Andrew Salkey and the first Publishing Houses for Black Writing in Britain
By Eleanor Casson, Archivist and cataloguer of the Andrew Salkey Archive (Deposit 10310), working in collaboration with the Eccles Centre for American Studies and the British Library. This blog is part of a series looking at Salkeyâs literary works and involvement with publishing houses for black writing in Britain.
Andrew Salkey was a man of many hats; a novelist, poet, editor, broadcaster, academic, cultural promoter and activist but, his main passion in his life was writing. Salkeyâs love for writing began as a young boy in Jamaica writing short stories in school exercise books and he continued to write almost daily until his death in 1995. His back-catalogue of literary work boasts a range of adult and childrenâs novels, short story collections, poetry collections and long poems. His archive reflects the sheer variety of his literary works and the characteristic political undertones of all of his writing. Salkey is often remembered for his role as a presenter of the BBCâs seminal programme âCaribbean Voicesâ and as a leading figure in the diasporic consciousness of Caribbean artists and intellectuals in the UK through his role as co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM). However, he also had a significant influence on the development of Caribbean literary activism in London during the 1960s and 1970s through his unwavering support of two of the first black publishing houses in London New Beacon Books and Bogle LâOuverture (BLP).
Salkey became involved with New Beacon books through his friendship with the founders, John La Rose and Sarah White. Salkey, La Rose and Kamau Brathwaite were the co-founders of CAM; a movement set up for Caribbean artists to get to know each other, and their work, as well as get to know their readers in the Caribbean diaspora. The CAM meetings were the first place La Rose and White sold their own publications. New Beacon Books was founded in 1966 as the UKâs first black publisher, specialist bookshop and international book distributor. The company was named after a journal, The Beacon, which ran from 1931-1932 in La Roseâs native Trinidad. New Beaconâs publishing and distribution was originally ran from La Rose and Whiteâs flat until they were able to take over premises in Finsbury Park and begin functioning as a book store. The shop became the epicentre of many campaigns, movements and organisations Salkey was involved with including: CAM (1966-1972), and the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books- organised jointly with BLP and Race Today Publications (1982-1995).
Two of Salkeyâs works were published by New Beacon Books: Georgetown Journal: a Caribbean writerâs journey from London to Port of Spain to Georgetown, Guyana 1970 (1972) and the second edition of Salkeyâs critically acclaimed first novel, A Quality of Violence (1978). Georgetown Journal is an account of Salkeyâs 1970 trip, with La Rose and Samuel Selvon, to Georgetown. They were guests at events organised by President Forbes Burnham marking the founding of the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana and the Caribbean Writers and Artists Conference. Salkeyâs archive includes a letter from Trevor McDonald relating to the trip offering Salkey advice on who to target for interviews. McDonald was a producer on the Caribbean Service, he suggested President Forbes Burnham, Willy Demas and Clyde Walcott as interesting interviews but signed off his letter to Salkey with âI am leaving the rest to your impeccable judgementâ.
In 1974 Salkey was given a directorship in New Beacon Books with ten shares. Salkey gave New Beacon Books all of the rights and proceeds from Georgetown Journal in a personal effort to âstrengthen and consolidateâ the company. Despite this, Salkey was very aware of how financially draining the publishing endeavour was for La Rose. He laments in his diary about how much debt La Rose incurred printing Georgetown Journal, he goes on to say that apart from free manuscripts âI must also find a way to keep them with money or its hard-edged equivalent, in some wayâ.
Bogle LâOuverture (BLP) was founded in London in 1968 by Guyanese couple Eric and Jessica Huntley. They were friends of La Rose and met Salkey through him. Although the Huntleys were never official members of CAM they were friends with many of its members. BLP was named after the Jamaican hero of the Morant Bay uprising, Paul Bogle, and Haitian revolutionary, Toussaint LâOuverture. When the Huntleys opened their bookshop in Ealing, they did so with the help and backing of La Rose. Salkey supported their endeavour in the same way he had with New Beacon Books. He was a Director and shareholder in the company and supported the organisation through the rights and proceeds of his manuscripts. He sent them other Caribbean writersâ works, and he offered them business and literary advice. In his diaries Salkey refers to BLP as âour publishing firmâ, he was determined to be an active supporter of Caribbean writing and âkeep the faith as a writer with my two Caribbean publishers in Britainâ.
Salkeyâs first novel published by BLP was the childrenâs story Joey Tyson. This was the third publication in BLPâs childrenâs series (which also included the writings of Bernard Coard), which was aimed at educating children in Britain about African and Caribbean history, politics and culture. Salkeyâs ability to convey adult issues and themes to children in a way they can understand, and feel an affinity with, made him the perfect author for BLPâs literary activism. Joey Tyson depicts the exile of a fictional character, Dr Paul Bogle Buxton, from the perspective of a young boy. Dr Buxton, described as âthe radical lecturer in African history at the universityâ, was a fictional imagining of Walter Rodney and his expulsion from Jamaica in 1968. One review of the novel retained in Salkeyâs archive states: âTeachers looking for something new or something more and who appreciate that literature cannot be divorced from life will recognise the merits of Joey Tysonâ. This work embodies the Huntleysâ and Salkeyâs endeavour to create childrenâs literature that educated and rallied the new generation, encouraging grassroots activism and highlighted the counter-hegemony in Britain and the Caribbean. The launch for the novel was held at the Keskidee Centre in Islington, once used regularly for CAM functions, by Jessica Huntley on Salkeyâs 47th birthday, 30 January 1975. In his diary he wrote that this day âsymbolised an acceptance of my small contribution to our community, which I never thought Iâd receiveâ.
Sources and Further Reading
David Austin Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal, Between the Lines, (Toronto: Canada, 2013)
Edited by Verner D. Mitchell, Cynthia Davis, The Black Arts Movement, (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019),
The George Padmore Institute: Why Publish Independently (online) Accessed: 29/03/2020: https://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org/the-pioneering-years/new-beacon-books-early-history/why-publish-independently