About Margins X
Read differently. Read from the margins.
Margins X is a literary brand celebrating fiction by marginalised authors — the writers whose stories often sit at the edges of the shelf, and whose work most changes how we see the world.
We started with a simple idea: what if a whole reading year was designed around under-represented voices? Not as a token month, or a one-off list, but as a full calendar of discovery. That idea became Reads 365 — one book a day, twelve themed monthly collections, a year of reading that puts the margins at the centre.
Every collection is built around a theme, a mood and a monthly dispatch. Some months lean into heritage and history; others follow form, feeling, or a moment in the world. All of them are stitched together with editorial notes, reading routes and a short letter from us.
We're independent, small, and unhurried. And we build everything, the shelves, the notes, the newsletter, so that finding your next book feels less like an algorithm and more like a conversation.
Our story
Margins X was founded in 2025 from a simple observation: the most powerful stories often come from voices pushed to the margins of mainstream publishing. Brilliant authors from underrepresented communities struggle to find the audiences they deserve, while readers hungry for new perspectives stay stuck in the same book ruts — not for lack of appetite, but for lack of a map.
We started with Reads 365 — our book-a-day celebration of marginalised authors, now has a permanent home: this site. Next up, live events. The mission hasn't moved an inch.
What's in the name
Margins
The edges where marginalised voices have been pushed; the margin notes where the real conversations happen; the beginning of something new.
X
The intersection where people meet; the multiplier effect of community; the unknown place where the magic happens.
How the 365 gets chosen
Reads 365 is curated by Yvonne Nartey — novelist (A Pride of Lions, book one of the Lion Souls Trilogy), brand marketer, and lifelong evangelist for the books that never get the front table.
The 365 is a living shelf: books she has loved, books she's impatient to read next, and books that readers, booksellers and the Margins X community keep pressing into her hands. Some she's read three times. Some are on her own nightstand right now. What every single one has in common: a marginalised author, and a reason to be here.
No committee. No sponsored slots. No algorithm.
365
Books
12
Collections
0
Algorithms
Our values
Centring marginalised voices
We exclusively feature authors from underrepresented communities, and point every purchase toward them.
Curation over algorithms
A person chose every book on this site, and a person wrote every word about it.
Independent spirit
Our buy links go to Bookshop.org where available, supporting independent bookshops.
Community
Reading is better shared. The list grows through recommendations, replies and conversation.
Authors first
Spotlights, new-release features and honest enthusiasm, because visibility is the whole point.
How it works.
- 01
Subscribe (or don't).
A monthly newsletter introduces each collection. Sign up and we'll send the Starter Shelf — 25 essential reads, free.
- 02
Read as much or as little as you like.
The calendar is a menu, not a syllabus. Skim months, dive deep, or follow a single mood tag across the year.
- 03
Tell us what landed.
Anonymous reactions on every book. End-of-month polls per collection. It shapes what comes next.
For publishers & publicists
We run a monthly new-release spotlight for marginalised authors. If you have a book that fits, get in touch.
"Be brave, be curious, be kind."
— Anna James