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The Emma Press secures £28,000 of Arts Council funding
Birmingham-based independent publisher the Emma Press has secured £28,000 of funding from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants to form a readers’ group for local residents.
The "Editorial Readers’ Group" scheme aims to give Birmingham residents the chance to develop their critical reading and editorial skills across six sessions from September 2023 to January 2024. Throughout these sessions, the group will shortlist submissions made to Emma Press and select the next books to be published by the indie publisher in 2024. The Emma Press will opening its call for submissions from 1st August until 8th August 2023, looking for previously unpublished poetry, fiction and non-fiction pamphlets and children’s fiction and poetry. In partnership with The Literary Consultancy, any submission from a low-income writer, based in the Midlands, will also be considered for further free development support.
The sessions will be led by Emma Press staff writer and writer Kate Wakeling with author Malachi McIntosh as guest speaker alongside Staffordshire-based publisher Fawn Press and The Literary Consultancy.
Applications to join the Birmingham Editorial Reading Group will open on 15th August, "seeking keen readers from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences". The scheme is for local people aged 18+.
The funding is also enabling a writing workshop series from writer Nina Mingya Powles and children’s author Keeren Getten.
Emma Dai’an Wright, founder and director of the Emma Press, commented: "I have learned so much from working in publishing for the past 13 years. The industry and profession is frustrating and slow to modernise, but publishing itself is magical and can (should) be a radical act. I believe firmly that publishing should be for everyone, and I am so pleased that Arts Council England is supporting this project and allowing us to start sharing the fun of publishing with people in the Midlands.”
The project will be supported by Writing West Midlands, Hosking Houses Trust and Megaphone Writer and Birmingham venues Sense Touchbase Pears and Balsall Heath Second Saturdays.
