14 indie publishers, four free talks and £8 entry with a drink and buffet: the Indie Press Fair is at Manor House Library in Lee on Sunday 13 September, 1pm to 7pm.

Fourteen independent publishers are setting up stalls inside Manor House Library in Lee next Sunday, 13 September, for the Indie Press Fair, a one-day celebration of small press publishing running from 1pm to 7pm.

Entry costs £8 through Ticket Tailor and includes a free drink on arrival, available until 2:15pm, and buffet food during the day. A pay bar serving wine, beer and soft drinks runs throughout.

The fair is hosted by Calico Projects, a registered charity based in Lewisham (charity number 1180229). The organisers say they charge the publishers nothing to exhibit and take no cut of anything sold on the day, so every book bought goes to the press that made it.

Who is exhibiting

The publishers selling directly from their stalls are:

  • Bona Books
  • Conduit Books
  • Constellations Press
  • Deixis Press
  • époque press
  • Hajar Press
  • Héloïse Press
  • MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE
  • MOIST BOOKS
  • Oblique House
  • Renard Press
  • Spite Press
  • Tilted Axis Press
  • Weatherglass Books

The list runs from Tilted Axis Press, which publishes translated fiction, poetry and nonfiction by Global Majority authors, to Renard Press, a climate-positive London publisher of classic and contemporary writing, and Spite Press, an Edinburgh press for poetry and art outside the conventional.

Four free talks, booked with a code

Alongside the stalls are four talks and panels. They are free, but each needs a place reserved with an access code that is emailed to entry ticket holders, and the organisers say spaces are limited, so buying early improves your chances.

The running order:

  • 1:45pm to 2:30pm: Translation and Creative Practice, chaired by Erica Hesketh with Bibi Berki, Livia Franchini, Kotryna Garanasvili and Nasim Luczaj
  • 2:50pm to 3:35pm: novelist Koushik Banerjea, whose latest book Animal Nightlife is out with Conduit Books, in conversation with Andi Thomas, who manages Sydenham Library
  • 3:50pm to 4:35pm: Nell Osborne, whose debut Ghost Driver (MOIST BOOKS) jointly won the 2026 Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, in conversation with Neil Griffiths of Weatherglass Books
  • 5:30pm to 6:30pm: Success in Small Press Publishing, chaired by Neil Griffiths with Farhaana Arefin, Sean Campbell, Oscar Mather and Claire Steele

Stalls stay open through a refreshment break from 4:40pm, with a last chance to buy between 6:30pm and the 7pm close.

What it means for you

The venue is Manor House Library at 34 Old Road, Lee, SE13 5SY, an eighteenth-century Grade II* listed building in Manor House Gardens. The organisers describe a fully accessible building: level entrance access, a lift to all floors, accessible toilets, baby changing and accessible parking in the library grounds, with an email contact for specific access requirements.

Getting there without a car is straightforward: the organisers put it at ten minutes’ walk from Hither Green station and fourteen from Blackheath, with Lewisham DLR about twenty minutes away and buses stopping within 400 yards. Our trains and travel guide covers the lines serving both stations, and there are more ideas for the weekend in our things to do in Lewisham guide.