Inpress Books: Supporting Independent Publishers

A Rare Breed: Red Squirrel Press

We've been busy announcing our four new publishers this week, and today we're focusing our attentions on Red Squirrel Press.

Red Squirrel Press is an independent publisher based in Northumberland, established in 2006 by Sheila Wakefield. They publish both poetry and prose – you'll find works from the likes of Valerie Laws, Tom Kelly, James Kirkup, Kevin Cadwallender and Kathleen Kenny. Red Squirrel is also the home of the celebrated Sand poetry chapbook series, as well as Sand's latest novel, Child from Water by Maurice Dijon, aka Mike Dillon.

This month sees the launch of Tom Kelly's latest collection, Somewhere in Heaven, the poet's fourth in all and third with Red Squirrel. Somewhere in Heaven is a requiem for the poet's local North-East community, moving from his Catholic childhood out into the wider social sphere and the ever-changing face of his native Tyneside. Finally, Kelly heads back into the homeland of the heart, in a collection that is starker than its predecessors, capturing a world we need to hear and see.

Buy it here.

Poetry Fare from County Clare and Beyond: Salmon Poetry

Our second new publisher this month is Salmon Poetry, the largest literary publisher in the West of Ireland, sitting just half a mile north of the world-famous Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. There's far more to Salmon than a special location, however; they publish almost as many non-Irish poets as they do Irish poets, and provide a vibrant alternative voice with worldwide appeal.

Salmon was founded in 1981 by Jessie Lendennie, herself a poet and editor of the anthology Salmon: A Journey in Poetry and her own essential guide to Poetry: Reading it, Writing it, Publishing it.

The latest collection from Salmon is Long-distance Swimmer by Dorothy Molloy, the poet who lost her battle with cancer only ten days before her first collection, Hare Soup, was published by Faber and Faber in 2004. Assembled by her husband Andrew Carpenter, this volume represents the final chapter of Dorothy Molloy's poetry of exploration - of herself and others around her, of the mysteries and connections and separations, and of the paradoxes of life and love.

Buy it here.

Ireland's Call: Dedalus Press

New to the Inpress ranks this month are Dedalus Press, one of Ireland's longest-running and most respected literary presses, publishing some of the best-known names in contemporary Irish poetry, along with poetry in translation from across the globe.

Now run by the poet and broadcaster Pat Boran, Dedalus have been hailed by UNESCO as "one of the most outward-looking poetry presses in Ireland and the UK". Check out their titles for works from the likes of Seamus Heaney, Mary O'Donoghue, Fergus Allen, Paddy Bushe, Eva Bourke, Leland Bardwell, Paul Perry and Macdara Woods.

Dedalus's latest offering, Greek by Theo Dorgan, sees the Greek Gods of old walk once again in the islands of modern-day Greece. In the words of Carol Ann Duffy, this is "a vivid, sensual, technically brilliant new collection which transports the reader through time and space, history and myth, love and death".

Buy it here.

And over the next few days you'll be able to access a whole host of related Dedalus audio content: including poetry readings, interviews and even the odd song too. You can hear Dedalus editor-in-chief Pat Boran reading from his own New and Selected Poems here.