Rooted in the Bay. Guided by Black storytelling. Built for community.
African Crown Publishing is a Black-led nonprofit literary arts organization rooted in the Bay Area. We exist to protect, publish, and elevate Black, African American, and diasporic stories through ethical publishing, youth education, and community-centered literary programs.
Founded in 2025, African Crown Publishing spent its first year building the legal, governance, and operational foundation required to serve our community with integrity. Our public-facing publishing launch begins in 2026, with pilot programs expanding in 2027.
We are not a vanity press.
We are a literary institution built for the long term.
The publishing industry has historically excluded, underpaid, or misrepresented Black writers - especially those working within strong gatekeeping systems. Many authors are forced to choose between predatory vanity presses, contracts, and limited access.
African Crown Publishing exists to build a publishing home where Black stories are protected, resourced, and allowed to grow across generations.
We publish books rooted in truth, imagination, and cultural integrity. Authors retain full ownership of their work, voice, and stories. Our publishing model centers craft, care, and long-term literary impact.
We build literary ecosystems that extend beyond individual titles—cultivating book clubs, workshops, events, and equitable access points that strengthen Black readership and collective storytelling.
Through school partnerships and community programs, we support young writers in discovering storytelling as power, identity, and possibility. Our youth work is culturally grounded, affirming, and rooted in care.
African Crown Publishing serves Black, African American, and diasporic writers, readers, and young people whose stories are too often shaped—or silenced—by systems not built with them in mind.
Our work also embraces the full range of Bay Area storytelling. We accept and support stories across cultures, identities, and lived experiences, recognizing the Bay Area as a place shaped by migration, resistance, creativity, and layered histories. What matters most is integrity, craft, and respect for the communities a story emerges from.
We support authors at different stages of their creative lives, youth learning to claim storytelling as a source of power, and communities seeking literature rooted in truth, cultural memory, and lived experience. We operate with the understanding that access alone is not enough—care, accountability, and long-term investment matter.
While our mission is grounded in Black storytelling, we collaborate with educators, cultural workers, and partners who share our commitment to ethical publishing and community-centered practice.
Cultural Integrity — We do not sanitize, dilute, or erase Black voices.
Equity Without Exploitation — Access should never come at a hidden cost.
Transparency — Clear contracts, expectations, and communication.
Community Accountability — We answer to the people we serve.