Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses granted Arts Council funding

The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses has been granted Arts Council funding for the next two years. 

Arts Council England granted just over £34,000 in funding and the University of East Anglia, through the UEA Publishing Project, will also continue to support the prize, guaranteeing its future into 2021. 

The prize supports small, independent presses who publish the most interesting and innovative literature being written today.

Part of the Arts Council funding is for a series of events celebrating small presses, taking place across the country. The event series – The Small Press Convocations – is in partnership with Inpress Distribution, and will focus on the publishing ecosystems of different regions of the UK and Ireland. 

The first of these events will be held in Leeds on 23rd September, and will feature writers and publishers from Peepal Tree Press, Tilted Axis and Bluemoose Books. Between Autumn 2019 and Spring 2021, further events will take place in Durham, Norwich, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin, Nottingham and London, with more locations to be announced. 

The 2020 prize is open for submissions until 30th November. The judges this year are Roland Gulliver, associate director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Sophie Lewis, editor and translator, and Sam Mills, novelist and publisher. They will be joined by a representative of the UEA student body at the longlist stage. 

The longlist will be announced in January 2020, shortlist at UEA in February 2020 and winner will be announced in London in March 2020. 

Galley Beggar Press and CB Editions both won the 2019 Republic of Consciousness Prize - Murmur by Will Eaves (CB Editions) and Lucia by Alex Pheby (Galley Beggar Press) won £3,500 each, with £2,500 going to the press and £1,000 to the author.