About Serpent's Tail
In 1986, Pete Ayrton established Serpent's Tail with the intention of introducing British readers to risk-taking international literature that no other UK publisher was publishing. Langston Hughes, Ernest J. Gaines, Nella Larsen, Walter Mosley, Alain Mabanckou, and Lola Shoneyin, as well as LGBT authors such as Virginie Despentes, Jayne County, and Neil Bartlett, earned the list a reputation for its fearlessness and diversity of voice. They helped major authors like David Peace, Michel Houellebecq, and Colm Tóibn begin their careers, and it helped Catherine Millet's transgressive book The Sexual Life of Catherine M become a best seller. Serpent's Tail joined Profile Books in 2007 after two decades of independence.