Local publisher Indie Novella is thrilled to launch their Hackney and Haringey Communities Anthology Project showcasing the work and stories local writers and authors and the communities they represent. They are inviting local community members to join from 1pm to 3pm where they will be hosting some drinks and nibbles followed by a panel discussion with local authors to tell you more about the project, how Indie Novella is bringing more local writers into publishing, and how you and your community can be involved.
Indie Novella is a Hackney-based publisher working with Hackney Libraries, the Arts Council and Newington Green Meeting House to showcase the work of local writers and promote writing at a grassroots level in local communities. They run a free online writing course and have been running free in-person writing workshops through Hackney Libraries, and now together with the Arts Council, they are looking to create an anthology open to all writers in Hackney and its surrounding boroughs which they hope will provide a snapshot of the real communities of Hackney.
Funded by the Arts Council, the Hackney and Haringey Communities project is a special Call for Submissions to showcase the work of up-and-coming local writers - be it excerpts from novels, short stories, poetry, essays, opinions etc, and your thoughts on what it is like to be part of a community. They believe in championing and publicising the stories of their wonderfully diverse communities and their residents. The anthology is open to everyone and can be in any language, celebrating the variety of our communities, with the opportunity to win £100 of vouchers from Ink@84 Bookshop.
They look forward to seeing you on Saturday 22 April and you can send your submissions to Indie Novella.
Panellists
Dr Eithne Nightingale is a researcher, writer, photographer, film maker and long-time resident of Hackney. In 2020 she co-produced, with her neighbours, the illustrated book Life Under Lockdown: On Mehetabel Road and Isabella Road in Hackney 2020. Her book Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain: Oral Histories since the 1930s, featuring many stories from Hackney and beyond, is to be published by Bloomsbury in December 2023. These powerful stories, collected for her PhD at Queen Mary University of London, have also inspired award-winning short films, co-produced with child migrants.
John Robert McMenemie was born in Cheshire, and studied architecture and English before relocating to London to pursue a career in music. He still writes songs and still draws buildings, but focuses mainly on writing fiction. His work has appeared in Sovereign, The Cabinet of Heed, and Storgy magazines, and been long listed for the Leicester Writes short story prize, and the Sandstone Press short fiction competition. His debut novel, Full Wire, was published by Indie Novella in 2022.
John lives in Crouch End with his partner and their daughter.
Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning, bestselling children’s/YA author who was born and raised in Stoke Newington, London. Abiola is the author of the award-winning fantasy series, EMILY KNIGHT, and is an advocate for diversity in books for young people. EMILY KNIGHT I AM…AWAKENED was nominated for the CILIP’s Carnegie Award, won London’s BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book. Abiola contributed to THE VERY MERRY MURDER CLUB, a collection of new mystery fiction from thirteen exciting and diverse children’s writers which published in October 2021 by Farshore/HarperCollins and was selected as Waterstones Children's Book of the Month. Her debut YA, LOVE IN WINTER WONDERLAND was published November 2022 by Simon & Schuster UK to critical aclaim.
Rebecca Ley is a novelist and journalist whose debut novel, For When I’m Gone, was published to critical acclaim by Orion Books in 2020. Rebecca's journalistic work includes the Guardian column, Doing it for Dad, about her father's dementia and has previously worked at the Times, the Sun and the Daily Mail. Rebecca’s new novel, The Trip, will be published by Orion in April 2023 and has already received plaudits from Nicola Gill, Matt Cain and Beth Morrey to name a few.