Rebalancing the books

News - Publishing Wednesday, 28th August 2019

New Writing North's Chief Executive Claire Malcolm reports back from the Northern Lights conference that took place at Edinburgh International Book Festival last weekend


Last weekend writers, publishers, funders and supporters from the North of England and Scotland gathered in Edinburgh for the Northern Lights conference. This collaborative project from Edinburgh International Book Festival and Bradford Literature Festival was designed to bring together Northern and Scottish publishers to explore experiences, best practice and to ask whether the united forces of the North and Scotland could present an opportunity to rebalance the London-centric nature of publishing.

In a session that proposed that 'The Centre of the World is Where You Are', Ray Black from music label Rock Action Records shared reflections on how independent labels create different financial relationships with artists and Francis Bickmore (Canongate) talked engagingly about how literature can create an experience in a place, and how a critical mass of artists and publishers can be not just creatively exciting but offer place-making potential to towns and cities.

The conference was supported at the highest level in Scotland with the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, opening a session on 'Rethinking Diversity' with a speech about the power of diversity and the deep importance of a nation’s literature and publishing to engage and strengthen communities. Sturgeon is known to be a keen reader and her speech and the way she chaired a panel on rethinking what diversity means in publishing were impressive. Scotland has support for writing, books and publishing at the highest level, something we need to work to emulate in the UK.

On the panel, writer Kerry Hudson talked about how her book Lowborn has connected with people across society and how important in the ecology of access libraries are. Publishers Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (Canongate) and Jeremy Poynting (Peepal Tree) thoughtfully explored how diversity worked in publishing in different scales of organisations. Professor Claire Squires, director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication, put forth a provocation that warned Scottish publishers not to be complacent and that diversity still has a fair way to go – where were the women writing non-fiction and about sports and current affairs in Scotland for example?

As part of a panel entitled 'Power Up North' I was asked to create a manifesto for the future of writing and publishing in the North which proposed new ways of approaching the persistent under-representation of Northern voices in our national literature and publishing industries - see the accompanying piece. My fellow panel members, publishers Heather McDaid (404 Ink), Nathan Connolly (Dead Ink) and the writer and publisher James Robertson also shared their missions.

Nathan feels that the Northern Fiction Alliance is changing the national picture by forcing new conversations and leading the way with original work. Heather called for more skill sharing and encouragement for new and younger publishers setting out. James Robertson’s inspiring manifesto was for literature to come to the fore as a force to shape Scotland’s future. With the ears of the First Minister open I feel that he has every chance. Chair Professor Katy Shaw from Northumbria University noted that through her work investigating talent programmes and social mobility, new ideas were been generated in the North that could offer potential models to work to in the future.

Pictured: Claire Malcolm (cr Topher McGrillis)


Claire Malcolm - A manifesto for the future of writing and publishing in the North