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

News, books and opportunities from Valley Press

Dear readers,

It's been a couple of months since I was last in touch - how have you been? Right, now the small talk is out of the way, I'll get down to business ... I have a lot to tell you, but I'll start (as ever) with our latest publications.

Both of the books pictured here were released on the 24th April; so I'll introduce them in alphabetical order. First we have Jonathan Davidson's Humfrey Coningsby, a short collection of "poems, complaints, explanations and demands for satisfaction" inspired by the (continuing) life of a 16th century Shropshire Lord.

Twitter has been getting quite excited about Humfrey, with the words "brilliant", "wonderful" and "lovely" being used to describe it in one 24-hour period. Our own Kelley Swain nicely summarised it as: "Sir Harry Flashman meets Sir Geoffrey Hill. Superb, a must-read!" And your Coningsby experience doesn't have to end with the book; Jonathan has also written a radio drama on this subject, currently scheduled for broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 24th June, from 2.15pm. Should be well worth a listen! Check out a sample of the book here to see what the fuss is about.

Then there's Life Class, the second collection by one of our most distinguished VP poets (and noted artist) Jo Reed. Jo designed her own cover for this book, basing it around a portrait of herself by renowned graphic designer Ken Vail, and the interior of the book is just as unique and intriguing. Never trivial, Jo's poetry deals in memory, myth and magic; often combining unvarnished reality with breathtaking flights of imagination. A Scarborough-based event around Life Class is in the works; keep an eye on the book's homepage for news on that, when we have it.

Onto other matters now: near this sentence you should see a picture of the VP/EP stall at the London Book Fair - we had a marvellous time and hope to go back next year. You can read Emma's charming summary of our experience here.
 
I'll be back in London this coming Wednesday (27th), for the official launch of Richard Barnett's Seahouses, which is taking place at Blackwell's Holborn from 6pm. Hope to see you London Valley Press fans there!

I know many newsletter subscribers are anxious to hear about the submissions process, so here we go: our search for great new writing to publish in spring 2016 is about to come to an end. The details are all here, in case you've missed them, and the deadline for us receiving your work is 5pm on Friday May 29th. If you've almost got something together, but can't make that, don't panic! I'll most likely open submissions for autumn 2016 that very same day (with the same requirements), so only rush if you need a decision soon.

I'd actually like to request some help with that decision: I'm looking for fans of literary publishing to meet me in Scarborough one day in June, to read through a selection of submissions and give me some feedback. If you're interested in attending this, reply to this email and let me know; we'll discuss exact dates and times once I have five or six volunteers. If you've submitted something in the last six months, I'm afraid you're not welcome at this meeting - but the rest of you are.

I'd also like a few volunteers to read a forthcoming VP title, due for publication in September - it's prose, non-fiction, on the short side at just 70 pages; I'm looking for general feedback and answers to a few specific questions, which I'll be asking after you've read it. Again, if you're interested in helping out, please reply to this email and let me know. (You won't have to come to Scarborough for this one.)

Finally, I'll end by directing you to a couple of wonderfully detailed and eloquent reviews of our March novel Grandmother Divided by Monkey Equals Outer Space; one from 'Scots Whay Hae' and one by R J Askew. I also loved this short blog about the book by our sales agency's director Sheila Bounford. And very finally (sorry for going on so long!), thanks to Jim Hinks, a remastered version of Dame Judi Dench reading Sue Wilsea's short story 'Paper Flowers' is now online here. Would be a great way to spend 20 minutes of your bank holiday! (In addition to all the minutes you've spent on this newsletter...)

All the best, and thanks for reading,
Jamie McGarry (VP Publisher)