Now in its twelfth year, DMU's Leicester Centre for Creative Writing presents States of Independence, a unique opportunity to meet independent presses from across the region and discuss issues in the book industry.
States of Independence 2021 will be delivered as a one-day festival online. Our theme will celebrate the resilience of indie publishing in a year of lockdowns.
A varied programme will include live and pre-recorded sessions, including the following:
- an Indie Press Portal on our website, showcasing the best of regional indie presses
- an opening live panel discussion on Indie Publishing: Building the Comeback
- a live networking event led by Dahlia Books: Rise Up: Building Resilient Writing Communities
- a range of video workshops with writing prompts and live chat streams
- video guides on Descriptive Writing, Designing your Book Cover and Submitting to Indie Presses.
- interview by Anthony Joseph with founder of Peepal Tree Press, Jeremy Ponting.
- readings from poetry, crime fiction, fantasy and Black British Experimental writing
- guest blogs on the challenges of publishing in a pandemic
Participating indie presses include Dahlia Books, Space Cat Press, Five Leaves Books, Peepal Tree Press, Bearded Badger Press and many others.
Join us for the day or an hour. Attend lots of events - you will be spoiled for choice - or just one, or simply come along and browse through the online showcase to see what the independent sector is publishing.
States of Independence supports independent thinking, independent writing and independent presses.
The full programme will be published on our website when it has been finalised. States of Independence is a free event, hosted by DMU’s Leicester Centre for Creative Writing, with the support of the small presses. Our regional partner this year is Dahlia Books.
Book your free ticket on Eventbrite.
