Birmingham’s fiction publisher continues to receive Arts Council support
Wednesday, 30th March 2011
Tindal Street Press is pleased to announce that it has been successful in retaining funding following today’s announcement from the Arts Council England.
For its National Portfolio programme the West Midlands regional office of ACE has offered the Birmingham publisher £40K for 2012-13 and £40K for 2013-14, tailing off to zero in the third year. This is a reduction of around £8K (16%) per year, for the first two years, on its previous regular funding settlement; and 100% in the third year. (It is not a 100% cut, as stated on the Arts Council website.)
The company applied for only two years’ funding in the expectation of increased book sales income in the third year, through their recently formed trade partnership with Atlantic Books and the Independent Alliance.
Arts Council England has supported Tindal Street Press since the company was formed for its focus on new regional writing in the field of literary fiction. And its record for prize-listed and nationally reviewed fiction titles has been the envy of many larger publishers.
Publishing Director, Alan Mahar commented: ‘This offer demonstrates continued support for our policy of regional excellence in literary fiction. It is in line with our plans to expand our publishing programme through our new trade partnership and become self-sustaining over the next three years. It represents a 16% reduction on our current agreement, but it is an achievement to continue to receive regular funding for a two-year period, after which we plan to be independent of public funding.’
Sir Michael Lyons, Chair of the Board of Directors at Tindal Street Press, comments: ‘It is a vote of confidence in TSP and our strategy for the future.‘
For further information, please contact Alan Mahar on 0121 773 8157 ([email protected])
Note for Editors:
Tindal Street Press, a Birmingham-based independent press specializing in literary fiction from the English regions, has been funded by Arts Council England since it began publishing in 1999. Nearly one in three of their titles (16 from 54) have been listed for national literary prizes, including three Man Booker, one shortlisted (Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall), two Orange, three Commonwealth, a Guardian First Book, four Desmond Elliott and two Costa First Novel winners (What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn and Beauty by Raphael Selbourne). The staff team comprises of Alan Mahar, Publishing Director, Luke Brown, Senior Editor and Publicist, Melissa Rudd, Operations Manager, Rikhi Ubhi, Publicity and Marketing Assistant, and Emma Baker, Desk Editor. In 2010, Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust, joined Tindal Street Press as Chair of the Board of Directors.
