This week at Valley Press, #68: 'A tale of two Jamies'

Dear readers,

I’m Jamie – the latest intern to descend upon Valley Press. As you can imagine, having the same name as the ‘boss’ causes some confusion in the office, so you can know me as ‘Other Jamie’, or ‘Jamie 2’.

This is my latest publishing adventure, following on from another internship with Penguin last month. It’s safe to say that being able to go to a picturesque beach at lunchtimes trumps rushing around the manic London tubes in a desperate attempt to make it to work on time, but I am thrilled and grateful to have been given publishing opportunities at opposite ends of the country.

Like interns before me, finding the Valley Press office on my first day was a struggle. After spending half an hour of Tuesday morning hopelessly trying to navigate myself around the sunny streets of Scarborough, I was rescued by the lovely Jo who took me up to the new office.

Since then working for Valley Press has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. Discovering first-hand – and at such close quarters – how a publishing company works is a truly illuminating experience, and even just three days into my placement I have learned so much about the many different facets of an exciting business. Thanks to Jamie and Jo I have already had a go at designing a front cover, tried writing a blurb – and become on very good terms with the staff at the Scarborough post office!

Enough of my own publishing endeavours and onto the important stuff: what’s been going on at Valley Press. Yesterday was the second Literary Lunch Hour, which this week was a celebration of the poetry of Helen Burke and the recent publication of her Collected Poems. Unfortunately, the poet herself was unable to attend the event and so poems were read by our own Jamie McGarry, as well as Valley Press poets Jo Reed, Norah Hanson, VP publicist Suzannah Evans, and a wonderfully dramatic reading from Felix Hodcroft. You can watch the video of this event here.

All of this hustle and bustle with staff and poets meant the Valley Press office was busy all day, at one point turning into some sort of human version of Noah’s Ark with two Jamies, two Jos and two Suzannahs. Next week, however, is set to be even busier as the poets of the Yorkshire Anthology are coming to read their own poems from the book, which will be hosted by co-editor Oz Hardwick. What better way to spend a lunchtime?

Earlier in the week, one of our authors Nora Chassler interviewed Paul Auster at the Edinburgh International Festival in front of an estimated 1200 people! Delivered in the edgy and enigmatic style her own books are known for, Nora and Paul discuss Auster’s latest book, 4321, an 800 page existential epic which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize! Phew, heavy stuff. You can find the whole interview here (it seems we have more videos than books to show you at the moment!)

One final piece of news: this Sunday, 20th August, Daniela Nunnari will be reading her poetry throughout the day at the Ryedale Book Festival – a tree-based literary event at the Yorkshire Arboretum in York. As well as reading from her book Red Tree, she will be running a lunchtime workshop. Details of the event are available here, so why not head down to what is sure to be a day filled with tree-themed fun?

As for me, I have to go now on another trip to visit my friends at the post office. All being well, I will be back again next Friday.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Jamie Firby,
Valley Press Intern

This week at Valley Press, #36: 'Heroes and villains'

Dear readers,

We held another great launch for Take This One to Bed this week, on Friday at the marvellous Friargate Theatre in York. I'm opening with this because, during the course of the evening, a dozen people I didn't previously know told me they love these newsletters – apparently they read them 'religiously', and one person said 'it's the only group email I get that's actually worth opening'. I was so touched, as I always am when someone writes back and says they enjoy my weekly ramblings. In just thirty-six editions, these have gone from being a rather dubious experiment to pretty much the beating heart of Valley Press. Here's to the next thirty-six!

A successful night was just what I needed to take away the sting of there being still no hardbacks to show at the event – that's the special edition of Antony's book with the golden fish on the front, if you've not been keeping up. Rather like the recent political news, printing these hardbacks has been a saga where I continually think 'this is bad, but at least it can't get any worse'; only to be hit with some new jaw-dropping development.

I don't want to whinge, of course, but those of you who pre-ordered the hardbacks do deserve some kind of explanation. The concise version of the story is as follows: about eight weeks ago, as none of my usual printers were quite suited to doing 100 luxury hardbacks, I thought I'd try someone new – a specialist Yorkshire-based company (I'm not going to name them just yet) who were up for the job and offered a reasonable price. As I write this, long after the deadline I gave for delivery, I am down several hundred pounds without a single copy to show for it. Delays are one thing, but there's been no explanation, and they've teased me by constantly suggesting the books are about to arrive – you may remember last week, they were 'just waiting for the glue to dry'.

'As least we still have the paperbacks!' George points out, helpfully. I'll keep you updated.

In brighter news, I've finished production on one of the year's remaining books, Guests of Time – an anthology that emerged from a three-poet residency at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. You may be wondering how this Oxford-based project came to be published in Yorkshire; I think it's mainly thanks to one of the three poets, our very own Kelley Swain, putting in a good word on our behalf. Or, could be a sign of the publishing industry moving ever-more northwards...

This is something totally new for us: a high-end, full-colour hardback, featuring eighteen outstanding photos of the museum and its exhibits, along with plenty of poems old and new (some of them with extraordinary layouts). I'm looking forward to sharing some content with you in the next few weeks, but for now you can see a tiny preview here. This is the most expensive Valley Press book ever, priced at £24.99 – but to make that a little more manageable, anyone who pre-orders the book this week and uses the voucher code OXFORD can have £5 off. Don't say I don't treat you right!

A couple more things to mention: Michael Stewart, author of the fantastic short-story collection Mr Jolly, was on BBC1's Countryfile today talking about the Brontës (in the house where four of them were born), with regard to a trail of commemorative stones he is organising. Catch it on iPlayer here, ten-ish minutes in, if you're interested. Elsewhere, Felix Hodcroft has written an article titled 'Seven Things You Need to Know About Poetry'; well worth a look, you'll definitely learn something (I did).

To finish on a note of justice being done – Antony mentioned the offending hardback printer during the York event, and they got an actual, lengthy 'booooo!' from the audience. I guess we are heading into pantomime season!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #34: 'Mind the gap'

Dear readers,

Felix and Sue's 'Hull to Scarborough Line' has been going for six years now, and they treated both ends of the line to performances of their new show Mind the Gap this week. If you've not seen H2SL, it's hard to describe exactly what it is: not a play, not a 'reading', but a live event that falls somewhere in between the two. Absolutely brilliant, of course, without fail – there's a reason they pack rooms with 50+ people at a time for a 'literary event' (see header image).

I was able to capture the first seven minutes of tonight's show in video form, and put it on YouTube here; sorry it's not better-filmed, I always forget my camera and end up using the phone! The Hull event had a two-man technical team supplying sound effects and bona-fide station announcements; in Scarborough, we do things a little more modestly, replacing the technical team with a man in a hat (the unmistakable David Lewis). I hope you like it anyway, and remember you can pick up Sue's new book here if you want some great short stories.

I don't have too much else to tell you this week, but I can report I've found plenty of female readers for my submissions 'reading group' – so could really use a couple of men, if any are out there! To recap: I'm needing volunteers to spend a day in Scarborough (now narrowed to the 16th or 17th December) briefly looking at the submissions we've received this year, so I know which potential books real readers might be interested in. People who've done it before have really seemed to enjoy the experience, and I can promise you biscuits and a few free books! If you're interested, reply to this newsletter and let me know. (More ladies are welcome too, the more the merrier!)

Leeds residents have a chance to see Antony Dunn at Yorkshire Dance this Friday, the 11th (St Peter’s Buildings, St Peter’s Square, LS9 8AH); no tickets, you can just turn up at 7pm and enjoy a fantastic reading and some chat. I'm hoping to have the hardbacks by then ... if history's slowest printer finally puts ink on paper (that's a story for another time).

John Wedgwood Clarke's TV programme about the literary history of the Yorkshire Coast is on BBC4 next Sunday (13th Nov), 7.30pm – not last week, as I mistakenly said in the previous newsletter. Definitely worth a watch.

Finally, earlier in the week, I was sorting some old boxes of books and came across this:

I remember writing that when I moved into the Woodend office in 2013, when I had different interns in every fortnight (an exhausting time!) They would inevitably stumble upon the box in the course of their duties, and it turned into a fascinating social experiment ... some laughed it off, some were genuinely concerned and made a point of sitting away from it.

What was in it? We'll never know; I can't remember, and I can't afford to take the risk of opening it ... I've got a wife, a mother, all kinds of in-laws, several bartenders and a six-week-old depending on me! Theories on a postcard, please.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #31: 'Raw Material'

Dear readers,

I want to begin this newsletter by taking you into the near future; to the start of November in fact. With the eyes of the world watching, events will take place (for the first time since 2012) that could decide the path of the free world for decades to come...

I'm talking, of course, about the release of another Valley Press book, with accompanying book launches (what did you think I meant?) After four years, legendary Hull-based writer Sue Wilsea is back with a new collection of her darkly witty short stories, titled Raw Material. If you've read her work before, there's no need for me to sell it to you; one reviewer said her last collection Staying Afloat was 'probably the best collection of short stories I have ever read by a living author' (though Sue wouldn't let me put that on the cover of the new book!)

I can't sugar-coat things theme-wise: there are a lot of stories about death in this book, and the others are mainly concerned with difficult relationships (in some cases, both); but despite that you will laugh, a lot, and your heart will ache at times when Sue points out a tiny detail (like the changing appearance of someone's hands over time). I don't know anyone else who can tell so much story in such few words.

One story, this one about difficult relationships after a death (for a change), is up on our site for you to read now, and you can pre-order the book here. There are two launch events planned, both following a new show by 'The Hull to Scarborough Line' (Sue's literary duo act with Felix Hodcroft) – they are at Kardomah94, in Hull, on November 2nd (main show 7pm, book launch 8pm), then heading to the Scarborough Art Gallery on November 6th (main show 3pm, book launch 4pm). Should be spectacular; I'll hope to see you then.

In other news this week: it's Sunday night, you've tuned your TV to BBC1, and you're settling down to watch a programme about a tousle-haired literary hero from Cornwall. That's right: Valley Press poet John Wedgwood Clarke has finally been given his own TV programme (again, what did you think I meant?) Here's a promotional still, with Dr Clarke looking authoritative yet approachable:

The programme, part of a series titled Books That Made Britain, was shown earlier today, but you can catch it for the next 29 days on the BBC's iPlayer service here. It's brilliant for anyone who wants to brush-up on the literary history of the Yorkshire coast.

Heading inland slightly, Robert Powell (another of our distinguished poets) has been involved in a very interesting project titled 'A Small Box of River'. Elaborating on some of the themes of his VP collection All, he's produced an exhibition and book with artist Jake Attree, which you can see at the Lotte Inch Gallery in York from the 20th October to the 15th November. There are a few events on as part of the exhibition too; you can find details of them on the gallery's newsletter here. After York, it moves to Salts Mill in Saltaire until Christmas, so you've plenty of chances to see it.

That's enough for this week – thanks for reading, as ever, and thanks to everyone who came to our gig in Manchester on Tuesday. Just because I can, here are Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Jo Brandon on their way to the event, about to enjoy an apple:

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press: 'Looking back'

Dear readers,

I had a great time on Tuesday night discussing the history of Valley Press on Chapel FM, with four VP authors (as pictured above by Marcos Avlonitis). If you missed it live, and could do with something to listen to, you can hear or download the programme here – there are some brilliant readings of poems from Some Things Matter, Cinema Stories, A Family Behind Glass, Quick, The Learned Goose and an as-yet-unreleased book by Helen Burke (who was there in spirit).

This is going to be quite a 'retrospective' newsletter, particularly after that hour of 'looking back' on the radio – so you might like to read an article about Reward for Winter first, perhaps the most thoughtful engagement with that book so far. "I would dearly love to see this collection on some poetry prize lists, it deserves to be," says the reviewer. Judges take note!

Now back to the past. Felix Hodcroft's collection Life After Life After Death was first published in May 2010, when I was still a student, then reissued in 2011 in a somewhat tidier edition. It's been reprinted again this week, a few millimetres taller and wider, using all the design skills I've picked up in the last five years. It's looking great; this is a book I've loved re-visiting, and of course (with lots of copies now sitting around in VPHQ) I must encourage you to do so too...

You can buy the book here, and save £3 by entering discount code LALAD at the checkout. I've put a sample poem on the site, 'We Fought', which like much of the book is a perceptive and utterly honest character piece; I'll end this newsletter with another one, on the (only slightly) less harrowing subject of baked potatoes.

If you've been following our work for a while, you'll have read a lot of great poems, which will be handy for my next request. Once upon a time, I planned for the 50th Valley Press book to be an anthology of the preceding 49, but before I could get round to it, we sped on past the 60th and 70th ... now we may hit 100 before the end of the year, and I'd like to use the already-registered 'VP50' title before that happens.

I'm now thinking that VP50 should be a collection of the best (or at least, most popular) poems from all the books that have preceded it; and to decide what those are, I'll need your help. If you have the time, please reply to this email and let me know your favourite poems published by Valley Press – I'll start a list, figure out what order they should go in, and keep you updated on that project as the weeks go by.

See you next week – enjoy the potatoes.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

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Jackets ‘n’ Skins

by Felix Hodcroft

Vinegar-soaked chips were for waltzing her home after ten or twelve pints…
Skewering roasties with her parents’ posh Sunday cutlery…
And tender charlottes drizzled with pepper and oil
for dinner parties on the patio…

But what are baked potatoes for?

His Gran had served them charred crisp,
fluffy inside and golden with butter and love –
and cheese and beans too, if she’d won on the horses.

He finds himself lately, frequently baking potatoes,
late home from the office to a cold, silent house.
Softened up in the microwave
then into the oven and blasted into submission –
but never as tasty as
he recalls or expects,
nor as comforting ate on your own without grandma’s –
or for that matter anyone’s –
eyes dancing eat it all up, it’ll
warm you all the way down!

See, he’d always wanted everything now!
Grabbed stuff, dolloped on loads and
then ate it too fast.
Burnt lips and, afterwards, indigestion.
And an empty plate in an empty house to stare at
all evening long.

Walks a lot, now, for hours and miles, through the rain.
One day, steps through the fog and the anthracite smoke
into a small café with a greasy plasticate menu
with spuds in their skins.
Wouldn’t have chosen it had there been
anything else even remotely to savour.
A long wait, he
wouldn’t have put up with but
where else? What else? And anyway,
why the hell not?
His mind drifting back to the charlottes and roasties and chips,
to how life was before.
His hunger dully stirring.

Then she brought it out to his table, steaming and bubbling and soaked and scented with
butter and salt, cheese and sauce.
She said here, get that down you, then, love and
cheer up, it’s what proves God exists, this –
and wants us to be replete
if we can’t be happy!

And,
d’you know what?
She was right.
Even him
and right down to the very last mouthful.
Could have eaten another.
But knew how important it was that he didn’t.
At any rate, not today.
He had the whole of the rest of his life
to work up an appetite
again.

Summer update from Valley Press

Dear readers,

We've had our fair share of joy and sadness at Valley Press since the last newsletter. I'll attempt to bring you up to date below - starting with our latest book, which needs to be put in some historical context...

When I met Nigel Gerrans in 2009, he had been writing poetry for 70 years, and I had just taken my first tentative steps into publishing - bringing out two books by myself with the words 'Valley Press' on them (to add a hint of professionalism). It was whilst talking to Nigel that I realised publishing other people might be an interesting and rewarding pursuit. Later that year I published his collection Tenebrae, and a couple of weeks ago I was delighted to re-publish those poems, with many others, in a new volume - It Is I Who Speak: Selected Poems.

Edited by the poet's long-time friend and collaborator Felix Hodcroft, this new publication collects the very best of Nigel's work across the decades; including some poems never seen anywhere else before, dug out of the archive and pieced together from various drafts and typescripts. It's been a real labour of love for all involved; a volume which we hope will be read and enjoyed for decades to come. Find out more and read a sample here.

Onto other news now, and there was a flurry of excitement at VP HQ last weekend, when our March novel Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space was recommended by William Boyd as a 'summer read' for 2015 in The Guardian. In case you can't quite make it out from the image, he said the following:

“Nora Chassler’s extraordinary Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space breaks all moulds. Set in 1980s New York, it is a triumphant vindication of the edgy, eccentric demotic as a compelling narrative voice.”

Not bad eh? Thanks to VP poet Mike Di Placido for supplying me with a copy of the paper, running home to get it after encountering me in the Post Office queue - whilst simultaneously purchasing and cooking some garlic bread. (I expect that's how Bloomsbury's press department handled this item too.)

The next thing I should mention is the reading group I organised via the last newsletter, which turned out to be a great idea; very useful indeed. The volunteers seemed to enjoy it - a little too much, even, as they were very nearly locked in Woodend overnight! I'll run another one at the end of the year, and allow a full day for the group to work through the envelopes and make its recommendations. Unless everyone pictured above wants to come back again (there are only five seats!) I'll need some new volunteers, so keep an eye out for that.

So, you may ask, what does this mean re: submissions? As of 6:57pm last night, I have settled the Valley Press publishing schedule for spring 2016 (in pencil - but a thick, black pencil that is hard to rub out). What this means is, if you submitted during our window that ended in June, and I haven't expressly emailed you by now saying you're in, you didn't make it.

I still plan to write to all the submitters individually, but as that's going to take several weeks, I thought a general announcement here would be helpful and not considered too rude. Huge thanks to everyone who sent their work in, it was by far the strongest six months of submissions we've ever received - absolutely top notch. I've been turning down bona fide TV stars, writers of bestsellers, people whose last four books were published by Random House ... it's beyond belief, really.

All of the above made me stop and think what a long way Valley Press has come, since the humblest of origins in 2008; and how it couldn't have happened without all the people who have helped out along the way. My week became a lot more poignant yesterday when I heard that Jenny Drewery - a lynch-pin of the Scarborough cultural scene, and the best proofreader ever to pick up a red pen - had passed away. Jenny worked frequently with Valley Press; if you've read pretty much anything we published between 2012 and 2014 you will have benefited from Jenny's invisible and meticulous work. She was also a wonderfully warm and encouraging personality, and will be much missed. Her friends and family have set up a page here where people can donate in her memory; I'd be delighted if any newsletter readers wanted to contribute.

There are just a couple more things I must mention in this newsletter (ridiculously long as it has already become): you have until 3pm on Wednesday 22nd July to listen to the radio version of Humfrey Coningsby on BBC iPlayer, which you can do here - well worth 45 minutes of anyone's time. Also, for the first time in four years I am doing a 'solo gig', in Covent Garden on Monday 20th July (this Monday!); all details available via The Emma Press. (N.B. I'm also reading at the event listed on Tuesday, and would love it if any VP fans dropped in.)

I think that's everything for now - thanks for reading, as ever, and look out for more news very soon.

All the best,
Jamie McGarry (VP Publisher)

A new book and a priceless one, from Valley Press

Dear readers,

It's the first newsletter of 2015, and though the year may have changed, our mission at Valley Press remains the same: to bring you the best new literature we can find, in as nice a package as we can possibly manage. With this in mind, I'll kick things off by introducing you to our latest book, which is simply titled All.

All is the second collection of poetry from Canadian-born, Yorkshire-based poet Robert Powell. He started working on the poems that make up All in early 2008, and handed them to me around this time last year - so this book was six years in the making, seven if you include the last twelve months of editing and designing.

And it shows; every sentence, every word in this book seems to me to be in exactly the right place. It's a phenomenally good read, so I suggest you get stuck in straight away. You can read the first twenty-three pages here (scroll down to find the preview widget), and one of my other favourites on the author's page.

Once you've taken all that on board, you can of course buy a copy, or you may prefer to come to one of the launch events during March. The details are as follows:
 

Wednesday 4th March, 7pm
Waterstones, York
Coney Street, York, YO1 9QL, 01904 620784

Sunday 29th March, 2pm
The Orangery, Wakefield
Back Lane, Wakefield, WF1 2TG, 01924 215550

The York launch, which I shall be proudly attending, will also feature our own James Nash and the non-Valley (but still highly talented) poet Carole Bromley. Wakefield guests are to be confirmed, but will be excellent I'm sure.

In other news: congratulations are due to the Pocketful of Windows contributors and their enterprising editor Mr. Hodcroft - the 500th copy was sold earlier this week.  No small achievement!

A particular sales outlet asked me to produce some copies of the book without its '£3.99' badge, which I duly did, and as a side-effect I ended up with one badge-less copy to sell myself (pictured on the right). Regular readers will know I love an experiment, so I've put it up for auction on eBay, in order to (as I was recently advised by a publishing CEO) 'let the market decide the value'. I look forward to seeing the outcome when bidding finishes on the 21st February.  

I'll close with some more congratulations, as our constant allies The Emma Press have won their first poetry prize - Stephen Sexton's Oils was selected as the Poetry Book Society’s 'Winter Pamphlet Choice'. I'm looking forward to reading it soon, and so should you. (After you've read All of course ... maybe you could read them at the same time?) 

That's all for now, as I'm on the verge of sending our two March titles to the printers, and after that I need to come up with some new superlatives to accurately describe those incredible literary achievements to you in the March newsletter. Wish me luck!

All the best,
Jamie McGarry
(Valley Press Editor)

The Valley Press Newsletter - December 2014

Note: to keep my half of this blog alive, I've decided to post my occasional Valley Press email newsletters on here too. Enjoy!  - J.M.

-----------

Dear readers,

As another year of flat-out publishing comes to a close, I look back on 2014 with a modest amount of pride, and a lot of hope for the future - 2015 is going to be huge. But we're not there yet. I've managed to publish two more 2014 books since the November newsletter, and I feel strangely compelled to tell you about them...

A Pocketful of Windows is an anthology of powerful, original and accessible poetry from writers in North and East Yorkshire; selected, edited and arranged by VP author Felix Hodcroft. The RRP is just £3.99, for which you get 66 poems by 36 poets; aged between 16 and 92, including familiar names and first-timers.

Though formal reviews have yet to arrive, we've had some incredibly positive reactions at the various launch events for Pocketful; and more than 300 copies have been sold so far. You'll be hearing a lot more about this book in future I'm sure - but until then, you can read a sample and more information here. 

Also out this month: a new title from our Ink Lines imprint, selected and edited by the team at Dead Ink books (particularly, on this occasion, David Tait) and brought into the physical world by Valley Press. It's a marvellous pamphlet of poems by Richard O'Brien entitled A Bloody Mess; newsletter readers can see an exclusive sample here.

If you're not a regular visitor to our esteemed homepage, you may not know that there is a special offer on the go: any two books for £12, with free postage. This won't be around for long, so head over there and make the most of it. (Top tip: when ordering, look out for a prompt that says 'Click 'add' and name your two books now' - that's the important bit.) This is the first ever 'multibuy' offer on the VP site: if it's successful there may be more in future, so there's an incentive if you needed one!

In previous years I have kept my head down and worked through the festive season - pausing only for a sip of champagne on New Year's Eve - but this year I am attempting to genuinely take some time off. This is not simply so I can put my feet up and forget about dispersing quality literature for a while; I am getting married on the 22nd December, and it will be nice to actually see the new Mrs McGarry face-to-face, rather than from behind a big pile of book proofs (which is the usual scenario).

Valley Press will close down at 5pm on Wednesday 17th December, and re-open on Tuesday 6th January; but do feel free to email and order books during that time, I'll catch up when I get back. As for everyone who is waiting eagerly for news and developments on future projects ... just hang in there folks.

All the best,
Jamie McGarry
(Valley Press Editor)