We are delighted to share details of our forthcoming 2026-27 programme of publications, and take this moment to ask you for your support.

For over 40 years Book Works has created genuine opportunities for artists and writers at the emerging stage of their careers to develop new, ambitious and innovative projects that benefit from our established publishing platform and international distribution network. Our forthcoming programme listed below, continues this experimental, and risk-taking approach.

Like many other arts organisations, and independent publishers, the economic and political climate presents us with significant challenges: rapidly rising costs, especially to energy and raw materials that has impacted paper prices; costs of postage and shipping have risen considerably, and are further effected by customs charges; despite the support of many independent bookshops, we operate in a risk-averse post-COVID landscape, impacting our sales. In this precarious climate, compounded by years of political upheaval, austerity, cuts to arts funding and a cost of living crisis which has impacted not only us as an organisation but the artists, writers and communities we work with, the need for transformative and generative programmes committed to nurturing and developing those without other forms of support is essential.

We hope you will be excited by the new programme, and consider becoming a Supporter, directly contributing to our core artist development work including our annual Open Submission series. Or joining our Readers Club to subscribe to all our new titles, for an annual cost of £60, (or monthly payments of  £6) and become part of a community of Book Works’ readers.

We also welcome the generosity of our readers who make one-off donations to support our experimental, risk taking publishing and our programme of genre-disrupting works by emerging artists and writers.

We closed 2025 with two artists books The Truth and Untruth of Stones by Lucy Skaer, and distinguish the limit from the edge by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Jimmy Robert, and the first publication in our New Writing Series, The Kingdom by Yoel Noorali, described as ‘blistering, funny, and brokenhearted, like the best human writing.’ by  Sam Lipsyte.

This new series, is dedicated to publishing outside the mainstream, with a focus on the emerging, out-of-print and off-kilter and forthcoming from the New Writing Series in 2026 are: Robert Frost, a poetic collaboration between Stacy Skolnik and Robert Frost. Poems from Robert Frost were awarded the 2025 Lisa Brannan Prize for emerging poets. Bad Omens, a lyrical narrative taking in the impact of nearly two decades of financial crisis, political defeat, cultural fragmentation, and grief from poet Luke Roberts; and the first published novel from cult writer Robyn Skyrme, Old Owl and Matt, a road trip novel about a young man haunted by the memory of a radio play from his childhood, a play whose prescience threatens his present love-life.

The two winning commissions from our open call Satirical Strains, guest edited by Holly Pester, were announced in January. We received almost one-hundred submissions and we are delighted that Laura Elliott and Gro Pechüle have been selected to publish in this series.

Other titles to be published this year include: The Circle by Bouchra Khalili, the conclusion of her ten-year investigation into the Arab Workers’ Movement (MTA), which focuses on its theatre troupes, Al Assifa (the tempest) and Al Halaka (the circle, the assembly); Our Bodies Are Not the Problem a new graphic artists book by Olivia Plender; Portmanteau by Hiba Ismail; Lantern Waqf by Sofia Niazi; and the launch of DUMMY, our new magazine of criticism dedicated to the obscure, difficult or overlooked. It will feature long-form writing on innovative, boundary-pushing work by artists and writers from historically underrepresented backgrounds and those supported by independent presses. Issue one is guest edited by Rachael Allen and Josie Mitchell and will be launched in July 2026.