Payback Press

The Payback Press was a specialist imprint of Canongate Books devoted to (initially) reprints of essays on Black culture, which later branched out into contemporary Black fiction and classic crime novels. Of the former category, the first three novels published by the imprint were "Blues People" by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), "Black Talk" by Ben Sidran, and "The New Beats" by S.H. Fernando, Jr. Notable fiction and classic crime novels included Chester Himes and Clarence Cooper Jr and Iceberg Slim. The imprint's name references the James Brown song The Payback (song), which, explained by Jamie Byng, head of Canongate Books, addressed the need of "repaying a debt by making people more aware of the tremendous importance of black culture and its role in our lives."^[1] Payback Press is credited for potentially saving certain books from obscurity,^[2] either relaunching books that had gone out of print or had never been published in the UK.^[3]

Notable books published by Payback Press

Fiction

Black, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
The Farm, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
The Scene, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
Weed & The Syndicate, Clarence Cooper, Jr.
Howard Street, Nathan Heard
The Harlem Cycle (Volumes 1-3), Chester Himes
The Lonely Crusade, Chester Himes
Not Without Laughter, Langston Hughes
One People, Guy Kennaway
Under African Skies, ed. by Charles Larson
Indaba, My Children, Credo Mutwa
Portrait of a Young Man Drowning, Charles Perry
Giveadamn Brown, Robert Deane Pharr
The Nigger Factory, Gil Scott-Heron
The Vulture, Gil Scott-Heron
Corner Boy, Herbert Simmons
Man Walking on Eggshells, Herbert Simmons
Death Wish, Iceberg Slim
Airtight Willie and Me, Iceberg Slim
Long White Con, Iceberg Slim
Mama Black Widow, Iceberg Slim
Trick Baby, Iceberg Slim
Doom Fox, Iceberg Slim
The Jones Men, Vern Smith
Panther, Melvin Van Peebles
One for New York, John A. Williams
Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes, ed. by Paula L. Woods

Non-fiction

Fight the Power, Chuck D
The New Beats, S.H. Fernando, Jr.
Born Fi' Dead, Laurie Gunst
Blues People, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Beneath the Underdog, Charles Mingus
Black Fire, Nelson Peery
Black Talk, Ben Sidran
Pimp, Iceberg Slim
The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, Iceberg Slim
Space is the Place, John F. Szwed
Sweet Sweeback's Badasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles

Poetry

The Fire People, ed. by Lemn Sissay

References

^ Williams, Richard. "Paying Due Respect". The Independent. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Myers, Ben. "Canongate: making passion and daring pay". Retrieved 23 January 2025.
^ Orhanen, Anna. "Jamie Byng on Creating a Canon". Waterstones. Waterstones. Retrieved 23 January 2025.

External links

Canongate index of reviews

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[1] Williams, Richard. "Paying Due Respect". The Independent. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[2] Myers, Ben. "Canongate: making passion and daring pay". Retrieved 23 January 2025.

[3] Orhanen, Anna. "Jamie Byng on Creating a Canon". Waterstones. Waterstones. Retrieved 23 January 2025.

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