Showing solidarity with community writing projects

As publishers, we have come into contact with local projects whose aim is to provide support for writers who are marginalised or in recovery. Helping where we can is one of the most rewarding parts of our job, so it is heart-breaking to hear that, as the public purse is tightened, funding for these groups is being squeezed.

Gena and I were invited to join Vita Nova's Friday Writers Group to have a chat about our submissions process. (We're playing a small part here, offering support, advice and free submissions to group members).

The mood was sombre as we arrived. The group was being briefed on how funding cuts might impact on future projects, perhaps even on the financial viability of the organisation itself.

It's a creative group of souls, though - you only have to visit their website and look at the images of their theatrical, poetry and other outreach work to see this - so the focus soon shifted to inventing ways to raise funds by showcasing their voices. Finding a venue, putting on a show, asking the local community to dig deep: giving back to a society that is slowly forgetting how to give at all.

That Friday, we were inspired and heartened by the way writing, in all its forms, is providing pathways for everyone present to be seen, to be heard...

It would be so uplifting for us as publishers, if a submission from one of these writers made it to the top of our selection pile. However, as we said at the group meeting (and it is my own experience as a member of poetry groups), sometimes, the simple act of reading our poems to others is all the validation writers need...!

We'll be collecting for Vita Nova at our 'Open Mic at the Goat and Trike' event on April 26th.