6 Black-Owned Book Publishers

Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press

You might say that the immigrant dream is to reach a place where one can catch up with their imagination.  So was the case for Kassahun Checole when he left Eritrea (then still a part of Ethiopia) for upstate New York.  He eventually found his way to Rutgers University where he taught sociology and African studies.    It was there that he discovered the need for more thoughtful texts on the history, politics and culture of the African diaspora.  In 1983 he launched Africa World Press  (AWP) with Barrel of a Pen: Resistance to Repression in Neo-Colonial Kenya by Ngugi wa Thiong’o.  Two years later The Red Sea Press (RSP) was established to distribute AWP’s catalogue, a task it took on for other presses as well.  Since then AWP/RSP has risen to international prominence, with satellite offices in England, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Ghana.  Today over 100 titles are released each year, and while scholarly offerings remain its primary focus, poetry and international fiction have also found a home here.