This week at Valley Press, #90: 'How to Disappear'

Dear bookish types,

It’s Wendy here again, with the Valley Press fortnightly newsletter. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks at VP HQ, with lots happening, but I’ll start by wishing you all a happy Chinese New Year! We are very lucky to be able to boast two brilliant and highly-thought-of Chinese authors: Yang Zhengguang’s How Old Dan Became a Tree is a collection of short stories which challenge boundaries and are stacked full of dark humour and film-like vividness, while Ye Guangqin’s Mountain Stories is an insightful, creative and often magically absurd collection set in China’s Qinling mountains. We’re proud of being able to explore other cultures and happy to be in a position to bring world literature into people’s lives and onto their bookshelves. If you fancy travelling to China without going anywhere, this is how to do it. (A third entry in this series is to be published in May.)

Next up, we have news of our latest launch and a new venture by Valley Press into the world of graphic novels. Si Smith has produced more than just a comic: as far as storytelling goes, How to Disappear Completely ticks all the boxes. It is intense, moving and truthful, and the artistic representation of the story is incredible; the use of colour and light as metaphor is skilful and superb. I don’t read very many graphic novels, but I have now read this one three times, finding something new to enjoy each time I do. Without wanting to offer spoilers, it is gripping. What I will say is this: we don’t talk about male vulnerability enough, we don’t talk about male mental health enough, and the pressure to ‘get on with it’. By exploring vulnerability, especially in men, and mental health problems, we challenge the taboo around it, so this feels like a very important publication. It explores a very personal journey and does it in a startlingly beautiful way. How to Disappear Completely is launching at OK Comics in Leeds on February 22nd at 5pm. If you’re on Facebook, there’s a Facebook Events Page where you can catch up with all the news surrounding it. It is quite honestly one of the best things I’ve read in a while.

In other news, we were delighted to welcome an aspiring young publisher to the Valley Press Headquarters last weekend. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any pictures, so you’ll have to believe me when I say that we had a lovely hour or two chatting about publishing, books in general, the publishing industry in the North, and how to get a foot in the door with secondary school student Evie, her mum Caroline and even Evie’s gran who came along to reminisce about Scarborough. We think it’s really important for young people wanting to work in publishing, as writers and creatives or as the behind-the-scenes team that make the magic happen, to be able to come along and chat to real life people about the realities of that industry. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have a young person eager to see how it all works.

That just about sums up this week, except to say that Jamie and Emma have once again provided a brilliant and entertaining podcast, which you can find here (and remember, you can subscribe on iTunes here). One last thing, in the form of a tiny little bit of self-promotion: I am absolutely delighted to say that my poem ‘Nan Hardwicke Turns into a Hare’ will be featured on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please on Sunday the 18th February at 4.30pm. I am so excited I can hardly breathe, especially since it is the incredible poet Liz Berry as guest host and I am a huge fan. My own Valley Press poetry collection, Gifts the Mole Gave Me, is available in the Valley Press shop alongside many, many other wonderful Valley Press titles – we also recently published new poetry by Liz herself in our Verse Matters anthology. Anyway, enough talking about me, I hope you have a lovely weekend, and check in on us on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram. We have a lot of fun on social media, come and join in!

If you are interested in becoming a Valley Press reader and helping us to gauge public reaction to potential books, drop us a line; and if you or your publication are interested in reviewing any of our titles, do get in touch. Independent publishers need all the support they can get, we’re passionate about our authors and want to support them on their writing journey; spreading the word about their work seems one of the best ways to do so.

In the meantime, have a bookish weekend!

Best wishes,
Wendy Pratt (Reader Engagement Officer)
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This week at Valley Press, #88: 'Meet the REO'

Hello!

It’s Wendy Pratt here, I’m one of the Valley Press authors (see more about my book, Gifts the Mole Gave Me, here) and I’m also the newly appointed Reader Engagement Officer for the wonderful Valley Press. Part of my new role is to keep the Valley Press social media accounts full of interesting book-related stuff for you all to enjoy, which is fun for me as I now have a reason for spending so much time on Twitter. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, or all three if you want the full Valley Press experience. I also field enquiries from the general public, so if you want to get in touch (head here) please do, we’d love to hear your views and reviews. Let us know what you love and what you don’t and we’ll always try to answer. One of the best things about being the Reader Engagement Officer is that I get to spend time promoting books, authors, events, festivals and reading in general. My love of books is why I became a writer in the first place, so this is something akin to my dream job. Plus, the office is in the beautiful Woodend Creative Arts Centre which is abuzz with creative people doing creative things on all levels. They have a gorgeous little shop there too, well worth popping in if you’re passing.

I will try not to bang on too much about how brilliant Valley Press are, but I did want to say a couple of things. We don’t celebrate small publishers enough, in my opinion, which is why social media is such a great platform for spreading the word. There are some smashing small publishers out there and I have been lucky enough to work with several. One of the things that has impressed me the most about Valley Press is their way of working; it’s a mix of kindness, professionalism and enjoyment. The office always feels like it’s full of people who genuinely love books and love to see people reading. And it’s fascinating to be on the other side of the submissions portal and see how the team work to bring new titles together. All the submissions are read diligently, and with an open mind, which is why the turnaround time can be quite a long one.

If you do get a rejection, why not drop me a line and I might be able to help point you towards mentors, courses and helpful websites that will help you polish up your work. Try not to be put off, rejection is part of the writing life, I’m afraid, but it’s not personal. I’ll never forget the day I got the email saying Valley Press were publishing my book. It came at a time when my confidence was a bit wobbly and it just felt wonderful to be given a chance by them. I’d bought a few of their titles before and was always very impressed with the aesthetics of the covers, the tactile feel of the books and the details in the typeface and layout. From being on the other side (of the office door, not death) I can see how much thought is put into each one, and that’s because they want the experience to be a good one for the writer and the reader. So bear with us, if you’re waiting to hear; it won’t be long. We’re expecting to have decisions on all outstanding submissions by March, and the next submissions window will likely open soon after (if not before).

Enough of the sentimentality, you’ll be wanting some actual news I imagine, and here it is:

• We were incredibly excited to hear that BBC Radio 4 will be featuring a poem by Valley Press author Norah Hanson on Poetry Please! You can hear Norah’s wonderful poem ‘Grafters’ on Sunday 28th January.
• The official Chinese launch of How Old Dan Became a Tree by Yang Zhengguang was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province (apparently in China’s biggest bookshop – see header image for a sense of scale). Several hundred members of the public attended the event, and we’re told some enthusiastic readers queued for more than an hour to obtain the author’s signature!
• And our latest anthology Verse Matters had a brilliant write up in the Yorkshire Post.

What a week!

That’s it from me, I hope I’ve not bored you with my sickeningly positive appraisal of Valley Press. Do check into social media, we have a few lovely new regular features coming up which you won’t want to miss.

Have a bookish weekend

Wendy
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This week at Valley Press, #82: 'Eggs and baskets'

Dear readers,

Whenever I think we've reached our peak, in terms of events, projects and activities, Valley Press finds a new way to get even busier and send its poor overworked publisher running back to his desk. Not today though; I'm resting up after a bad cold to see if I can make it to yet another glitzy award ceremony in Scarborough this evening. (I'm up for 'Young Entrepreneur' against two bakers, which is a bit of a conflict as I love food and books equally, and am keen to support anything that encourages more baking...)

Today's newsletter is a textbook example of what working on several projects at once looks like, which is also a key topic in this week's 'Friday Morning Meeting' podcast (they're going to be fortnightly, if that hasn't been made apparent before). Towards the end, in what's probably my favourite part, we deconstruct the 'eggs in one basket' idiom – how many baskets/eggs are ideal? Would an egg and spoon race be preferable? We also compare managing a publisher to playing Tetris... it's not all metaphors though, don't worry!

If that's not enough snazzy, 21st-century digital media for you, I also have three videos from Wendy Pratt's Gifts the Mole Gave Me launch event to share. As you can see from the header image, it was held in our favourite room at VP HQ, and attracted a sizable and enthusiastic crowd (hooray!) Wendy had two brilliant support acts, so you have three poetry videos to watch if you feel inclined: Caroline Hardaker, Oz Hardwick and then Wendy herself.  (Enjoy some positive heckling 1min 40sec into Caroline's video, courtesy of perhaps the keenest newsletter reader of all, who also gets some decent airtime in the podcast. You know who you are!)

* * *

There are two books I need to give a serious plug to this week, and the first is Quantum Theory for Cats, which you may recall is being launched at Waterstones York, Friday 1st December from 7pm. This is a debut pamphlet from Ian Stuart, who cites Stevie Smith and Robert Frost as his main influences. Like those literary heavyweights, he champions the art of 'complex simplicity'; the poetry can be witty and wry, but remains serious about its interest in the human experience.

Time I wheeled out a poem. This is one of the more understated pieces, but one that lingered with me long after I first read it:


Phone Call

‘Do you remember, years ago,’ he said,
‘we met up in some bookshop. I was with
my sister. She was quite impressed with you –
said you had a gentleness, an air
of understanding – and a lovely voice.’

‘That’s nice,’ I said, yet knowing as I spoke
I had no memory of that day at all.
It wasn’t me they’d met.

The conversation ended, but he stayed,
my doppelganger – kindly, gentle, calm –
the kind of man I once hoped I’d become.

I look for him each morning in the mirror
and sometimes catch a glimpse,
but then he’s gone.


Ian's pamphlet was the one book this year where I decided to handle every stage of production myself, harking back to days long gone by. I didn't draw the cat on the cover though, that was the work of – fun VP trivia alert! – Ben Hardaker, husband of Caroline Hardaker, our most recent pamphlet author (and in fact Caroline did some of the shading on the final article). Quite the supportive little community we have here!

The next book in our schedule, while also filed under 'poetry', couldn't be more different. Verse Matters is our second big 2017 anthology, and has involved two distinguished editors, cover design by rising star Mandy Barker (of Sail Creative), typesetting by internationally famed text-wrangler Gerry Cambridge, and includes new material from the following writers:

Liz Berry, Bashar Farahat, River Wolton, Shirin Teifouri, Rachel Bower, Sai Murray, Malika Booker, Helen Mort, Vicki Morris, Char March, Mimi Mesfin, Jacob Blakesey, Hannah Copley, S J Bradley, Nick Allen, Wendy Pratt, Jo Irwin, Charlotte Ansell, Warda Yassin, Louise Clines, Catherine Ayres, Ethel Maqeda, Katherine Henderson, Sez Thomasin, Beth Davies, Hollie McNish, Laurie Bolger, Shelley Roche Jacques, Kate Garrett, Debjani Chatterjee, Amy Kinsman, Carol Eades and Suzannah Evans.

Some very familiar names in there, and some exciting 'emerging talent' too. It's all inspired by the legendary Verse Matters spoken word night in Sheffield, and we'll be heading to that fair city on the 14th December to enjoy a launch event, featuring many of the writers mentioned above. Details of that are here.

It seems worth adding that, thanks to the generosity of the editors, all royalties from the book will be split between ASSIST Sheffield and the Cathedral Archer Project in Sheffield, two great causes worth looking up. More on this book next month.

* * *

If all that hasn't quite satisfied your appetite for literary engagement (you really are insatiable), there's also an in-depth review of John Wedgwood Clarke's Landfill on the Manchester Review, with Ian Pople giving that book the serious attention it deserves. Time to hang up my keyboard now, but I'll be back (inevitably) next week, to start the countdown to you-know-what. Plus, there's still time to squeeze in one extra book this year, that I haven't told anyone about yet...

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher                                   

This week at Valley Press, #80: 'The Late Show'

Dear readers,

A very late missive this week, as the internet has been down in the office, and I've been in York for Oz Hardwick's latest book launch – the third event for his current collection, in fact. (Can't say he's not getting it out there!) It was held as part of the NAWE conference, who really made us feel very welcome; I was given a lovely three-course meal simply for coming, caught up with many old friends, and even made some new ones. As you can see on the photo above, Oz had a slide to match each poem he read, offering an insight into some of the inspirations behind The House of Ghosts and Mirrors (the slide above is a drawing of a castle, hidden behind wallpaper in his childhood home).

Some other news, in brief:

• Wendy Pratt will be celebrating her latest book with an event at Valley Press HQ (aka Woodend, The Crescent, Scarborough), on Saturday 18th November from 2.30pm. Expect cakes and wine, and if those aren't delights enough, she'll be joined by the aforementioned Mr. Hardwick and rising star Caroline Hardaker.
  

• Our next publication, Quantum Theory for Cats, is now available for pre-order; I will share some sample poems in the near future, but for now, please note the forthcoming launch in Waterstones York on Friday December 1st, from 7pm. This is a witty new poet who needs as much support as you can collectively muster; a winner from our 2016 submissions period who has waited patiently all year to see his name in lights. Don't miss out!
  

• The first 'proper' episode of me and Emma's new podcast is now available; you can find it exclusively here for the time being (trying to get it on iTunes too). I slightly hijacked this call by sharing my 'four golden rules' for publishing, each more counter-intuitive and difficult than the last, and then thinking of a fifth rule on the spot – but you might find them interesting. We got some coverage in the Bookseller today for our efforts, you can find the article here if you want the behind-the-scenes scoop.
  

• It was announced this week that VP are teaming up with York St John University for our first foray into the world of journal publishing, taking over the York Literary Review from 2018 onwards. Submissions will be open to pretty much anyone, by the sounds of it, from late January – all details here (and watch this space!)
  

• Finally, more exciting news from York (well done to Vanessa for setting all this up): we will be working with the Cultural Education Partnership to engage children and young people from York's schools, showing them the delights of the literary world (which you newsletter readers already know well) through workshops, author visits and an anthology of work from young writers. We'll be supported in this effort by Colin Jackson of Creative Learning Partnerships, and it all kicks off in January.

Thanks for reading and digesting all that, I hope you found it interesting – I never like to get too caught up in self-promotion, but then it is a company newsletter I suppose! See you next week for some lighter fare; poetry, gossip, and all other manner of fun.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #78: 'In all our finery'

Dear readers,

We won! At the top of this message (if your email is working properly), you should be able to see the VP team in all our finery, and the really very beautiful trophy we received for being the 'Culture/Arts Business of 2017' on the Yorkshire Coast. (I know hard work is its own reward, but trophies help too.) Thanks to the judges and all who contributed to a very memorable night in Bridlington last Friday, particularly Jo, Tess and Vanessa who imbued proceedings with some glamour (unlike me with my clip-on tie and £30 suit).

* * *

If you live in the Yorkshire coast area, and you'd like to be part of an award-winning team, we are actually looking for a new face at the moment. I'll tell it straight so you'll know if the job is for you: we need someone to come in for around six hours a week and keep our accounts spreadsheet up to date (so it matches the bank statement), keep track of incoming and outgoing invoices and remittance, and deal with author royalties twice a year.

You don't need to be an accountant, or have any qualifications in that area; it's more a question of attitude. If you enjoy the sight of a well-organised spreadsheet, and figures don't scare you in the way they do some people, this could be right up your street – you can keep a flexible schedule, and there will be a salary involved (to be negotiated, will depend on experience!)

If you think you could be the person we're looking for, just reply to this email (or write to me at jamie@valleypressuk.com) with a paragraph or two explaining why you'd be perfect, and maybe pop a CV in the attachments. Let your friends know too – have a good look at them next time you meet up, do any of them look like they might enjoy spreadsheets? They may be too shy to admit it, but just murmur 'Excel' and see if their eyes light up.

* * *

By the time you hear from me next, the I Was Britpopped launches will be half-finished, so I'd better take this opportunity to remind you where and when they are. It's Waterstones Leeds on Thursday 2nd, from 6.30pm, and Waterstones Camden on Friday 3rd from 7pm. Please do tell any Britpoppy friends you might have about these events – have a good look at them next time you meet up, do any of them look like they might have been an enthusiastic part of the Britpop scene? They may be too shy to admit it, but just murmur the name of an obscure Shed Seven b-side and see if their eyes light up. (This is my all-purpose, foolproof plan for finding people's secret foibles.)

I'll leave you today with a poem from Wendy Pratt's Gifts the Mole Gave Me, as promised. This is one of the sweetest and most straightforward poems featured, but the poets among you will know how much blood, sweat and effort goes into writing something sweet and straightforward! I hope you enjoy it; have a great week, hope to see you at a launch.

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

---

In Search of the Perfect Purse

I want that purse you gave me
back when we were courting.
Even though I know it’s downstairs
in the junk drawer, its broken-zipped
mouth gaping, still holding
the train tickets and Metro pass
from Paris, I want to own it again.

I want to find in it that picture you took
as we pulled out of the station, in which
my face is doughy with youth
and I have not yet learned
how to tame my hair. I want your hand

as we run up the stairs to our hotel room
in the attic, Klimt’s The Kiss
over our bed like a blessing. I want
to put Paris back in my purse, that purse
I loved with its grown-up browns
and stitched gold and clasps and pockets.

I want to open that purse and find
the cardboard ticket from the Louvre
and the Pompidou and the receipt
from Le Refuge de Fondues where we
got drunk on red wine served
in baby’s bottles and forgot to save
our wits for art. I want that purse.

No other purse compares.
This one has only room for my debit card,
the pale-faced photo that the clinic took
of you, the Post-it note you left me
on the Mars Bar that said in shaky capitals
‘I LOVE YOU’.

This week at Valley Press, #77: 'Filey via New Zealand'

Dear readers,

A new poetry book has arrived at VP HQ, and though we've had dozens of similar arrivals over the years, the moment never loses its excitement. (When it does, it's probably time to pack all this in!) The new book is Gifts the Mole Gave Me by Wendy Pratt, who becomes one of our most local writers, based in our neighbouring coastal town of Filey.

It's worth saying though, despite us already knowing Wendy and her work, her collection rose to the top of our 600-ish 2016 submissions fair and square – there was no leaning on the scales of subs justice, this genuinely was one of the very best poetry books we were sent last year. The local connection just meant she could join me in the office for such important tasks as typesetting and cover design; it was a nice change to work 'up close and personal' with an author on those crucial parts of the process.

I won't share a poem just yet, as I've got a lot to tell you today, but Wendy has asked that I enclose a few blurb highlights: such as Carole Bromley saying: 'A sureness of touch, a startling image, and an ability to move the reader mark this Yorkshire poet as something very special indeed’, with Deborah Alma adding: 'These poems are the wonderful work of a poet in full control of her art and craft; they are beautiful, musical, understated and unexpected.' And of course, they're right.

We'll piece together a launch for Wendy before the end of the year, but in the meantime you can see her (and Oz Hardwick) at the legendary "Word Club", on Friday 27th from 7.30pm at The Chemic Tavern, Leeds; will be a great night out.

* * *

Speaking of great nights out, I need to flag up our next book today as well: and brace yourselves, it's a surprising addition to the catalogue. I Was Britpopped is the first and last word as far as that titular musical movement is concerned; it's an A-Z, a comprehensive guide to everyone and everything involved, with more than 500 entries covering everything from Albarn to Zeitgeist.

Originally self-published by the two authors, we took the rights early this year and have since given it a complete overhaul, with Jo Haywood doing approximately two million hours of work ensuring every word was perfect. It's got infographics too; I know how much you all love those. I'm looking forward to showing it off in the next couple of months.

This isn't quite the random deviation from our list that it seems; I'd already signed one book on music history by the time Britpopped came to my attention, and am working on more – music-related titles are set to be a significant part of Valley Press going forward. Someone had to go first!

The book's authors, Jenny and Tom, have graciously agreed to do a couple of events to launch the book; I say graciously because Tom lives in New Zealand (making him our most distant author), and is coming over especially for the launches. You can meet them at Waterstones Leeds on Thursday 2nd November, from 6.30pm, or in London the following day at Waterstones Camden (details here), which I'm told is pretty much the centre of the Britpop universe. Thanks to Waterstones too, for having us at short notice.

* * *

Having followed through on our promise a few weeks ago, I'm pleased to report a pilot episode of the Emma Press/Valley Press podcast is now available. The series will be titled 'The Friday Morning Meeting', named after the phone conversation that myself and Emma have been holding every Friday morning (when practical) for about four years now. You can listen here, if your ears aren't doing anything in particular for the next 24 minutes.

The calls are typically quite lively, as we discuss the ups and downs of the small press lifestyle with our characteristic frankness; however, this first one isn't quite so spicy, as we are finding our podcasting feet, figuring out the format and so on, but we have had some positive feedback so far. Do let us know what you think, and forward any questions you'd like answered in a future edition. (We're thinking new episodes will be coming fortnightly.)

* * *

Thanks to everyone who emailed me about the subs issue discussed in last week's newsletter; I will reply at some point (horribly behind with emails again!) I might even put together some anonymous highlights from the correspondence for a future newsletter, when a quiet week inevitably rolls around.

For the moment, you can stop worrying about the rights and wrongs of submissions procedures, as our subs are now closed for the rest of the year. Tess and two glamorous assistants will be combing through the 200 outstanding manuscripts tomorrow – assuming she's not too worn out, of course, from the swanky awards 'do' that four of the VP team are attending tonight. (The Yorkshire Coast Chamber of Commerce Awards, if you're wondering; we're up for 'Arts/Culture Business of 2017'.)

That's in a couple of hours' time, actually – Mrs McGarry is stood in the doorway tapping her watch, so I'd best go and get my tux on. Look out for the result next week!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #71: 'Of the Dump'

Dear readers, The video of Cath Nichols' launch event can be found here, and it's essential viewing – moving, incisive, thought-provoking (much like the book), rather like having an in-depth conversation with a friend about some important, deeply-felt social issues. We also invited Wendy Pratt, author of this forthcoming collection, to be a sort of 'warm-up act' and read a few poems at the start, so there's a bonus for you. More on Wendy next month! Next week, this series of events comes to a close when we spend an hour in the company of Antony Dunn. Antony will be appearing at the later time of 3-4pm, but in the same location as always; the Sitwell Library at Woodend, Scarborough, a.k.a. Valley Press HQ. There will of course be more events in future (Vanessa is working on approximately four zillion ideas), but probably not in this format, so enjoy it while you can! * * * This coming week sees the release of a new poetry collection by John Wedgwood Clarke, his first since Ghost Pot four years ago. The title is simply Landfill, and though not all of the poems are on that subject, the majority were inspired by a residency at the local tip here in Scarborough, which we optimistically call the "Resource Recovery Centre". Here's John explaining how this period of his writing life began:

"I’d driven past Seamer Carr on the bypass and always noticed the great flock of gulls circling over its summit and the slow lorries crawling over it. The lorries were like fishing boats or tractors with the way the gulls followed behind them. So while this might seem the least wild part of our ‘natural’ landscape, I also sensed it was a place of great ecological energy, a fertile and exciting place from which to view our culture and identify our behaviour as a species. Also, if there’s a fence around a place, I want to have a look behind it."

Reading the book will give you a better idea of how the poet relates "the dump" to the larger ecological / biological issues that have long fascinated him. Hanging round the public skips, watching people dispose of their rubbish was one thing, but the biggest "coup" was to access an open landfill cell, as described below:

"That took some persuasion. I was driven up in a land rover and only allowed ten minutes on the cell itself. It fell like I’d landed on the moon of waste. I bounced along over marshy fields of nappies and chicken carcasses and plastic water bottles. They’d had to fire off rockets to clear the gulls before we could step outside, so my visit was timed to the vast flock that wheeled away on a vast arc over the A59 before making its shit-laden return: the droppings were a key part of the hazard of being on the landfill cell – that and the enormous tractors with spiked wheels twice my height that had enormous, shining, bespattered blades that spread the rubbish out like butter."

We'll bring you the full text of this interview once you've all had time to digest the actual poems. I'd like to feature one here though, and I'm going to be inexplicably awkward and share one of the few poems in the book with no direct link to the theme (but you can still draw a line in the subtext). I think this is just an extraordinary bit of work.

Know Your Place A Northern classroom after the war and her hand’s in the air. She wants to try for grammar school. Oh, the teacher smiles, put it down.  Next day, at the front, there’s a box, gift-wrapped, and she’s called forward. She likes ‘nice things’ but can’t think what she’s done. As she reaches for the gift, the teacher grabs her wrist and squeezes. You must open it in front of the class.  The clock cuts one moment from the next. Should she save the wallpaper? The outer layer reveals a lidded box. Heat glazes her face as the class gazes like sunlight through a magnifier at her fingernails. Inside, she finds another box, string-tied, the paper fingernail creased. She picks at the knot as she will always pick at the knot, her nails bitten to the quick. There’s only another, brown paper this time, the paper of dispatch and back office, of shop counter and bags of seconds, minutes, hours, clocks and klaxons – open it, it’s yours, the teacher urges. Inside the box is nothing, and inside nothing another box, in which she prays.

A launch event will be held on Saturday 30th September, in Hull, details of which you can find here. There are four separate Valley Press events that day, spread all over the country, a real sign of how busy we are at the moment! I'll share details of the other events next week. Oh, and you'll be able to catch John on BBC4 soon presenting a programme about Larkin's photography – details of that will be in a future newsletter too. * * * Before I get back to my publishing responsibilities, two other exciting pieces of news: we've just signed our first comic book artist, Si Smith, for a "graphic novel" (or, literary comic book) in March 2018. Very excited about that project, and getting into a whole new genre. Also, we heard this week that Valley Press is a finalist in the Chamber Bridlington and Yorkshire Coast Business Awards, the scope of which apparently includes Hull, East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. We're up for "Arts Business of 2017"... you can't vote though, it's judged by business experts, who are coming for a visit in a week or two. The winners are announced at a black tie gala (!) at Bridlington Spa on the 20th October – and we're all going, of course – so look out for more news on that nearer the time. It seems newsletters are going to be increasingly packed this autumn; my poor keyboard is already praying for the return of an intern or two... All best, Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

This week at Valley Press, #69: 'River in the Sky'

Dear readers,

As promised I (Jamie #2) have returned to newsletter duty, and there is a lot to report.

Undeterred by the torrential downpours on Wednesday, myself and Jamie (the Two Jamies?) bravely took to the rainy streets of York, armed with just one umbrella and one coat between us, for a series of top-secret meetings. I can’t tell you the details of these meetings, but one of them included poet Robert Powell, a book that is not entirely written yet, and a boat. Exciting things are happening at Valley Press! It was also during this meeting that Robert gazed romantically out of the window and calmly proclaimed: ‘the river is in the sky’. Poets, eh?

Yesterday saw the return of the Literary Lunch Hour, and this week was a celebration of the Valley Press Anthology of Yorkshire Poetry. Presented by co-editor Oz Hardwick, 15 of Yorkshire’s finest poets descended upon Scarborough as we saw readings from – pause for breath – Patrick Lodge, Sarah Wallis, Carole Bromley, Wendy Pratt, Ian Harrow, Anne Caldwell, Mike Farren, Pauline Kirk, Jane Sharp, Robert Powell, Yvie Holder, Amina Alyal and Rob Miles. This made for an extremely talented – if slightly crowded – room, and you can watch the entire event here.

Next week’s literary lunch hour will be with Nora Chassler, fresh from the Edinburgh festival with a new, subversive book: Madame Bildungsroman’s Optimistic Worldview. In the meantime Laura McGarry will be doing a ‘live-reading’ of the book – posting excerpts of it on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag ‘#readingwithLM’. Madame Bildungsroman is full of snappy philosophical wisdoms, presented in such a way that it almost comes across as Nietzsche’s Man Alone With Himself’s younger, easier to read sibling. If this sounds like your sort of thing, why don’t you buy a copy and join in the debate (which has already sparked a good-natured Facebook argument about racism in Sherlock Holmes)?

Continuing our recent theme of having more videos than books, Kate Fox (of The Glasto Code, Jagger’s Yurt and Tour de Force, among others) was featured on Good Morning Britain today, discussing the pressure on women to have children. If you fancy a change from all of the literature videos we’ve been giving you, you can watch Kate’s debate here.

As just about the last intern at Valley Press this summer, I feel I have a duty to thank Jamie and the team for being so welcoming and helpful (and a special mention to my friends at the post office – I will miss each and every one of you). It is a testament to Valley Press that despite the pressures of being an independent publishing company they are still doing their best to give experience to people like myself. Two weeks ago I arrived as a confused southerner in a strange land. Since then I have I have seen first-hand how books are created, bored you all with my adventures and found myself charmed by the northern grace of a town (and company) that I do not want to leave.

Sadly, I must depart tomorrow. Before I sign off, though, there is one last thing…

Readers, friends of Valley Press, lovers of literature: we need your help! Our ‘readers group’ is now recruiting new members to look at submissions, via email. If you join, every week (ish) you will be sent poetry and novels that Valley Press are considering publishing – totally free of charge! All you have to do is read through them – whichever ones you choose, and totally at your leisure – and then send us your thoughts. Seems like a pretty good deal, right? I know I will be signing up as soon as I leave tomorrow. To join, just email Submissions Coordinator Tess and let her know.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and rest assured that by the next newsletter the number of Jamies in the office will have returned to one.

Jamie Firby,
Valley Press Intern