About

Stairwell Books is a small, passionate publisher which specialises in finding extraordinary writers.

A sea-change in the landscape of publishing has seen large publishing houses unwilling to risk new or highly original voices. For higher returns, there has been a strong focus on celebrity authors or writers who are firmly on trend.

Talented unknown writers can struggle to be read, while established authors, under pressure to revive the same ‘greatest hits’ format every time, can struggle to be experimental – meaning passion projects may never be commissioned.

But within this landscape there is a burgeoning of small private publishers who can find and print the next generation of talented authors and poets.

Stairwell Books was conceived by founder Rose Drew who would sit in the stairwell of her home in Connecticut sharing poems with her upstairs tenant – an accomplished ’cellist. In 2002 Rose, with her then fauxmari, Alan Gillott, produced poetry booklets to sell when they featured at poetry venues in the USA.

In 2005 Stairwell Books published its first book, an anthology of the poets performing in Rose and Alan’s First Tuesday open mic, which met monthly in Wilton Connecticut.

In 2007 Stairwell Books produced a second anthology, this time of the poets met in York, England, at their open mic, The Spoken Word. This book, The Exhibitionists, caught sufficient local interest that author Nick David asked if Stairwell would publish his short novel, Carol’s Christmas. This we were proud to do.

The Exhibitionists was named in the top ten list of small press anthologies of 2009 by The Purple Patch; and in 2011 Tim Ellis’ Gringo on the Chickenbus was included in the Top 20 Poetry collections.

More Exhibitionism, published in 2016 was Stairwell’s 50th book, and celebrated 10 years of The Spoken Word.

Since then Stairwell Books has published further collections of the best of local poets – and elsewhere.

Although Stairwell Books has its roots in finding talent across York and the Yorkshire region – we’ve discovered we cannot turn down good writing outside these boundaries, so our list now also contains writers from around the world.

We look for writing that touches on big themes; brings new insight for our current world and of our past; is both literary and visual.

In 2009, in collaboration with Fighting Cock Press, Stairwell Books published Fosdyke and Me by John Gilham to capture for posterity the wonderfully entertaining Fosdyke Stories John had been regaling York audiences with for many years. Stairwell also worked with Fighting Cock Press on books by Rita Jerram.

In April 2009 Stairwell Books took over responsibility for the publication of international writing journal, Dream Catcher.

Stairwell’s first full-length novel was Foul Play, a police procedural by a mother-daughter writing team, PJ Quin. Their fifth, Skull Days, came out in 2023.

Stairwell Books emerged from the pandemic with robust national and international distribution channels and internationally recognised authors such as Rebecca Smith and Ali Sparkes. Both Smith and Sparkes sought an indie publisher for passion projects alongside their mainstream traditional publishing schedule – with Smith’s Shadow Cat Summer published in 2021 and Sparkes’ My Sister Is A Dog in 2023, followed by 100 Summers in 2024.

In 2024, STRIKE by Sarah Wimbush was a finalist for the prestigious Forward Prize for poetry.

Stairwell is committed to the ongoing success of its stable of writers and is a willing collaborator in transferring them to mainstream publishing in the event an offer is made.