Established in 2020 by Brekhna Aftab and Farhaana Arefin, both London-based editors, Hajar Press is an independent publishing house that prioritises people of color. After crowdsourcing initial funds in late 2020, Hajar Press launched in early 2021 with an innovative subscription scheme including six books, the first of which was Fovea / Ages Ago, by Sarah Lasoye, followed by works by Jamal Mehmood and Heba Hayek. 2021 will continue to see Hajar publish Lola Olufemi, Cradle Community and Yara Hawari. Publishing across genres, Hajar is very specifically political, not only in its aims to de-centre whiteness but also for its stances on abolition, Palestine, capitalism, and racism, as well as its attempts to push back against Amazon’s domination of the book market. In Hazine’s interview with Aftab and Arefin, they tell us more about what makes Hajar so unique, how they differ from the mainstream publishing industry, and how they seek, as women of colour, to generate community through their books.
Continue reading “Disrupting Dynamics of Imitation: An Interview with the Founders of Hajar Press”