Danskin and Parry to launch Scottish literary magazine

Golden Hare Books manager Julie Danskin and writer Heather Parry have teamed up to launch a £10,000 Kickstarter campaign for their new Scottish literary magazine.

Extra Teeth, set to launch in November, aims to publish a series of short stories and essays from Scotland and beyond twice a year.  Each issue will have a guest illustrator to make every copy completely unique while designer Esther Clayton has been working on the brand.

Parry and Danskin are now hoping to raise the £10,000 needed to cover the magazine’s first two issues. They said: “Our aim is to surprise and delight, to visually present brilliant writing in a way that enhances the reading experience; to create the magazine we’ve always wanted to read, with pieces that stay with you long after you’ve finished your coffee and closed the last page.”

Danskin, whose Edinburgh store won Independent Bookshop of the Year at the British Book Awards in May, explained: “We’re really careful about what we choose to put into the bookshop and I think that’s what makes it character. People come in and say ‘I just want to buy everything’. I like the idea of doing the same sort of thing with a magazine.”

She and Parry, a Glasgow-based writer and editor with 15 years of publishing industry experience, both felt there was a gap in the market for a magazine along the same lines as Ireland’s Stinging Fly and The Moth.

“We just want to do something a little bit different, a little bit experimental,” Danskin said. “We’re really excited.”

Danskin said the project quickly took on a “mind of its own” and the first issue already has Maria Stoian on board as its first illustrator along with a host of writers including Janice Galloway, Kirsty Logan, Martin MacInnes and Dave Coates, who has contributed an essay on Super Mario games and poetry.

She said: “Heather and I compiled our dream authors list. We can’t believe we’ve got everyone we asked for.”

When released the magazine will be sold for £12 but those backing the Kickstarter can pick one up for £10. Other treats are available for people who want to contribute more while the pair are also looking for support from retailers who would like to pre-order copies wholesale.

Danskin said the Kickstarter would establish the life of the mag and would set the pair up for the first issue and a half. All writers will be paid £100, and the rate could be increased if the magazine proves to be a success.

The magazine will be launched with a party at Lighthouse Books in November and there will be a callout for submissions to issue two later this year.