New Nottingham Journal is set to offer great writing in a collectible coffee-table-friendly design
A fresh journal journey begins...
Launching in autumn, New Nottingham Journal is “the rebel city’s brand new magazine, featuring top quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry from around the world”.
We hear from founder and editor Andrew Tucker Leavis all about it…
For those who don't know, what is the elevator pitch for New Nottingham Journal?
Ok, my elevator pitch… wait, which floor are we going to, how long have I got?
I don’t want to get carried away, but Nottingham is perhaps the best city that has ever existed or will ever exist. Most major cities have named journals of writing, but we don’t - yet.
We’re a UNESCO City of Literature, we have a writing scene that’s fizzing with excitement, and heritage as good as anywhere… all of that should be in print, in people’s hands.
The second part is that 50% of people enjoy reading books or magazines for pleasure. But how many of us wake up and say ‘ah, today I’d better pick up a literary journal’? I’d like to get great writing - short stories, poetry, slow journalism - in front of bright, curious people, with a collectible coffee-table-friendly design.
You've mentioned that you were frustrated that Nottingham didn't have its own coffee-table publication. Why is it so important for the city to have one?
Part of it is wanting to do justice to the writing scene that we have here - it’s collaborative, inclusive, and just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, another new open mic or poetry brunch or screenwriting collective pops up out of nowhere and makes you take notice.
Another is that when I moved away from Nottingham, I realised that people had really silly stereotypes - you know, ‘Shottingham’, dilapidated redbrick factories, Midlands nothingness. I developed a good chip on my shoulder, I think. We have so many things to be proud of, and I’d love the New Nottingham Journal to be one of them, eventually.
The publication will feature entries from all around the world - what links them all to Notts?
We’re all on this planet together and we’re sort of morally handcuffed to one another. But as the news will relay to you, the international mood is one of a retreat into protectionism, culturally and economically. I think we need every small project to tie us together as much as possible, so we don’t collapse in on ourselves.
And Nottingham’s reputation is worldwide - I recently interviewed Professor Stephen Knight, a Robin Hood scholar among many other things, who’s now based in Australia. Kids in Chicago are shouting ‘c’mon you reds’.
I should mention, of course, that we’re part of the City of Literature network, and that team has been so important in terms of getting submissions from all over the world. We’ve had at least one from every continent so far - except for Antarctica, but I remain hopeful.
People have just leapt on the idea, which tells me there’s more demand than supply for being published in print right now
Entries have now closed. How have you found the quality and variety of submissions for Volume 1?
Well, you know I’m going to say that I was blown away by the quality of submissions. In this case, it’s really true - people have just leapt on the idea, which tells me there’s more demand than supply for being published in print right now.
The thing that’s really grabbed me is that I didn’t really prompt for a theme, but certain things have come through repeatedly - motherhood, trees regrowing, anxiety between borders. And the image of a Phoenix has come up several times. Our new logo, maybe?
You're looking for sponsorship to help with bringing the publication to as wide an audience as possible. Why should businesses and sponsors get involved with the publication?
Well, I think with our ties to LeftLion, Bad Betty Press, the universities’ creative writing departments and Nottingham City of Literature, plus other organisations, this could be a really exciting time for other businesses to get involved as partners.
Businesses will be presented among some fantastic writers - like Booker nominee Alison Moore, Royle Family creator and poet Henry Normal and lots of award winners. And it’s a way to get stuck into the literary market in the Midlands.
When can readers expect to get the chance to buy their own copy? What's the timeline looking like from here?
We’ll be launching preorders in July, for an autumn release. Those who preorder will really help us by letting us know how many to print, and so will get bonuses like their name in the first volume, cover prints, bookmarks and more! You’ll also be giving a vote of confidence to our literary scene, I guess, which we’d really appreciate.
And then we’ll have a fun knees-up launch in the autumn, as I say, with all invited. More details on that to follow, and thanks for reading this far!