May 20, 2026 |
Summer is a wonderful time to pick up a book. The weather is warming and sitting outside with a cuppa and something to flick through feels increasingly inviting. But the book market is overcrowded. New books are churned out everyday, so for this roundup we decided to do something a little different and turn our attention to those taking their time. Opting to spotlight independent publishers, in London and beyond, whose output is focused, alternative and enduringly fresh, here are ten page turners that really tickle our fancy for those sunny reading sessions. Bookworms, take note.
1. Bad Omens by Luke Roberts – Book Works
In his latest book, London-based poet Luke Roberts maps grief, political dread and artistic survival through fragments pulled from a decade of notebooks and journals. Pieces unfurl like unfettered streams of consciousness ripped from a mind in crisis, split apart only by simple section breaks. From pollen-coated London streets to wildfires in Idaho and gravesides in Paris, Bad Omens moves through collapse with sharpness and strange warmth across 88 evocative pages. Roberts, a seasoned author who grew up in North Wales and now runs the small press Distance No Object, writes with an eye for beauty buried in debris. Published by Book Works, a London-based art publisher dedicated to supporting new work by emerging artists that doubles as a registered charity, the book arrives this June and is available for pre-order here. Emily Philips
2. Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash – Smut Press
Smut Press, the London-based queer imprint documenting sex, nightlife and underground culture through printed matter, is back with the second edition of its 2024 cult hit Cruising Archaeology. Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash explores the diversity of cruising – the practice of seeking anonymous or casual sex in public or semi-public spaces – across Berlin, Athens, Dublin, Barcelona and Paris. These include grubby public toilets, woodland paths, white-sand beaches, palatial gardens and steamy sex clubs, each documented through scans of found objects and essays on queer intimacy, consent and urban space. Distributed by Public Knowledge Books and designed by John Philip Sage, the 256 page, pocket-sized volume features contributions from writer Jordan Tannahill and artist Prem Sahib among many others. Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash is launching at a number of events across Europe, with the first having been on May 7 in London. Next stop, Berlin on May 21. Buy your copy here. EP
3. Hello, Limerence by Momo Yamaguchi – Faber Books
“For anyone who has ever had a crush, welcome to your new personal obsession,” reads the blurb for Momo Yamaguchi’s debut novel. And it’s an apt warning. Titled Hello, Limerence, the 224 page fictional book follows Mika, a Tokyo office worker spiralling through lust, delusion and quarter-life panic as she ricochets between terrible men, violent fantasies and one-sided obsessions. It’s filthy, funny and painfully self-aware, with flashes of Fleabag energy filtered through Tokyo summers and late-capitalist exhaustion. Born in Tokyo, educated in the US and now based in London, Yamaguchi writes desire at its most irrational and humiliating. Published by storied independent publishing house Faber Books, Hello, Limerence lands June 4. Pre-order here. EP
4. The Kiss Book by Tove Lo and Kenny Laubbacher – Baron Books
“Get it bedside” reads the ultimate sentence of an Instagram caption detailing a new release from London-based independent publisher Baron Books. Known for photo books that document disruptive subcultures, intimate moments and the full scope of society’s sweaty, sexy underbelly, it’s a fitting sign off. Indeed, Baron’s carefully curated publications are the type that would look good illuminated on a bedside table by a flickering candle or a lightbulb’s tangerine glow. The Kiss Book is no exception to this rule. Having hit stores on May 6, the project, which clocks in at 200 pages, marks the debut book from musician Tove Lo who, in collaboration with photographer Kenny Laubbacher, documented a smörgåsbord of smooches between fans attending her 2023 Dirt Femme tour. There’s demure cheek pecks, full-frontal tongue action and passionate snogging – each image showcasing the ecstasy and intimacy of human relationships. Partial to a little lipsing? This one’s for you. Order it here. Bella Koopman
5. Love and Terror: The Helter-Skelter History of the Manson Murders by Claudia Verhoeven – Verso Books
The year was 1969; the month, August. Flower power had curdled into something darker, the Californian haze thick with paranoia, violence and failed utopian dreams. Meanwhile, down at Spahn Ranch, Charles Manson was tightening his grip over his so-called “family”. Days later, Sharon Tate and six others would be murdered in killings that permanently rewired America’s relationship to celebrity, cults and counterculture. Claudia Verhoeven’s new book, Love and Terror: The Helter-Skelter History of the Manson Murders, offers a major new, 384 page study of the case, drawing on newly released archival material to untangle decades of mythmaking. Published by the world’s largest independent radical publishing house (based in London and New York) Verso Books, it reframes the murders as a turning point in media spectacle and modern American paranoia. Love and Terror was released on May 26; purchase your copy here. EP
6. Breathing Land by Hazel Gaskin – New Dimension
This release is a little special to us. Breathing Land, available for pre-order now, from award-winning London-based publisher New Dimension documents the work of Hazel Gaskin, the Dublin-born photographer responsible for lensing our Linder Sterling cover story for 10 Magazine Issue 76. For this photobook, Gaskin traces the lives of young people growing up in Belfast between 2021 and 2025. Showcasing adolescence as a tender process forged in the quieter moments, Gaskin’s project unfolds following a series of riots that took place in the city in March and April 2021. Despite the conflict, Gaskin resists focusing on the divisions, instead letting the landscape take a back seat to moments of teenage transition. As such, Breathing Land unravels as a story of Belfast in flux. The city, much like the young people growing up within it, slowly adjusts as time moves on, leaving behind a scene of resilience and gradual change. Pre-order yours here. BK
7. Sorties: This Is Not Just An Image – Action Motion Press
This summer, critical feminist publisher Action Motion Press has introduced Sorties, a forthcoming collection of works described as “a living bulletin”, with the inaugural 230-page issue, titled This Is Not Just An Image, by artist Michela Zoppi, available to order now. Featuring an introductory text graphic designer Katie Evans, the issue examines the historical image of women as objects of desire in a visual culture that caters to the male gaze. By placing images that depict women in positions of power and vulnerability alongside each other, the publication proposes that representation is in fact a non-neutral process – one that merely reinforces and reshapes how the patriarchy operates within dominant cultural and ideological systems. Taking from the etymological root of “bulletin” – bulla – Sorties views itself as a project of swelling, “a proliferation of bumps and blisters” that establish a narrative. Flick through the pages and you’ll be confronted with how the system of male-dominated control has long gripped our visual culture. This one packs a punch. Get your hands on the first issue here. James Hughes
8. Marc by Sofia by Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs – A24 Publishing
Fresh off the release of Sofia Coppola’s new A24 documentary, Marc by Sofia, comes an accompanying 200-page book from the filmmakers publishing arm A24 Publishing. The film, which presents revered American designer Marc Jacobs through the eyes of director and his close friend Coppola, traces the development of Jacobs’ SS24 Paper Doll collection. After meeting over twenty years ago, the pair quickly became collaborators and over the ensuing decades played an integral role in each other’s creative and personal lives. Throughout the book, the two speak to each other about the top moments from Jacobs’ prolific career – from his days at Parsons, to the Perry Ellis collection that got him the sack, to his tenure as Louis Vuitton’s first creative director, to establishing his own label. Each moment is accompanied by personal photographs and behind-the-scenes material from the Marc Jacobs studio. The publication is available to preorder now, with shipping expected in late May. Buy yours here. JH
9. Aftershock: The Seismic Impact of Dubstep by Lauren Martin – Velocity Press
If you were to take a time machine back to 2010, you’d be hard pressed to miss the pulverising sound of Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites – the Skrillex track that dragged dubstep out of the underground and into the mainstream. Wind back a few more years and DMZ was the sound of South London basements. Further still, pirate radio stations and Croydon record shops were laying the groundwork. Now, Aftershock: The Seismic Impact of Dubstep by Glasgow-born, London-based journalist Lauren Martin is penning the full story. Published by Bristol-based independent publishing house Velocity Press – which specialises in electronic music and club culture-focused non-fiction – this oral history traces the genre from the late-’90s London to global phenomenon through first-hand accounts, flyers and unseen archive imagery across 304 pages. Landing July 3, find out more here. EP
10. Rough Version, The NTS Interviews, 2022-24 by Francesca Gavin – At Last Books
If you’ve tuned into independent London broadcaster NTS Radio over the past few years, you may be familiar with Rough Version, an ongoing project from writer, curator and editor-in-chief of historical magazine Epoch Review, Francesca Gavin. Starting in 2016, the series situates the contemporary art world within the sonic sphere, inviting artists from all corners of the scene to divulge what music gets their creative juices flowing and why. Marking the second volume of Rough Version (the first was released in 2022), this 422-page release documents interviews conducted between 2022 and 2024, and features artists such as Alvaro Barrington, Hamish Pearch and Julianknxx. Rough Version, The NTS Interviews, 2022-2024 is available now to preorder from Copenhagen-based publishing house At Last Books. Pre-order your copy here. JH
Top image: photography courtesy of Smut Press.
