Afsana Press is an independent publishing house producing sparkling literary works by authors whose stories have a direct relation to social, political or cultural issues in countries and communities around the world.
Our mission is to get to the heart of the urgent matters of our time, and times past, asking important questions about migration and refugees, the environment, gender, development and social justice. Particular attention will go to the work of authors in exile, and our stories often concern the movement of humans in an ever-shifting, dangerous world. All this without taking a certain political direction – we simply want to ask, why, how, where and who, always through profoundly human stories.
Though based in London, UK, we are global in spirit, promoting high-quality fiction from anywhere in the world. At the moment, we publish only in the English language, but we hope soon to have capacity for translating literature from other languages.
We believe that, though literature may not have direct political influence or the power to put issues on the agenda of governments, it is possible for literary works to raise public awareness about important issues. Through literature authors can, at least, explore the matters that people care about. In an ever more connected world, we realise that we are all human, and our stories bring us together. There is power in our words, to make change, to make connections.
Founded by author, Goran Baba Ali, Afsana Press began in 2010 in Amsterdam, to support and publish writers producing books in Kurdish. Baba Ali first published his novella, The Man Who Was A Tree, and the novel, The Ocean of the White Coffins, by Kurdish writer and theatre director Rizgar Hama Rashid. However, as a publishing company, it started at the end of 2021 in London with publishing Goran’s own novel, The Glass Wall.
The official launch of Afsana Press, with four books, will be on 11 October 2023 at the prestigious Stanfords Bookshop in Covent Garden, London. We will be welcoming you with a glass of wine and other drinks and appetisers.
We are members of the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG).
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