Leigh Nash, Publisher, Assembly Press |
Assembly
Press
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Poet
and publisher Leigh Nash, poet and editor Andrew Faulkner, and
veteran literary publicist and communications strategist Debby de Groot announced a new joint venture: a brand new
multi-genre publishing house, Assembly Press.
Leigh Nash, who formerly served as publisher at both Invisible
Publishing and House of Anansi Press, will be Publisher at Assembly, with
Faulkner, the former managing editor for Invisible, serving the role of
Strategist, and de Groot heading up Communications.
Based in Prince Edward County and in Mississauga,
Ontario, Assembly Press will publish a balanced mix of voice-driven and
concept-driven fiction,
nonfiction, and poetry. They want their books to
be notable for engaging with contemporary issues with thoughtfulness,
incisiveness, and passion in equal measure.
They are open to submissions from anyone now
and until December 18, 2023.
They welcome submissions by all writers,
regardless of publication history or writing experience. In other words – they
welcome new authors.
Like everyone else, they especially want submissions
from “equity-seeking writers marginalized by attitudinal, historic, social, and
environmental barriers based on age, ethnicity, disability, economic status,
gender, nationality, race, sexual orientation, and transgender status.” They
will push proposals and manuscripts from these authors to the front of their
reading queue. (Of course this means that if they do have submissions from "equity-seeking writers," they’ll push projects by other writers to the back of the queue).
What they’re looking to acquire
Fiction
- Our taste is literary, in
that we prioritize quality of writing above all else, but we’re not afraid
of plot.
- Inventive and innovative
ways of telling stories, and work that plays with form and style.
- We love a good mood,
especially writing that’s sly or has a witty sense of humour or that
embraces dark or gritty emotions and that leave us with feelings.
- Genre projects (romance,
speculative, mystery, etc.) that centre craft and writing quality just as
much as the narrative.
- We’re big fans of short(er)
novels and novellas.
We’re not a good home for straightforward historical novels that don’t have a contemporary hook. We're also not looking for straight-up commercial projects, such as crime, thriller, mystery, romance, speculative fiction, or chick-lit.
Assembly's first title will be County Harvest, a follow-up to County Heirlooms |
- We want to see writers
grappling with their passion for their subject matter on the page.
- Voice-driven and
concept-driven nonfiction with contemporary relevance, especially
nonfiction from historically underrepresented voices, that engages with
the world.
- Our interests include ideas,
science, psychology, nature writing, culture, memoir, business, and to a
lesser extent, history and politics, as well as books that visit the
intersection of those subjects.
- Work that plays with
inventive and genre-bending narrative structures.
We’re likely to pass on straightforward surveys of subject matter; memoir without any tie-in to larger cultural of social issues; political biographies; and books without any central narrative or intellectual hook.
Poetry
- We are interested in a wide
range of contemporary poetry, including lyric, experimental, and visual
poetry.
- We’re especially keen on
poems with a strong sense of voice, and poetry collections with a unifying
concept or outlook and that engage with a specific idea, problem or
cultural issue.
- Visual and experiment poetry
manuscripts should be reproducible in a standard book format by commercial
printing.
Submissions
Include a 1–2 page letter of introduction
to you and the project you’re submitting, a 250-word synopsis,
and a short bio (who
you are, the communities you come from, the job(s) you work, any other personal
details that will give us a good sense of who you are, and a list of
publications, if you have one) as part of your letter. Additional context is
always helpful; if it’s applicable to your project, please include any/all of
the below info in your letter:
- what made you write (or want
to write) this manuscript and why you’re the ideal writer to tackle such a
project
- traditions or cultural
conversations your manuscript participates in
- your manuscript’s ideal
reader/audience
- books you’ve read and think
would be good conversation mates for your manuscript
- your hopes for your writing career
The work. A full manuscript for fiction and
poetry, and either a full manuscript or a proposal for nonfiction. We have no
word-count requirements, but our preference is for completed prose works
between 35,000–90,000 words, and poetry manuscripts in the 60–100-page range.
Nonfiction proposals should include a chapter outline and a writing sample of
at least 10 pages.
See Assembly’s full submission guidelines and submit through their online form here.
***
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