ABOUT_
Footnote started in 2022 as a mission-oriented publisher committed to driving social and narrative change. We seek to centre marginalised stories and perspectives — other ways of thinking, being and organising that forefront diversity of experience whilst highlighting our shared humanity. Our books dismantle received wisdoms and paint illuminating visions of the future, often drawing on the foundational human themes of migration, identity, separation, resistance and reclamation.
Our publishing programme spans stimulating and politically engaged fiction and non-fiction, including history, current affairs, philosophy, memoir, situational reportage, environment, and more. As well as publishing as inclusively as possible, Footnote will innovate using bold new digital strategies to amplify crucial voices and find and connect with new global audiences.
Footnote was launched in partnership with Bonnier Books UK, a pioneering arrangement that combines the editorial independence and agility of an indie press with the sales and distribution capabilities of a world-leading publisher.
Contact us for more information: info@footnotepress.com
For submission, please refer to our guidance page.
TEAM_
Vidisha Biswas
Managing Director
Vidisha is Footnote’s founder and managing director. She was previously a co-owner and director at the radical publishing collective Zed Books, before it was acquired by Bloomsbury in 2020. Additionally, her career history of socially progressive publishing has spanned organisations including the Morning Star, New Statesman and Verso Books. An advocate of alternative and disruptive business models, Vidisha and co-founder Sujoy Roy launched Footnote in 2022.
Sujoy Roy
Marketing Director
Sujoy is an online gaming pioneer with more than 25 years’ experience in esports and video games and led the growth of industry, having launched multiple successful initiatives including ESReality, IGUK and Gamerbase. As an expert in digital innovation, Sujoy plans to take marketing lessons from gaming and esports and apply them to publishing to reach a new generation of readers.
Fritha Saunders
Editorial Director
Fritha has worked in publishing for over fifteen years and before joining Footnote was editorial director of non-fiction at Simon & Schuster. Prior to that she worked at Quarto and Constable & Robinson (now part of Hachette). She has worked with and published a number of high profile authors including Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, Laura Bates, Skin, Jonathan Van Ness, Jonathon Porritt and Kate Muir.
Rose Green
Commissioning Editor
Prior to joining Footnote, Rose was the assistant editor at MacLehose Press, having previously been a freelance editor. At MacLehose, she worked on authors such as Sara Stridsberg, GauZ’ and Pierre Lemaitre, and specialised in literary fiction in translation. She has also worked at Persephone Books, as a bookseller at various indie bookshops, and was part of the Literature team at the British Council. Rose joined Footnote in October 2022.
Dhruti Modha
Communications Officer
Dhruti is a communications specialist and was previously in local government, tech and fundraising. She was one of the Mayor of London’s first BAME Press and Marketing interns and went on to work on public health communications for London Boroughs during the pandemic. She switched industries and joined Footnote in September 2022 to bring public communications insight into publishing.
Candida Lacey
Consulting Editor
Candida’s publishing career spans Routledge, Pandora, Unwin Hyman, HarperCollins, Jonathan Cape and Myriad. She has launched notable authors, including winners and finalists of the Women’s Prize, Authors’ Club Best First Novel, Desmond Elliott, Polari, Jhalak and Diverse Book Awards. She commissioned Margaret Busby’s landmark anthology Daughters of Africa and, 27 years later, its sequel, New Daughters of Africa. She is executor of the Estate of Kay Dick.