Directory: WRITING & PUBLISHING

 
     _{BOOK PUBLISHERS:}

::  Trentham Books - specialist educational & business publisher based in Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Burslem Books - publisher of A History of Burslem & The Fowlea Valley and The Beauty of Trentham Hall & Gardens, among others.

::  Thin Ice Media - leading UK publisher of computer-game magazines. Based in Stone.

::  Orth Books - religious publisher based in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

::  Bloodbinds Press - dynamic independent horror-fiction publisher, based in Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Acumen Books - publishes specialist books for cricket umpires and coaches around the world. Based in Stoke-on-Trent. (Site also hosts a catalogue for Leisure Products Books of Alsager.)

::  Audley Publications.

 Write Angle Press - based in Stoke-On-Trent. Publishers of annual The Craftworker's Year Book (currently in its 2006 edition).

     _{NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES:}

::  The Sentinel newspaper. The area's main independent newspaper. Daily & Sunday editions. Winner of "West Midlands Newspaper of the Year" in both 2003 & 2004. Also publishes The Way We Were local history magazine and the glossy PROFIT business magazine.

::  Leek Post & Times

::  Public Service Review magazine - based in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

::  Staffordshire Life magazine. A glossy upmarket magazine for Staffordshire, with a monthly readership of 160,000.

::  Staffordshire Living & Staffordshire Homes, both published by The APP Group (based in Weston Coyney).

     _{ORGANISATIONS & GROUPS:}

::  Federation of Worker Writers & Community Publishers - based in Burslem School of Art, Burslem, Stoke. Their magazine comes out twice a year and they welcome work for consideration.

::  Keele Writers' Society - a student society at Keele University. They produce Enigma magazine.

::  The Workers Educational Association run 10-week Writers' Workshops in Hanley.

::  The University of Keele: Continuing & Professional Education. Offers short courses in the local community.

::  The Hurst Arvon centre in nearby Shropshire has a wide range of short residential courses on writing.

 Keele and Newcastle Writing Group. Regular creative-writing group... "for all genres & forms of writing".

 North Staffordshire Classical Association. Regular readings of the Greek & Roman classics (in English translation), plus guest speakers and trips.

 Ša Engliscan Gesižas [The English Companions] - a specialist Anglo-Saxon study group meeting every 6 - 8 weeks at Eccleshall, for talks and informal discussion of all aspects of Anglo-Saxon poetry, literature & society.

(See also: author.co.uk's listing of Writer's Circles in the Midlands, and Lit-Net.)

     _'ZINES:

::  Envoi - Britain's leading poetry magazine, published and edited from Stoke-on-Trent by Roger Elkin.

::  The Exclusive - a Stoke based music & poetry fanzine, which has published six issues so far.

::  Vale Park Beano - the fanzine for the Burslem-based Port Vale football club.

::  The Oatcake - the 24-page fanzine for Stoke City Football Club.

::  A View to a Kiln - an unofficial 32-page fanzine for Stoke City F.C. Has published twelve issues so far.

::  Potters Bar - a semi-regular 28-page magazine, now past its 100th issue, covering real ale & traditional pubs in the Potteries area. Produced by the CAMRA Potteries - Campaign for Real Ale. Based in Burslem, which is probably the main town in Stoke for good traditional pubs.

     _{SMALL-PRESS POETRY & POETS:}

::  Chris Major - based in Stoke-on-Trent, Chris is a poet who has had work published in many small-press magazines such as Tryst, Stirring, Poetrykit, Snakeskin, Remark, Openwide, James River Poetry Review, wordriot, Shampoo, & Sentinel Poetry.

::  Envoi - Britain's leading poetry magazine, published from Stoke-on-Trent. The only established poetry magazine (est. 1957) which is completely self-funding.

::  Raw Edge magazine. Funded by West Midlands Arts for writers in the West Midlands. See also: West Midlands Lit-Net.

     _WEBLOGS:

::  D'log

::  Bacon, Cheese & Oatcakes

::  White Llama

::  Diamond in the dating pile

::  Mewble

::  atypical

::  Sir Findo Gask

::  blogaholic

     _{FREELANCE WRITERS & PROOFREADERS:}

::  Ron Scholes - based in Leek. Author, photographer and travel lecturer. His special interests include the landscape history of the British Isles, and the long-distance footpaths that cross it. He is the author of, among others: Understanding the Countryside; Walking in Eden; Towns and Villages of Britain, Cheshire. He is also available to give illustrated talks.

::  Jane Edwards, a published writer, poet and reviewer, and a member of the British Fantasy Society. Based in Cheadle, near Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Pat Winfield - freelance proof-reader and editor.

::  Valerie Greeley - a local author & illustrator.

::  Lynn Ashburner - author based at Loggerheads in the Staffordshire Moorlands. She writes organisational histories, memoirs, oral histories, and is also available for editing and ghostwriting.

::  feeder offers freelance copywriting, PR, proof-reading and editing.

::  Nick Fletcher - crime novelist, and also the author of books on antiques & collecting.

::  Peter Lancett - cult horror novelist, based in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Silvano Levy - a Senior Lecturer at Keele University who has published extensively on the history & work of the the English Surrealists.

     _SCRIPTS:

::  Nameless Productions - a film production company based in Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Federation of Worker Writers & Community Publishers - based in Burslem School of Art, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Should know of any local working-class scriptwriting groups.

::  Martin Eiliff - freelance multimedia developer and scriptwriter. Based in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

     _{STORYTELLING:}

::  Alan Barrett - freelance actor/writer and storyteller, based in Stoke-on-Trent.

     _{SPOKEN WORD TAPES:}

::  Keele University's English Department produce a range of exclusive audio-books, spoken by world-class poets such as Charles Tomlinson (the Stoke Poems), William Carlos Williams and Octavio Paz. Also available are tapes of the North Staffordshire dialect Jabez Stories.

     _TRANSLATION:

::  Braille Transcription service - based in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent.

::  Catherine Murray is "a freelance translator specialising in French and Italian translations into English." If you can use her services, more information can be had here

     _BOOKBINDING:

  Sovereign Bookcare - bookbinder based in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent.

 Remploy - a long-established specialist employer of disabled people, which provides book binding and book refurbishment services. Works regularly for prestige clients such as the British Library. Based at Trentham Lakes and at Newcastle-under-Lyme.

     _{INDIVIDUAL WELL-KNOWN WRITERS:}

See the Literary Heritage: West Midlands site - but note that there are some omissions. The Stoke-on-Trent entry is missing famous poets Charles Tomlinson (The Stoke Poems) and Pauline Stainer (a Whitbread Award nominee), and Faber & Faber novelist Stephen Foster (It Cracks Like Breaking Skin, Strides, & She Stood There Laughing). The dialect storyteller Wilfred Bloor (pen name A. Scott, author of the Jabez Stories) is also missing. The Newcastle entry is missing the poets Jeremy David Colclough, and Nicholas Johnson (Land: Selected Poems, 1983-1998) - Johnson founded and ran the Six Towns Poetry Festivals in Newcastle-under-Lyme from 1992 to 1997. The landscapes and people of North Staffordshire also inspired J.R.R. Tolkien - he spent time convalescing in Staffordshire during & after the First World War; and during the 1950s and 60s he spent most of his summer & Christmas holidays at his son's home at Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent. The Staffordshire Moorlands are the setting for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, masterfully translated by J.R.R. Tolkien.