Some places resist the summary. Some people defy the headline. Some truths only reveal themselves to those willing to stay long enough — to look past what they expected to find. We publish the books written by those people.
ExploreNarrative Non-Fiction · Memoir
Not a war memoir. Not a political argument. Three years were spent moving through parts of Afghanistan that most outsiders never reach — and what emerges is the texture of life in an extraordinary place, and a nuanced understanding that so few ever find. Vivid, humane, and quietly revelatory.
View on AmazonNarrative Non-Fiction · Memoir
South Sudan, 2011. A new country being born. Julia Wagner was on the ground not as an observer, but as a humanitarian coordinator embedded in the middle of it. What she found wasn't the story the headlines were telling. It was communities inventing solutions faster than any aid programme could follow — and a portrait of resilience that stays with you long after the last page.
View on AmazonFrom readers and critics
Media attention might be short-lived, but Wagner gives you plenty of reason to care. If you only read one book about Afghanistan, let it be this one.
Daily
At times joyous, at times sad, but always beautiful and honest. Reading it inspires me to double down on my quest to become a better human being.
The Reading Desk
As books in this genre go, this one is a fairly slim read, but it is one that you likely won't forget.
Kirk
There's a particular feeling that comes from reading about something you already know well — a place you've lived, a profession you've worked in, a crisis you were close to. You can feel it on every page. The writer understood it well enough not just to describe it, but to make you feel it. Especially if you're the sort who distrusts sound bytes and simplification.
Those are the titles we publish and the readers we craft them for.
We publish a small number of titles each year, and we're selective about what we take on. If you have a story rooted in firsthand experience — something you witnessed, lived, or documented from the inside — we'd like to hear about it.
We're particularly interested in narrative non-fiction that takes readers somewhere they couldn't otherwise go: geographically, professionally, or experientially.
Submission guidelinesOur titles are available for wholesale and trade distribution. If you're a bookseller, library buyer, or distributor interested in carrying Hall Publishing titles, we'd be glad to hear from you.
hello@hallpublishing.com