With a stated mission to bring the same irreverent, radical, original sensibility to the book publishing world that had long been synonymous with the musical legacy of Rough Trade Records, Rough Trade Books fully fledged five-ish years ago when Nina Hervé, designer Craig Oldham along with founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee decided to embark on a full publishing programme.
Starting with a series of pamphlets that covered a range of forms and genres— poetry, photography, fiction, illustration——the backlist has since grown into a who’s-who of UK literary stars as well as providing a home for a plethora of artists’ side interests, collaborations, experiments and all manner of other miscellaneous tidbits. Rough Trade Books has helped unearth brand new literary talent, has given established names a platform for work that didn’t fit elsewhere, has made books that fly in the face of all long-standing publishing rules of thumb. In short, they have said ‘yes’ when almost every other publisher
would have said ‘no’ and in the process have created a unique and bold body of work that showcases the originality, diversity and imagination that is to be found on the margins of culture.

This exhibition gives the viewer a thrilling insight into that work, showing the evolution of the list, the connections that exist between artists and collaborators, the process behind the making of a Rough Trade Books book, and the spirit and personality that is the engine of the press. The small presses are the heartbeat of literary culture, and this exhibition lays bare the intricate workings of that heart, with examples of original artwork from the archive as well as exclusive insight from the designers, editors and writers behind one of the most exciting publishers out there (even if we do say so ourselves!).

ABOUT ROUGH TRADE BOOKS 

Rough Trade Books is a publishing venture in the mould of the pioneering independent record label. Bringing the same original spirit and radical direction to the world of book publishing. Since launching in June 2018, Rough Trade Books have produced over 70 pamphlets known as Rough Trade Editions, an accompanying tarot deck plus visual and cultural compendiums all about John Carpenter‘s cult film, They Live, and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, beautiful books about visionary artists Madge Gill and Marcel Dzama, as well as a small book series on the legendary, grassroots Brixton-based music venue The Windmill, Enya: A Treatise on Unguilty Pleasures by musical genius Chilly Gonzales, the highly praised auto-fiction memoir, In The End, It Was All About Love by Musa Okwonga, as well as the award-winning novel I’m A Fan by Sheena Patel. Their most recent publication is something that they’re calling an ‘Object of Intrigue’ entitled Pretty Broad Tastes and includes work by legendary musician and poet Leslie Winer, designer Christopher Shannon and visual artist Linder.

Rough Trade Books brings together the very highest calibre of artists, writers, poets, musicians, photographers, illustrators and thinkers producing work relating to their relationship with the counter-culture.