The Literary Platform relaunches with £45k cash injection from ACE

Digital publishing consultancy The Literary Platform has won £44,800 from Arts Council England to relaunch and support its new digital magazine, The Lit, as well as a series of writing and publishing initiatives targeted at underrepresented writers.

The Literary Platform, as it was known, was founded in 2009 by Sophie Rochester, current c.e.o., with Joanna Ellis acting as a Partner in The Literary Platform between 2012 and 2016. Nine years on, Rochester will leave the company and Anna Kiernan, co-director of the MA in Creativity at Exeter University will become publisher.

The organisation will relaunch as The Lit Platform (TLP) later this month but “with a new look and feel but with the same passion for publishing and storytelling in all its forms,” the company said. It is based in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Arts Council England has awarded TLP £44,800 to rebrand and launch a new digital magazine, as well as run a range of initiatives aimed at underrepresented writers. Design agency Venn Creative will lead on the rebrand with Clare Howdle and Helen Gilchrist, founders of creative content studio Stranger Collective co-directing TLP’s new quarterly digital magazine, The Lit.

Rochester said of the developments: “For nearly a decade I had the privilege to explore the crossovers between technology, publishing and storytelling with a stellar list of partners and funders, between 2012 to 2016 with a fantastic business partner, Joanna Ellis. I’m absolutely delighted that Anna and this fantastic team will be continuing the work of TLP and look forward to seeing how The Lit evolves.”

Kiernan added: “I’m thrilled to be taking over from Sophie and incredibly excited to be working with a fantastic new team of creatives and publishers to create content that addresses challenging issues in compelling ways.”

TLP’s newly appointed team and steering committee also features Atlantic Press Books Steve Braund, author and books journalist Cathy Rentzenbrink, Booker-longlisted novelist Wyl Menmuir along with David Devanny, digital publisher and poet, New Internationalist journalist Kelsi Farrington and Exeter University lecturer Dr Abram Foley. Other new additions include Phyllida Bluemel, writer and illustrator, PR director Colin Midson and Vaishnavi Singh, rights and digital strategy at Penguin Random House, India.

Phil Gibby, area director for the South West region at the Arts Council England, said: “We are extremely pleased to support The Lit Platform through our National Lottery project grants programme. The Lit Platform uses technology to engage new audiences in the South West, particularly regional communities, helping to fulfil our mission of great art and culture for everyone.”

TLP previously worked with academic institutions and other organisations on research projects looking at the impact of technology on writers and publishing, as well as conceiving and producing its own projects with funding from Arts Council England including the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and The Writing Platform.