ABOUT
Stories deserve more than a place to exist.
They deserve to be held with care.
Black Ember Press is an independent publishing house creating and stewarding thoughtful, emotionally honest work rooted in humanity and lived experience.
Our growing catalog includes memoir, poetry, guided reflection, and forthcoming works exploring family, identity, resilience, survival, and healing.
We believe in stories that stay with people.
Not because they are loud.
Because they are true.
OUR STORY
Black Ember Press was founded by author Rashida Saunders from a belief that meaningful stories deserve to be told honestly, protected intentionally, and brought into the world with care.
The press began with Permission to Break: A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness, an exploration of grief, motherhood, identity, service, survival, and the cost of always being strong.
What began with one memoir has grown into an independent press publishing work by multiple authors, including Rashida Saunders and poet Doris Drew.
From Permission to Break to Reflections of a Black Woman’s Heart, our publications share a commitment to emotional depth, lived experience, and stories that matter.
OUR CURRENT FOCUS
Black Ember Press is currently focused on stewarding its existing catalog and developing forthcoming titles.
We are not accepting unsolicited manuscripts, publishing clients, or photography clients at this time.
Create meaningful work. Protect the voice behind it. Build something that lasts.
OUR FOUNDER
Rashida Saunders
Rashida Saunders is an author, founder, and public servant whose work explores strength, silence, identity, leadership, survival, and the human experiences that shape us.
She founded Black Ember Press to create a home for meaningful work grounded in honesty, emotional depth, creative ownership, and care.
Her debut memoir, Permission to Break, became the foundation for a broader body of work examining what people carry, what survival can cost, and what becomes possible when we begin telling the truth.
