The Black Spring Press Group

Our range is wide, our remit international, and our aim true… 

'...an estimable list of books.' – PN Review  

'...a very considerable presence in contemporary poetry.' – John Greening 

Founded July 25th, 1984, The Black Spring Press list has published literary classics and major figures, including Leonard Cohen, Orson Welles, Anaïs Nin, Momus, Carolyn Cassady, Charles Baudelaire, Nick Cave, and many more. Eyewear Publishing Ltd. joined up with Black Spring Press (with its imprint Dexter Haven) in 2019 to form a new Indie press group of cultural reach and quality. We are a micro-press based in Maida Vale, North London, and proud to be a part of the Independent Publishers Guild as well as the Publishers Association. Our books appear in bookshops across the UK and Republic of Ireland, Canada and the USA, distributed by BookSource, INGRAM and NBN. We are represented by Compass IPS for sales and by Red Rock Literary Agency for foreign rights.  

Black Spring Press Group has a commitment to the wider world of prose and poetry, in English and translation. We hold regular literary prizes, search for emerging talent, and neglected out-of-work authors, as well as well-established figures. Our books have been recommended by such major figures as Stephen Fry, Gina Miller, Salman Rushdie, Tom Stoppard, Colm Toibin, and The Rev. Jesse Jackson. 

Our books have been well-reviewed in The TLS, The Sunday Telegraph, Literary Review, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, The Sewanee Review, The Times, Poetry(Chicago), PN Review, Poetry Review and Poetry London. They have also won the Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism, and including in the long and shortlists for The Forward Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. Our poets have appeared in the annual Forward anthologies, and been Poetry Book Society Choices and Recommendations. 

Our pamphlet series has been shortlisted for the prestigious Michael Marks Award, given each year at The British Library. Our novels have been optioned for film, and adapted for radio and broadcast on the BBC. 

A few kind words from our clients and authors...

I have been much impressed by the dedication of Black Spring Press to seek out and then publish books of substance. The fine press is a reflection of its publisher's belief that books, ideas and conversations matter and are in fact essential to a healthy and vital society. Dr. Swift is something rare in this world. A real publisher.

Michael Katakis - Author of A Thousand Shards of Glass, Dangerous Men, and the manager of the Ernest Hemingway's literary estate.

The books are perfect! You folks are the consummate pros! Exponential thanks to you both and the rest of the team. So proud to be with Eyewear and Black Spring! All the best to you all.

Mac Gay - Poet based in Texas. We published his book Ghost Hunt in 2023. 

As an American writer working with a UK-based publisher, I cannot say enough about how much it has meant to have such a supportive team at Eyewear. The collective belief in my work in general and in this book in particular has helped me not just to find an audience, but to believe in the fact that that audience can be grown at home in the USA, in Eyewear's home-base of the United Kingdom, and elsewhere around the globe. Eyewear has a truly international vision and reach. 

Lucas Jacob – Jacob's poetry and prose have appeared in more than 50 journals. We published his full debut collection, The Seed Vault, in 2019.