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: 'Love the Words'

Dear readers,

This week I want to tell you about a special event, both live and on the radio, that's happening on Tuesday night (17th). Not a huge amount of notice, I know, but things have been rather hectic round here! We've now survived our 'five books, five weeks' mission, which concluded with the life-affirming launch of Peter Spafford's Quick, as pictured above (though I had to crop out Peter's attempt at a 'smug author' grin. He's not really smug, but he should be – the book, and his readings, were first-class.)

I should apologise to the authors of the 70 unreplied-to emails currently in my inbox, which have accumulated over this five-week period – I will get to them soon! This week is looking pretty full too, and Rosa's gone on a well-deserved holiday ... but I'll set aside a day for email clearing before the end of the month. (Has it come to this?)

Anyway, regarding Tuesday; the good people of Chapel FM (aka ELFM) have organised an event celebrating Valley Press and our authors. It's happening at their re-purposed chapel in Seacroft, Leeds (map here), from 7.30 to 8.45, and everyone is very welcome – this is one of our 'outreach events', so I'll have those elusive submissions forms in hand, giving them out to all comers. They are broadcasting it live through their website, too, so anyone who fancies hearing me, James Nash, Jo Brandon, Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Peter Spafford discuss publishing matters (and read poems) will get their chance.

The flyer they produced for this event was so lovely, I'm going to include it below:

I'll share a 'listen again' link for that broadcast next week. I have one for you today, too – Kelley Swain has been gracing the airwaves for another in-depth chat about The Naked Muse, this time with Jo Good on BBC Radio London. You can listen here, from 8 minutes 30 in if you want to hear a great soul song first, or skip to 12 minutes to go straight to Kelley's appearance. It's another fascinating discussion.

Also worth a look this week: John Foggin's extended rumination on Reward for Winter, with loads of sample poems – ideal if you haven't quite made up your mind about that particular literary gem. You know what: have 20% off Reward for Winter until next Sunday, you deserve it! Use code RFW20 at the checkout.

That's all for now. Next week: I'll highlight a true Valley Press classic, from all the way back in 2010, which is currently being re-printed – and we'll engage in a bit of interesting democracy regarding a summer title. Watch this space!

All best,
Jamie

Two new books from Valley Press

Dear readers,

After all the excitement last month, October has been almost peaceful – but don't think I've been enjoying my good fortune on a beach somewhere, sipping cocktails! I've been preparing for a big November, which should see the publication of four new titles from Valley Press. I'll just tell you about the first two today, though, as they have launch events imminent (and you can have too much of a good thing).

We'll start with Ex Libris, which has the honour of being the first Valley Press hardback, and the first time the poetry of David Hughes has been collected in print. David taught English at St Peter's School in York for almost thirty years, whilst quietly getting on with some excellent writing – he had finished around two-hundred poems at the time of his death, in 2011. This collection has been meticulously edited by David's friend, fellow poet and former St Peter's student Antony Dunn, who should be a familiar name to many of you (from the Bridlington Poetry Festival, perhaps?)

It really is a fantastic book, but don't take my word for it – Brian Patten perfectly described Ex Libris as: 'A wonderful collection by a poet whose work has been saved from oblivion by an act of love'. Helen Mort has said: 'If you only discover one writer this year, make it David Hughes' ... so consider yourselves told!

You can read a sample of Ex Libris on the book's homepage, if the above has sufficiently piqued your interest. The launch event for this book will take place on Thursday November 5th, at St Peter's School, York; there'll be a fireworks display at 6pm, with drinks, food and Antony Dunn reading from the book at 6.30pm. This is a free event, but you are asked to RSVP to s.jenks@stpetersyork.org.uk if you'd like to attend. Here's a map to the venue. Hope to see some of you there!

The second November book will be Cinema Stories, by long-time Valley Press poets James Nash and Matthew Hedley Stoppard (who I'm sure need no introductions). For this volume, James and Matthew toured and researched the cinemas of Leeds – some abandoned, some re-purposed (there were seventy at one point) and some still proudly operational. They then wrote a book of poetry on that subject, and about the mysterious shared (yet personal) experience that is cinema-going ... the results are fascinating. As ever, you can read a sample on the book's homepage.

Cinema Stories is to be launched at the Leeds International Film Festival (no less!) on Tuesday 10th November, in an event at Leeds Town Hall from 7pm. The two authors will be reading from the book, and there'll be a few other treats as well (think, multimedia extravaganza). This time you will have to buy a ticket to attend; you can do so through the festival's website here.

That's all for today, I'll be in touch in a couple of weeks with news of the other two November titles – there's one more poetry collection, and one big chunky historical fiction novel, both by established Valley Press authors. Watch this space!

All the best,
Jamie McGarry (VP Publisher)

Valley Press Friday Digest, #11

Last week I broke the news of Kate Fox and Alfie Crow's forthcoming 'Grand Depart' novella, and in the days since then it has been both written and published - you can pick it up on Kindle here for just 99p. It comes highly recommended! Here are a couple of quotes from the authors about the experience of writing Tour de Force:

Alfie Crow: 'My mind is absolutely exploding after such an intensive week of writing, but I love the challenge of writing something that responds to such a big event. I’ve always been quite a quick writer anyway, but there’s nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.'

Kate Fox: 'I originally trained as a radio journalist and really enjoy responding rapidly to things as they happen. Plotting a comic crime novel is still a very new thing for me and I quite often have no idea of where we’re going to end up, but somehow Alfie creates all these intricate plot twists. I enjoy being able to put things I’ve actually witnessed into a piece of writing people can enjoy straight away; and the Tour de France has been such an amazing success for Yorkshire it feels like we’re celebrating it, in our own strange way!'

And today I can announce some more news: they're planning a third novella in the 'Makin News' series (making it a comic-crime trilogy), to be released on the 1st October. Here's the blurb, with everything they've told me about it so far: 'Jess and Reverend Ray find themselves accidentally influencing the Scottish Independence vote when they discover some important relics during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.' The title is The Forth Estate. And you want even more news? We've agreed to produce a paperback edition of the entire trilogy in time for Christmas! Watch this space for more info.

The main bit of business today is Miles Salter's examination of who might win the 'Next Generation Poets 2014' award - but before that, some Twitter highlights from the week.

Analogy for topical novella me, @valleypress & @alfiecrowwriter made in a week-like building a house in a week but not dangerous or illegal
— Kate Fox (@katefoxwriter) July 7, 2014

This may be the single greatest article I've ever read about business: https://t.co/V2WFUN3brg @blissbombed
— Valley Press (@valleypress) July 4, 2014

Listen to the premiere of You'll Find Us in the Parks by Leeds poet @MHStoppard and Hull art-rockers @Glass_Delusion http://t.co/fHRmirjby5
— Adult Teeth (@adultteeth) July 10, 2014

Come to Reading Town Hall for the #OpenForArt trail! I'm here with @valleypress books &a creepy mannequin looking on. pic.twitter.com/JZupw9nT1C
— The Emma Press (@TheEmmaPress) July 5, 2014

@sarahholt01 @valleypress Thank you for this lovely parcel! It was my pleasure to be involved and I love the story! pic.twitter.com/oEA84tn22o
— Sarah Olley (@s_olley) July 6, 2014

That's 2013 intern-extraordinaire Sarah Olley at the end there, receiving a special signed copy for her work on Love and Eskimo Snow. Not only did Sarah work on the book during her time in the VP office, she took it away with her and edited it for months afterwards, in her own time, sometimes while in the middle of university exams! She is going to get one seriously good reference.

So finally, here's what Miles has to say about the 'Next Generation Poets' search:

Who will make the Next Generation Poets list? (Yes, I know, the whole nation is obsessed with this issue. But it’s interesting to play Guess The List.) The aim of the list is to give a bit of profile to poets that  are going to dominate the scene over the next ten years or more. At the moment, new poetry is headed by a gang of very talented young women writers. Foremost among these is Helen Mort, who has had such a stunning last 18 months that she’s now almost part of the poetry landscape – Division Street was shortlisted for T.S Eliot Prize and the Costa Prize. Alongside Mort are several excellent women poets, including Emily Berry (winner, Forward Prize Best First Collection for Dear Boy, one of the most striking collections I have read in the last few years), Rhian Edwards (Clueless Dogs was published by Seren and won Wales Book Of The Year 2013) and Hanah Lowe, another exciting young writer (Lowe’s debut Chick was shortlisted for Forward first collection in 2013.)  It’s hard to see how any of these four will be omitted from the list. Other strong female writers include Emma Jones (Faber), Rebecca Goss (Goss’ collection Her Birth about the life and death of her baby daughter, won accolades and press attention and was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize), Abi Curtis (two collections with Salt), Tara Bergin (Carcanet) and Hannah Silva (Penned In The Margins). Other contenders include Helen Ivory and programmer, water dweller and enthusiast Jo Bell. Any of these could potentially make the list. Sadly missing will be the excellent Liz Berry, whose debut Black Country is about to hit the shops, but misses the list deadline by just a few months, which is a big shame, as she deserves the ‘Next Generation’ tag as much as anybody who is currently writing.

As for the lads (the female writers are so strong in poetry at the moment that the boys come in second place) – I suspect that Luke Wright will make the list, as he’s something of a force in British poetry, performing to thousands every year, selecting the poets for Latitude Festival and frequently rubbing shoulders with John Cooper Clarke. He’ll be joined, most likely, by fellow Penned In The Margins writer Ross Sutherland (author of the acclaimed Things To Do Before You Leave Town) Daljit Nagra (several collections with Faber and much loved by the poetry establishment), Nick Laird (several collections with Faber), the witty and wry Luke Kennard (Salt), Adam Riordan and Sam Riviere (whose 81 Austerities was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 2011). Jacob Sam La Rose is another strong candidate. Given that Salt has said it’s giving up on poetry, will they even bother to submit? Hmmm…

Several poets will not make the list, simply because of the dates that bracket selection: 2004 to 2014. This means that the fantastic Clare Pollard (on the panel of judges), Jacob Polley and Antony Dunn won’t be on the list, as their debuts came before 2004, and neither will Andrew McMillan, whose debut is due from Cape in 2015. I’ve only named a few of the many terrific writers who are out there, but the good news is with so many great young writers all operating in the UK at present, it’s safe to say that the future of poetry is in good hands. We’ll find out the full list on 9^th September 2014.

 

[ Miles Salter is a writer, musician and storyteller based in York. His second collection of poetry, Animals, is published by Valley Press. You can see Miles read one of his poems here. ]

Very good and thorough work there I thought - Helen Mort's publisher may as well open the champagne now, as far as I'm concerned. Readers should note that Miles later thought to add Jack Underwood, and I'm confident Lorraine Mariner will be there. Other than that, here's hoping it's full of VP poets! See you next week.

Valley Press Friday Digest, #10

I shall jump straight into today's 'Friday Digest' with some exclusive breaking news:

• Kate Fox and Alfie Crow, authors of last year's The Glasto Code, are working on a sequel set during the Yorkshire leg of this year's Tour de France, which Valley Press will be bringing to you in ebook form - for just 99p! - very soon. As with last year's Glastonbury effort, Fox & Crow (as we can possibly refer to them from now on) have written a rough outline of a mystery novel, and will fill in the gaps with actual events and observations from a real-life event, in this case 'Le Tour Yorkshire' (which is avoiding Scarborough for some reason). The new novel will be called Tour de Force, and the cover is below. Web pages coming soon.

 

• Though the Tour cyclists are heading to York, they probably won't have time to check out the city's snickets, passageways, courts and yards - but we know a man who has, and if you too would like to, York Curiouser have produced a helpful map of all the places John wrote about in In Between, where the poems are currently on show as pieces of (temporary?) graffiti. Here it is:

• There's been even more JWC-related excitement this week: the York poems have been made into a sort of immersive audiobook, which you can listen to here. Also, don't tell anyone (I haven't), but we found out yesterday that John's full-length collection Ghost Pot will be part of New Writing North's Read Regional campaign for 2015. That's two years in a row that Valley Press authors have been represented - quite a result!

 

• We also found out this week what happens when you clear your Gmail inbox on your smartphone:  

 

Proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel for email sufferers - @TheEmmaPress pic.twitter.com/vEi5YR03Hd
— Valley Press (@valleypress) July 1, 2014

• Both me and Emma cut a great swathe through the jungle of our email inboxes this week; so congratulations to... us? After much discussion we decided there's no way around it: we won't ignore them, and we won't hire someone else to answer them, we just have to knuckle down and work through all our incoming correspondence - it's a crucial part of what makes EP and VP such friendly and accessible operations. As for the authors of the five messages I still need to reply to, at time of writing... stand by!

 

• Congratulations also to all our friends who had their ACE grants renewed this week, especially our mutual sales agency Inpress, and the organisation behind Bridlington Poetry Festival (which I know I'm always going on about, but it really is good). Looking forward to the next three years working with you!

 

• I seem to be in a congratulatory mood, so congrats also to Sarah Holt, whose Love and Eskimo Snow made this list of 'Top 10 Holiday Books' for this summer (between John Green and Joey Essex - what company!) Peculiarly for a book with 'snow' in the title, summer looks to be the big season for Sarah's novel - the front-of-store promotion in branches of WHSmith Travel starts next week, so look out for it if you go in one. Oh, and well done to Matthew Hedley Stoppard, who has a poem in the latest edition of Magma, and read at the launch this time last week.

 

• Next week on this blog: Miles Salter is working on a list of who he thinks are the favourites to be named in the 'Next Generation Poets 2014' list (which I've mentioned previously), and I intend to post that in next week's round-up - should be very interesting. Last week I told you all about Helen Burke' forthcoming second collection, but I forgot to tell you how it got its title - it comes from the opening poem, which I will reprint below as a finishing flourish to this instalment of the blog. See you next week!

Here’s Looking at You, Kid

I noticed from an early age that the sun
asked permission to be on our street.
‘Is the sun allowed here?’ I once asked me dad.
And even though he knew it wasn’t,
he pulled his collar high and looked all round –
then put it in his pocket just for me.
Even though he knew to own this bright
this dangerous thing would bring me
perils, as well as joy. 
(Better to have a little sun than none at all.)

And we walked home, like two happy dogs
and the sky was duck-egg blue and the grass
was full of four-leaved clovers
and dad winked – and we laughed to think
he had the sun in his pocket.

‘Here’s looking at you, kid,’ dad said.
‘Here’s looking at you.’

Poetry Book Fair Report (Valley edition - with a bit of EP/VP back-story)

In Emma's Poetry Book Fair report, she promised you a report on this year's Fair from a 'veteran' - she must mean me! - thus laying down the challenge of following her fantastic 'rookie' post, and adding something new and interesting. I have chosen to dodge this challenge, and in the spirit of our now almost-month-old union, cover entirely different ground... to complement, rather than compete with, my dearly betrothed. Which is exactly the point of all this 'engagement' business!

I realise that besides the somewhat jokey first couple of posts, neither of us have offered comment yet on the actual reality behind the engagement. Here then, briefly, is the story: I read an article on Emma and her new Press on the Bookseller website, way back on the 3rd February. So impressed was I by the attitude (both textual and graphical) on her site, I was moved to spend some of my always-scarce money on a copy of her first title.

This was apparently just enough to insert Valley Press into her subconscious, so when she set up a market stall in May, she wrote to ask if I wanted her to sell some VP books on her stall - I did, of course, and she shifted quite a few! We then started a tentative email exchange, asking questions about each other's approach to survival in the Wild West world of self-employed poetry publishing; these emails continued indefinitely, and became longer and longer, as we discovered a vast variety of shared interests and opinions even beyond publishing (for example, we're both mega-fans of Swedish songster Jens Lekman).

What also happened was this: although I don't always live up to it, I have a pretty clear idea of how a perfect small press would/should operate in 2013 - Emma and her Press not only matched my ideal, but surpassed it; and not just sometimes, but every day, in new and surprising ways. Her energy, enthusiasm and commitment cannot be adequately described in words, nor can her god-given artistic and design talents (you'll see plenty of evidence of those in the coming months, if you haven't already). By the time we finally met up in August, I knew I simply had to find some way of harnessing these powers - rather like a cyclist hanging on to a juggernaut to gain speed - and for some reason, she was totally up for it too. So, we came up with the idea of the two presses getting married, sharing as many resources as possible; and even a blog, which you're on now. What the future has in store is anyone's guess, but I look forward to finding out!

So onto the Book Fair: you've heard from Emma how it was absolutely packed, and in a smaller space than last year - leading to an atmosphere of heady excitement and fevered book buying. In terms of hard cash, I took home about twice as much as the 2012 event, which I credit to two things. Number one: my use of a conversation-starting sign, which I then turned round to reveal the answer...

Number two: the efforts of Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Jo Brandon, who not only gave a world-beating reading from their books (and others), but actually ran the stall for some quite considerable periods of time, while I wandered about and fraternised with Emma. They sold about a dozen copies of each of their books in the end. Here's what Matthew looked like during his reading:

Very expressive! And here's Jo, and me, in a picture that could have been taken at any reading we've done:

All these photos are courtesy of that long-lensed genius Marcos Avlonitis. (You can see the full set on Facebook if you like.) That about wraps up my thoughts on the Poetry Book Fair 2013 - except to answer the question: will I be back next year? to which I would reply: does the Pope love hats? (Yes, he does, and yes, I will.) Keep an eye on this blog for more exciting posts soon.