Akan Books celebrated the publication of its debut title, Calling Una Marson, with a launch party at the News Building in London Bridge last night (27th February).
The new HarperCollins imprint, spearheaded by broadcaster June Sarpong, opened for submissions in 2021, seeking to break down traditional barriers, improve accessibility in publishing and amplify underrepresented voices. Sarpong, who co-penned Calling Una Marson alongside writer Jennifer Obidike, is the author of several books, including The Power of Women, The Power of Privilege and Diversify.
At the party, Sarpong took to the stage with HarperCollins executive publisher Lisa Milton. Speaking about Diversify, which she acquired in 2016, Milton said: “My goodness, that book was ahead of its time. I felt I was born to publish it and June was born to write it. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we weren’t going to let anybody get in our way.
“I hope this will be a legacy for the both of us. Together, we thought about what difference could look like – what are the problems in publishing? What are the problems in the creative arts? What are the barriers and how do we remove them? Akan Books is going to be the change we’ve been wanting to see.”
Sarpong said: “Diversify was ahead of #MeToo, George Floyd and all the conversations that were to come… after these movements, the question of ‘why?’ moved to the side, and it became ‘how?’”
In the current political climate, however, conversations around diversity have shifted once again. “We’re now in an interesting phase, to say the least,” Sarpong added. “There’s a lot of panic around. We all know that inclusion works. Those that stick with it will be the beneficiaries, because the world is changing… For me, I’m very hopeful and still excited about our progress. I truly believe that we will come out the other side.”
HarperCollins described Calling Una Marson, which was published yesterday to coincide with the launch party, as a “groundbreaking” biography of the BBC’s first Black woman broadcaster.
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Sarpong said: “When I started at the BBC, I commissioned a historian to put together a timeline of the BBC’s diverse history. And he said: ‘Well, we have to start with Una.’ And I was like: ‘Una who?’ And when he told me about her, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of this extraordinary woman. The woman whose career made mine possible.”
In the spirit of amplifying voices, this is the first time that Sarpong’s co-writer, Obidike, has been credited as an author, even though she has worked on several books as a ghostwriter. She told The Bookseller that it feels “surreal” and “weird” to be named on the cover, but was “all in” when Sarpong made the proposal to her.
Akan Books is publishing two further books in 2025, both debut works of literary fiction: Overspill by Charlotte Paradise and Wild Moon Rising by Jenny Knight, to be published in April and June respectively.
Paradise, who is also an award-winning screenwriter, told The Bookseller that it was “empowering” to have the opportunity to write about the female body as a disabled author. She admitted that when she submitted the manuscript to the imprint, back in 2021, she had only written three chapters, because it was so “emotionally heavy”: “I used the opportunity to start writing the book again.”
Knight said: “Akan Books really values you as a person, which is not the norm in publishing, in my experience. There is no agenda of box ticking. They are really offering something completely different – they are publishing the kind of stories you don’t usually see.”
Wild Moon Rising is one such story, centred on a woman, “post-marriage and post-menopause”. Knight explained: “Post-45-year-old women are really having a moment right now, with Davina McCall and Miranda July. But this wasn’t the case a couple of years ago.
“Even as I wrote it, I was thinking: ‘No one is going to publish it.’ Lisa Milton’s my fairy godmother.”
Speaking to The Bookseller, Sarpong said: “I’m so excited that we get to be a home for authors that have had a hard time finding a publisher, and those who don’t know how to access the industry. We are happy to help, even if the book isn’t right. And they can come back – the door is always open.”
