A publisher with a hunger for the unheard
By Heidi Hinda Chadwick
An enchanting tale where Manchester’s familiar streets tilt toward the uncanny. The Story of the Deer Woman is a strange, sensual and fiercely imaginative novella from writer and performer Heidi Hinda Chadwick.
After a chance encounter inside the Manchester Museum, an ordinary woman finds her life beginning to unravel in wild and impossible ways. Reality blurs. Desire stirs. Antlers bloom. What follows is a journey into metamorphosis, myth and the hidden animal inside us all.
Chadwick’s writing is vivid, lyrical and daring. Influenced by the unsettling brilliance of Mona Awad, Bora Chung, Sayaka Murata and Ottessa Moshfegh, she creates a world where the macabre meets the human, where power and eros live at the edges, and where the strange becomes a kind of truth.
This is the first adult fiction title from Lemon Jelly Press, chosen for its bold heart and its commitment to amplifying unheard and marginalised voices. A story that is unsettling, beautiful and unforgettable.
By Jason Watts
A quiet ritual. A whispered tradition. A story carried on the hum of wings.
Pre-order Offer
Available now for £4.00 (RRP £5.00) until 1st April.
Telling the Bees is a beautifully crafted A6 micro booklet that draws on the old folklore practice of speaking to bees in times of loss, love, and change. In this delicate and evocative piece, Jason Watts explores memory, grief, and the fragile threads that connect us to the natural world.
Perfect for slipping into a pocket, gifting to a friend, or returning to in quiet moments, this micro booklet offers a brief but resonant reading experience—one that lingers long after the final page.
Printed in a compact A6 format, this edition is part of our micro booklet series: small in size, but rich in atmosphere and meaning.
By Kathryn Rossati
Roar/Raw is a powerful, deeply honest collection of poetry exploring life as an AuDHD woman navigating a world that rarely makes room for difference.
Written with a voice that is sharp, sensory-rich, and unapologetically real, Kathryn Rossati captures the intensity of overstimulation, the exhaustion of social interaction, the weight of memory, and the complexity of identity. These poems do not soften their edges. They tell the truth.
From the quiet vulnerability of A Letter About Being Neurodivergent to My Childhood Self to the raw emotional surge of Roar, this collection moves between overwhelm and joy, shutdown and self-expression, anger and acceptance. Poems such as After a Meeting, Hum, Meltdown, and Flap Happy offer vivid glimpses into the lived experience of neurodivergence, written with clarity, care, and fierce authenticity.
Kathryn Rossati is a poet and novelist based on the Isle of Wight. As an AuDHD writer living with chronic pain, her work is shaped by lived experience and a deep commitment to honesty on the page. Her writing invites readers not only to understand but to feel.
By Rachel Tribble
A moment of stillness. A breath of moonlight. A story to be read slowly.
Moon is a lyrical, meditative short story by multidisciplinary artist and writer Rachel Tribble. Winner of our monthly Flash Fiction competition, this powerful micro booklet invites you into a quiet, otherworldly moment, where the sky glows, the sea listens, and time seems to hold its breath.
Designed as a mindfulness reading experience, Moon is best read a line at a time, a slow breath per page. It’s a small book with big presence, perfect for pockets, calm corners, and anyone in need of a gentle pause.
Who We Are
Lemon Jelly Press is an independent publisher based on the Isle of Wight, dedicated to bold, original writing that challenges, surprises, and stays with you.
We publish work that is strange, offbeat, and quietly powerful, championing underrepresented voices and creating space for writers who may have faced barriers to traditional publishing. From children’s books that support emotional literacy to fiction that unsettles and transforms, everything we produce is shaped with care, intention, and a commitment to meaningful storytelling.
Alongside our publishing work, we are deeply rooted in our local community. We run a range of creative writing workshops and groups across the Isle of Wight, including a women’s writing group, children’s sessions delivered through Artswork, and targeted workshops supporting children’s mental wellbeing. Our heritage projects explore place, identity, and lived experience, bringing together voices from across the Island.
Together, this work forms a wider mission: to make writing accessible, empowering, and relevant to the communities we serve. You can read more about our impact and activity in our Activity Report.
Every book we publish is chosen with purpose. We champion underrepresented voices and writers who have faced barriers to traditional publishing. Our aim is simple: to create space for stories that might otherwise go unheard, and bring them to the forefront with clarity and care.
Our micro-book collection proves that small can be powerful. Each beautifully crafted booklet delivers a complete, memorable reading experience in just a few pages. Perfect for collecting, gifting, and returning to again and again.
Our children’s books are thoughtfully created to support emotional literacy from an early age. Through gentle storytelling and relatable characters, each book helps children recognise, understand, and express their feelings with confidence and care.
Our first fiction title, The Story of the Deer Woman by Heidi Hinda Chadwick, marks the beginning of our adult list with quiet confidence and striking originality.
Set against the backdrop of modern-day Manchester, the novella weaves folklore with contemporary life, exploring desire, transformation, and the blurred edges of identity. It is a story that lingers. Unsettling, tender, and deeply atmospheric, it speaks to readers drawn to the strange and the beautiful, and to narratives that refuse to behave.
This is fiction that invites you closer, then shifts beneath your feet.
Roar/Raw, our first poetry collection, is a powerful and deeply honest body of work exploring life as a neurodivergent and disabled woman in a world that often demands quiet. With unflinching vulnerability and sharp lyrical insight, Kathryn Rossati brings to the page the intensity of overstimulation, the grief of not fitting in, and the joy of self-recognition.
From the tenderness of A Letter to My Childhood Self to the raw sensory overload of Rattled Bones, these poems speak directly to the experience of living with AuDHD, offering both comfort and clarity to readers who see themselves reflected here, and a window into that world for those who don’t.
Be part of our growing community of readers and writers. On Substack, we share behind-the-scenes insights, monthly masterclasses, practical templates, and early access to submissions and opportunities. It’s a space for those who care about craft, creativity, and stories that stand apart.
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