“It’s a weird feeling, working on something that shouldn’t need to exist.” Introducing JKP Safety Covers
Written by Sarah Thomson, Assistant Editor at Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
JKP Safety Covers will be available from 21st July 2026.
It’s a weird feeling, working on something that shouldn’t need to exist.
Everyone should be able to read freely, without worrying about the repercussions. Reading about gender doesn’t make a person trans (as if that’s a bad thing), it helps them express who they are. A book about asexuality won’t change who you’re attracted to, but it might show someone that they’re not ‘broken’ or ‘missing something’. JKP’s books are all about connection with ourselves and others, and part of that connection is understanding the complicated realities that some of our readers are facing. Legislation and social attitudes around the world have been sliding backwards in recent years, making it increasingly difficult and dangerous to be openly different.
The idea behind the safety covers project had been debated behind the scenes for a while – our covers are designed to grab readers’ attention and tell them what the book is about, but that also means that everyone else knows what you’re reading. This is great for many of our readers, but could put others in awkward or even dangerous situations.
This was a common conversation with readers, who talked about wanting to know more about our topics but needing a more discreet way to read about them. Sometimes this was a young trans person in an unsupportive household, sometimes it was someone who thought they might be autistic but didn’t want to announce it to everyone around them with a book cover.
We kept coming back to the same question: how could we stand firm with loud, joyous publishing in defiance of bigotry, while also remaining accessible to vulnerable readers who, arguably, need our books the most?
The practicalities of publishing meant that we couldn’t do mini print runs with different covers, or offer on-demand ‘discreet’ versions of books. What we could do, however, was print a separate dustcover that could be slipped onto an existing book so only the reader knows what it’s about. This needed to be gender-neutral, with no clues to what the content might be, but not so bland that it circled round to being suspicious. We also felt it was important that the art came from someone in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, to make sure the energy and intention of the project was coming from the right place and going in the right direction.
To get a bit personal, I grew up in early 2000s Yorkshire, in a time and place where “lol gayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” was seen as the height of humour. I have a core memory of a (deliberately nameless and now much improved) family member saying a gameshow contestant was “vile” for being openly gay on TV. It’s hardly surprising that most of the queer people in my school year didn’t come out until uni. Personally, in my infinite teenage wisdom, I decided that I could just ignore the side of my brain that fancied girls (and everyone else, when I found out that various grey areas between genders were also an option), and just stick with the side that was interested in boys. When I finally gave up on that I adopted the strategy of being “passively out” – I’d let it be bleeding obvious to anyone with half an interest, but if nothing was actively said out loud then there wouldn’t need to be drama. I was lucky in that I wouldn’t have been unsafe, but there would have been Disapproval and Uncomfortable Conversations. Incurable people-pleaser? I hardly know ‘er!
The point is that we don’t know how many people are tying themselves into internal knots and making bargains with their queer selves right now. “It’s fine, if both Donna and Dylan on Neighbours are breathtakingly beautiful, I’ll just ignore the option that causes problems”. “I’m being weird, I should just act normal and nobody needs to know”. “My prom dress makes me want to chew my own arm off like a mouse in a glue trap, but it was expensive so I’ll cope”.
How many people would benefit from being able to dip their toes into books about LGBTQIA+ identities, without announcing their thoughts to everyone around them?
We know that reading about others’ life experiences helps people to feel seen and supported, but we can’t ignore the barriers to actually reading those stories. Those might be external, like oppressive legal policies, unsafe family members, or strangers in socially restrictive areas, or they might be internal, like uncertainty or a simple desire for privacy. We should all be able to decide what information we share with others, and that includes being able to say “no”, “not here”, “not with you”, or “not yet”.
Nobody should need to hide who they are or what they’re reading. But that isn’t everyone’s reality, and we’re trying to keep the door open for everyone we possibly can.
JKP Safety Covers will be available to purchase from 21st July 2026.