Dahlia Books

Dahlia Books is a small independent publishing press based in Leicester. We publish contemporary, original short fiction and champion regional and diverse voices. We are particularly keen to publish first-time writers.

Established by writer and editor, Farhana Shaikh in 2010, the press was shortlisted for Small Press of the Year for the Midlands region in 2021, won the Saboteur Award for the Best Short Story Collection in 2019 (for Table Manners) and is shortlisted in this year’s Edge Hill Short Story Prize (for Monstrous Longing).

The press also runs the annual celebration of short stories, Short Story September and online magazine, The Asian Writer. It runs a yearly search to find and recognise short story talent through Leicester Writes.

Our diversity policy is at the heart of everything we do and we’re passionate about bringing about much-needed change in the UK publishing scene. We would love for publishing to be more reflective of the multicultural society we live in. Since our early beginnings we’ve worked alongside local universities to offer aspiring editors an opportunity to gain an insight into how publishing works. We’ve offered work-shadowing and mentoring opportunities to students at Loughborough University. More recently, we have been working alongside the English department at the University of Leicester, to offer e-placements for second-year students. We aim to build a supportive and inspiring community for writers where creativity can thrive.

Publisher address:

Leicester

UK Distribution: Gardners https://www.gardners.com/