About the house
A small house with a long view
Quillstone was founded in 2011 to publish writers from northern Nigeria with the care usually reserved for big names. We still work from the same building in Barnawa.
Our story
How Quillstone began
Our founders, Mrs Asabe Yakubu and Mr Daniel Ojo (example names for this demo), taught literature in Kaduna secondary schools for twenty years. They grew tired of telling students that the books worth reading were written somewhere else.
So they started publishing. The first book, a collection of short stories by a former student, sold out its first printing of five hundred copies at a single reading. The second took three years to edit.
Fifteen years later, the pace is still deliberate. We publish eight to ten books a year. Each is edited at least twice, proofread by two people and printed on paper that will not yellow on your shelf.
Editorial values
What we stand for
- 01
Every manuscript is read
By a person, within six weeks, whether or not you have an agent.
- 02
Writers are never charged
We pay advances and royalties. Publishing with us costs a writer nothing.
- 03
Northern voices first
We publish widely, but we look hardest for stories from Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Zaria and the towns between.
- 04
Books built to last
Sewn bindings, acid-free paper and covers designed in our own studio.
Timeline
Fifteen years in brief
- 2011
Founded by two former teachers in a back room on Kachia Road with one book and a borrowed printer.
- 2014
First translation sold abroad: a collection of Hausa poems in English.
- 2018
The shop opens at the front of the building, with readings on the last Saturday.
- 2021
The Quillstone First Novel Prize launches with 312 entries (example).
- 2026
94 books in print and an editorial team of seven.
The people at the table
Seven of us run the house: two editors, a rights and sales manager, a designer, a production manager, an office manager and a bookseller who knows every regular by name. Freelance readers in Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos help with first reads.
Every Thursday we meet around one long table and read the week's most promising submissions aloud. If a page makes the room go quiet, we ask for the rest.
A book is the slowest kind of conversation. We try to make it a good one.