunrise paints a sharp-tongued portrait of (post) post-colonial Nigeria.

From the winner of the 2021 Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature...

Determined to overrule the Nigerian President, members of the powerful secret society, The Sacred Order of the Universal Forces, led by Chief Donald Amechi and Christian Evangelist Chris Chuba, employ a terrorist cell to carry out attacks in Northern Nigeria under the guise of forming an Islamic state.

Adeline, Chuba's daughter, and young Donaldo Amechi, the only son of the Chief, are desperate to hide their love affair from their parents. When the Chief discovers the relationship, Evangelist Chuba is ordered to sacrifice his daughter. Adeline goes missing, but when it is revealed that the men sent to kill her never reached their target, Chuba and Amechi are haunted by what really happened to the young girl.

Set against the backdrop of Nigeria's ongoing terrorism tensions and upcoming elections, Satans and Shaitans is a powerful story about love, politics, power, religion, terrorism, and corruption.

A writer in self-imposed exile in London receives a call from the Prime Minister of his former country, inviting him to return to write the Prime Minister's biography. As he embarks from his small flat in west London to the modern Caribbean island he once called home, he immediately finds himself thrust into a world of exceptional wealth, power, and corruption.

In the midst of this turmoil the writer falls deeply in love. As the love affair advances, the writer's passion for the island resurfaces, until the loss of a close friend propels him to make one final, potentially cataclysmic decision that will change everything.

Winner of the Betty Trask Award 2016.

"A novel of epic proportions... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list." - Yvette Edwards

"A stunningly well-written book, juggling different timescales with great skill. Benin itself is vividly imagined in a historical narrative that runs in parallel with the contemporary London one. It is a wonderful novel." - Simon Brett OBE

"A wonderful, richly drawn novel, cleverly juxtaposing scenes from everyday London with African folklore and mysticism." - Joanne Harris

A stunning debut from the author of Speak Gigantular.

A fragile outsider living in London, Joy struggles to pull the threads of her life back together after her mother's sudden death. Emptiness consumes her and, needing to fill the gaps of her loss, she finds she is drawn to a unique artefact inherited from her mother - a warrior's head cast in brass that belonged to a king in eighteenth century Benin, Nigeria.

Joy is haunted by a beautiful young woman who appears in her photographs, familiar yet beguilingly distinct, the woman trails her wherever she goes. Joy begins to dream of a different time, a different place. She feels an inexplicable pull towards this mysterious female, and a past revealing itself through clues is scattered in her path. As family secrets come to light, she unearths the ties between her mother, grandfather, the wife of the king, a fearsome warrior, and the brass head's pivotal connection to them all.

Haunting and compelling, Butterfly Fish is a richly told story of love and hope; of family secrets, power, political upheaval, loss and coming undone.

Sparks fly and cultures clash in Frances Mensah Williams' romantic ode to self-love and multiculturalism.

Dismissed as a cultural lightweight by the man she is desperate to please, under-achieving PA, Faye Bonsu, is on a mission to find love. A disastrous night out leaves pasta-fanatic Faye's romantic dreams in tatters and underscores her alienation from her African heritage.

Leaving her cosy middle-class life in London's leafy Hampstead to find out what she's missing, Faye is whisked into the hectic social whirlpool of Ghana where she meets the handsome Rocky Asante - a cynical, career-obsessed banker with no time for women... until now.

Transported into a world of food, fun and sun, and faced with choices she had never thought possible, Faye is forced to discover that no matter how far you travel, you can't find love until you find yourself.

"Precise and illuminating." - Bernardine Evaristo OBE.

Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Saboteur Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and the Jhalak Prize.

Lovelorn aliens abduct innocent coffee shop waitresses. Ghosts of errant Londoners haunt the Underground, caught between here and the hereafter. Brave young women seek erotic empowerment... at their own peril.

These are the worlds of Speak Gigantular, the startling debut short story collection from acclaimed author Irenosen Okojie MBE. Understated in her humour and razor-sharp in her observations of humankind, Okojie's eclectic anthology offers an unflinching gaze into the darkest corners of the human experience.

Sexy, serious, and often downright disturbing, this brilliant debut collection sizzles with originality.

"A work of rare confidence, luminous imagery and full of hidden sharp edges." - Nina Allan, winner of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire.

"Irenosen Okojie's Speak Gigantular should, if there is any literary justice, place her in a circle with writers like Shirley Jackson, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter." - New Orleans Review.

A visual overview of contemporary African fashion, Fashion Africa is a comprehensive guide compiled with an ethical perspective.

Jacqueline Shaw promotes Africa as a place not just for sourcing materials, but with the potential to be a vital epicentre of trade within the global marketplace. This guide is the first of its kind to bring together designers, design companies, ethical manufacturers and more, all with an African connection.

Fashion Africa is a comprehensive guide to the designers, materials, and sustainable practices available on continental Africa, and provides an excellent resource in conjunction for the very vibrant growing industry already in existence.