About Us

We are Affirm Press, a Melbourne-based publishing company committed to publishing books that have a positive impact on the community, which influence by delight rather than being earnest or ‘right-on’. We like our friend’s joke that we could reasonably have justified the publication of Mein Kampf with that philosophy. We like to see ourselves as dynamic do-gooders and hope our list talks for us.

When it comes to fiction, we want to publish new and under-published authors – in any genre – and distinguish ourselves through our editorial commitment. Our motivation is to publish books that, without us, wouldn’t get published. We endeavour to print our books locally, unless it’s just not viable (and actually and historically, even when it’s not viable).

We like uncoated paper, sometimes to our detriment. We’re interested in building relationships, not one-offs. We’ll stretch friendships to get the best results, but never break them.

The Publisher is Martin Hughes who used to ‘work’ for Lonely Planet as a writer, editor and photographer. He’s had various other jobs in media and publishing, including a three-year stint as editor of The Big Issue magazine. He started Affirm Press in 2007 along with his boss, mentor and friend Graeme Wise.

Rebecca Starford is the associate publisher at Affirm Press. She is the former deputy editor of Australian Book Review. Rebecca also writes regularly for the book review pages of The Age and The Weekend Australian.