“The pandemic has been a difficult time for small businesses – so to receive this funding from the Inclusive Indies Fund is a fantastic boost and it will make a huge difference to us as a small, Black owned business. We will use the grant to develop several new projects and to increase the reach of our newest title, ‘Children of the Benin Kingdom’.” Sonya McGilchrist, Owner, Dinosaur Books
The Inclusive Indies Fund, set up by Knights of and Jacaranda Books and administered by Spread the Word, is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants totalling £35,000 to 11 inclusive independent presses from across the UK and Ireland.
The ten UK independent presses, selected from 26 submissions, were awarded grants of £3,000 each and include five independent children’s presses. The UK Inclusive Indies Fund recipients are: Bluemoose Books, Bryan House Publishing, Dinosaur Books, HopeRoad, Onwe Press, Out-Spoken Press, Owlet Press, OWNIT!, Tiny Owl Publishing and Way Wive Wordz. The children’s and young adult Irish independent press Little Island received a grant of £5,000.
Anthony Anaxagorou, Founder, Out-Spoken Press, commented:
“We’re thrilled to have been awarded an Inclusive Indies grant, it really couldn’t have come at a more crucial time for us as a publisher. We’re now able to ensure the release of our titles for upcoming months, with the care and attention they each deserve, and to look ahead to our plans for 2021.”
Aimée Felone, Co-founder, Knights of commented:
“At a time when uncertainty prevailed, we received overwhelming support from our communities. The Inclusive Indies Fund was set up to provide that same support back to those who hold us up. We are honoured to be able to help, in a very small way, the inclusive independent publishers that have and continue to champion the voices that society often overlooks.”
Valerie Brandes, Founder and Publisher, Jacaranda Books commented:
“Out of the depths of George Floyd’s horrific death at the hands of US police, and in the midst of this terrifying pandemic, we could never have anticipated or imagined, once we made the decision we needed to ask for help, the level of kindness, support, (financial and emotional) we would receive. We are deeply humbled by the engagement we saw with the Crowdfunder and sharing that success with our fellow indies has simply been the best outcome of all. We at Jacaranda are fully committed to supporting, wherever we can, the activities of inclusive presses in the publishing industry, and hope that our commitment will inspire those with the means and many more resources to do the same.”
The Fund will continue to advocate for inclusive indie publishers alongside providing support and advice. Sessions on ‘The business of running an independent press’ led by Aimée Felone (Knights of) and Valerie Brandes (Jacaranda Books) and ‘Gaining funding for your indie’ run by Ruth Harrison (Spread the Word) are taking place for the inclusive indies who applied to the Fund.
Find out more about the inclusive indies supported:
Bluemoose Books: https://bluemoosebooks.com/
Bryan House Publishing: https://www.bryanhousepublishing.com/
Dinosaur Books: http://www.dinosaurbooks.co.uk/
HopeRoad: https://www.hoperoadpublishing.com/
Little Island: https://littleisland.ie/
Onwe Press: https://www.onwe.co/
Out-Spoken Press: http://www.outspokenldn.com/press
Owlet Press: https://www.owletpress.com/
OWNIT!: https://ownit.london/
Tiny Owl Publishing: https://tinyowl.co.uk/
Way Wive Wordz: https://www.waywivewordz.com/
Published 28 September 2020.