Directory: WRITING & PUBLISHING

 
     _{BOOK PUBLISHERS:}

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

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

::  North Staffordshire Press, publishers of Dandelions: A Book of Poetry by Arthur Berry, among others.

::  Audley Publications.

 Burslem Books - publisher of the books A History of Burslem and the Fowlea Valley and The Beauty of Trentham.

     _{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. Subscribe to the paper edition and get it by post.

::  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.

     _{FREELANCE WRITERS:}

::  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.

::  Anna Cahalin - a freelance writer based in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, with a particular interest in parenting and pregnancy/birth.

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

::  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.

::  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 English Surrealists.

     _{PROOFREADERS, RESEARCHERS:}

::  Anigma Information - online content specialist. Hand-coding of Kindle ebooks, and online research, among other services.

::  Janet Sutton - a Chapterhouse trained proofreader based in Staffordshire.

     _{COPYWRITING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS:}

::  Feeder P.R.

     _{WRITING GROUPS AND ORGANISATIONS:}

::   Renegade Writers Group - for writers who "dare to be different". Mostly science fiction, horror and fantasy. They meet every Wednesday (7.30pm-9.30pm) in the Jolly Potters pub, Hartshill.

::  Da Engliscan Gesipas [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.

::   Poetry Society Stanza Group meets regularly in The Leopard pub in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. They generally meet on the third Tuesday of the month, but details are posted on their blog. It is not necessary to be a member of The Poetry Society to attend, and admission is free.

See also: Lit-Net.

     _'ZINES:

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

::  Culturing Stuff is an online zine.

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

::  Photosensor is an online photography magazine, edited from Stoke-on-Trent.

::  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.

     _WEBLOGS:

::  My left eye sees...things

::  Stoke Sounds

::  QR Codes Stoke project blog

::  The Painted House

::  Mother Town blog

::  David Elks

::  Social Media Geek

::  Daily Bread

::  Christopher Guest

::  Pits'n'Pots / The Radical Press

::   Stoke-on-Writing (SToW)

::  Boxette / She's Lost Control

::  Roger Taylor

::  Tales from a Changing City

::  Nantwich Mums United

     _SCRIPTS:

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

::  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 & CALLIGRAPHY:}

::  Pen People - a national calligraphy magazine published from North Staffordshire. The editors also run local workshops and courses.

 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.

     _{CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS:}

::   Stoke-on-Trent -based dark fantasy author Michael Stone has a personal website, and a lively weblog, My left eye sees...things. His 2008 book Fourtold is available on Amazon, with a foreword by Garry Kilworth.

     _{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.