Bluemoose Books is an award winning independent publisher based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Kevin and Hetha Duffy started Bluemoose in 2006 and as a ‘family’ of readers and writers we’re passionate about the written word and stories. Stories are transformative and as publishers we delight in finding great new talent. If you’re looking for orange headed celebrity books, you’ve probably come to the wrong place. But if you want brilliant stories that have travelled from Hebden Bridge, across the border into Lancashire, down to London across to Moscow, Sofia and Budapest and into the United States, Australia, India, Colombia and Greenland, Iceland and Bosnia Herzagovina then Bluemoose is the publisher for you.
We recently won the Small Press, Northern Publisher of the year and _Christ on a Bike _ by Orla Owen has been long listed for the 100,000 Euro Dublin Literary Award. Two of our recent titles have also been short listed for major prizes. I AM NOT YOUR EVE by Devika Ponnambalam was short listed for The SALTIRE BOOK AWARDS - THE ROYAL SOCIETY of LITERATURE Prize and the world's leading literary prize for historical fiction, the £25K WALTER SCOTT PRIZE.
GHOST SIGNS by Stu Hennigan was short listed for The BRITISH BOOK AWARDS and THE PARLIAMENTARIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR.
PANENKA by Rónán Hession was short listed for The An Post Irish Novel of The Year 2021 and also for The British Book Awards Book of The Year. SHOULD WE FALL BEHIND by Sharon Duggal was short listed for The Royal Society of Literature ENCORE Prize and was chosen for the biggest book progamme on televsion , BBC 2's Between The Covers and watched by over One Million viewers. DOMESTIC BLISS and OTHER DISASTERS by Jane Ions was short listed for The Comedy Women In Print Prize 2021.
LEONARD AND HUNGRY PAUL by Ronan Hession was chosen by Dublin, UNESCO City of Literature as Book of The Year 2021. It was short listed for The Booksellers Association, #BooksAreMyBag awards , The An Post Irish Book Awards, emerging writer. The Kerry Group Irish Novel Award 2020. The Dalkey Literary Awards, emerging writer 2020. The Society of Authors McKitterick Prize 2020 for a debut by an author over 40 and The British Book Awards 2020, debut of the year. It was chosen by The Sunday Times as one of the best 50 Irish Novels of The Century and has been published and translated in 13 countries. The novel is now a bestseller in Germany having spent 11 weeks in The German top 20. Rónán is regularly invited to talk at International Literary festivals and in 2024 attended The Bratislava Literary Festival, The Cheltenham Festival, The Korean Literary Festival and The West Cork Festival.
THE GALLOWS POLE by Benjamin Myers won the world's leading literary prize for historical fiction, the £25k WALTER SCOTT PRIZE in 2018 and was adapted by Shane Meadows into a three part BBC Two series aired in May 2023. MAN WITH A SEAGULL ON HIS HEAD by Harriet Paige was short listed for the best new novel of the year 2018. BEASTINGS by Benjamin Myers won the £10,000 PORTICO LITERATURE Prize 2015 and was also short listed for The Jerwood Fiction Prize 2015. BEASTINGS also won The Northern Writers Award for 2014. Ben won The Tom Gallon Prize 2014 awarded by the Society of Authors. PIG IRON by Benamin Myers won the inugural GORDON BURN PRIZE 2013. KING CROW by Michael Stewart won the Guardian’s NOT THE BOOKER in 2011 and was a recommended read for WORLD BOOK DAY 2012. NOD by Adrian Barnes was long listed for The Commonwealth Writers Prize 2013 and was short listed for Europe's biggest S/F prize The CLARKE AWARD 2013. We have sold the foreign rights to twelve of our books with five titles optioned for Film & TV. NOD by Adrian Barnes was published in North America in September 2015. IF YOU LOOK FOR ME, I AM NOT HERE by Sarayu Srivatsa, when published in India was long listed for The Asia Man Booker. THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden was one of six titles to be chosen for BRAVE NEW READS 2016. There are some great reviews of all our books on this site, so I do hope you get a chance to read them. Each and every book is scrubbed and polished until it shines and is then sent out with love and pride… and from the feedback we’re getting, it seems our readers like our books too.
We have a team of brilliant editors: Lin, Hetha, Leonora and Flora. Kevin can be seen and heard at various universities and library events. Kevin and Hetha re-mortgaged their house to bring Bluemoose authors to you, I know, the sympathy vote… but when competing against the corporate publishers, we need all the help we can get.
Very best wishes from all at Bluemoose Books.
Submissions
We do not publish children's books, YA or poetry. Please send the first three chapters and a synopsis. We can’t get back to you straightaway but we will do our best to let you know if we want to see the full manuscript, hopefully within 24 weeks. If we haven't got back to you within that time - frame then unfortunately we will have decided not to progress with your submission. All these decisions are subjective and are not an indication of the quality of your writing. Thank you for your patience.
Submissions should be sent electronically to kevin [at] bluemoosebooks [dot] com.