Radical publisher Tangent Books celebrates 15 years

Tangent Books has been at the forefront of Bristol’s publishing scene since the publication of its first title.

So it’s highly appropriate that the publisher should mark its 15th anniversary with the release of the seventh edition of that first publication, The Naked Guide to Bristol.

Since the release of the warts’n’all travel guide to the city, Paintworks-based Tangent has gone on to publish nearly 200 books.

The newly published seventh edition of The Naked Guide to Bristol features new cover stars including Cleo Lake, Marvin Rees and Ursa the former Bearpit bear

“Tangent Books is a radical publisher” says co-founder and publishing director, Richard Jones.

“That doesn’t mean that every book I publish is overtly political, but it does mean that Tangent strives to tell untold stories and give a voice to people who may not otherwise get into print.

“People like Graham Walker, a Big Issue seller who wrote his life story in Unsettled, or Class War founder Ian Bone who wrote Bash the Rich, or Ray Webber.”

Jones published Ray’s first collection of poetry, High On Rust, when he was 95 years old. Xan Brooks from The Guardian went to Ray’s assisted accommodation in Knowle West to interview him and did a spread about him in the features section. “That was a special moment,” says Jones.

Jones adds: “If the books aren’t overtly radical, Tangent places a lot of value on community publishing with titles such as A Taste of Totterdown, a community cookbook; North Street: Shops, Shopping and Shoppers; or Have Wings Will Fly: True Stories of Domestic Abuse Survivors which I published in partnership with a community health project in Knowle West.”

Tangent is perhaps best known for celebrating Bristol street art and music, with titles such as Children of the Can: Bristol Graffiti & Street Art, Banksy’s Bristol (by Bristol24/7 Culture Editor Steve Wright), Wild Dayz – Beezer’s photographic collection of Bristol’s emerging hip-hop scene in the 1980s and this year’s publication of Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone by Melissa Chemam.

The broad range of Jones’ publishing vision has meant that Tangent has also published several fiction titles, including three works by Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood, three novels by Mike Manson, a short story collection by Tania Hershman and the annual Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology for the last six years.

And as to what’s in store for Tangent’s future, Jones says: “Up until Christmas I’ll be concentrating on promoting the new edition of the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and volume two of The Women who Built Bristol by Jane Duffus.

“I’m committed to a couple of projects in 2020, but for some years now I’ve been saying I’d like to get off the treadmill of production and promotion and properly assess what the future holds in an extremely volatile retail market.

“I’ll still be publishing but I’m planning to take some time out to properly plan the next stage of Tangent’s evolution.”

The 7th edition of The Naked Guide to Bristol is out now. For more information on Tangent Books, visit www.tangentbooks.co.uk

Read more: A Tribute to Bristol Publishing Legend, John Sansom