By Jess Wright
“publishing in the North is ready to take on the world”
Nathan cONNoLLY, PUBLISHINg DIRECTOR AT dEAD iNK
Before starting my MA in Publishing and Creative Writing at York St John University, I had never heard of the Northern Fiction Alliance. Having grown up in West Yorkshire, I was well aware of the abundance of talent in the North of England, including not only authors, but musicians and artists from all backgrounds. But a group specifically centred around celebrating writing and publishing in the North of England? Please, tell me more!
The Northern Fiction Alliance, as described on their website, is a radical publishing collective, founded in 2016 by four of the UK’s leading indie publishers, from some of the best cities in the North. The original Northern Fiction Alliance is made up of Comma Press (Manchester), Dead Ink Books (Liverpool), And Other Stories (Sheffield) and Peepal Tree Press (Leeds). Together they are ‘reshaping and redefining the UK’s literary landscape, commissioning bold new works, and providing alternative platforms for underrepresented authors’.
The NFA was founded with the aid of the International Showcasing Grant, awarded to them by the Arts Council England. The original proposal was to take four independent Northern publishers to a number of international book fairs, where they could showcase and sell their work. The purpose was to help build ‘a strong cultural identity of British writing as well as publishing based in the North of England’.
As you may be aware, London continues to dominate the publishing industry, as a central location. Home to the Big Five, it has built up a predominantly white middle-class publishing empire. As a Northern writer, it can seem near impossible to get that first foot in the door to the industry. Whether as a writer, editor or anything in between, the world of publishing can seem daunting, like a dark buzzing cloud, where everybody knows everybody and nobody wants to know you.
The Northern Fiction Alliance fully understands this. As one of their many goals, they have pledged to ‘Position Northern writing and publishing as a culturally distinct product on a global stage’ (Northern Fiction Alliance, Comma Press). With the support of the Arts Council, the NFA has been able to attend multiple international book fairs and run workshops designed to upskill and inspire smaller publishers. They have forced the London publishing industry to take notice of independent presses, opening doors for Northern talent.
In 2018 the NFA wrote ‘an open letter to the London-centric publishing industry’. In the letter they urged London publishers to sign up to their Eight Point Plan. The plan requires publishers to sign up to The Spare Room Project, to offer accommodation for interns living outside of London. Publishing houses who sign this agreement must also agree to pay all interns the relevant Living Wage, a sentiment I feel we can all get on board with! Other points include; commitment to publishing more regional writers and developing strategies to reach audiences outside the capital.
The central goal of the Northern Fiction Alliance is to make the publishing industry more accessible for everybody, whatever background you may come from.
Since it was established, seven more indie presses have joined the alliance. Links to the webpages of all 11 publishing houses can be found here, along with the Northern Fiction Alliance website page:
