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Indie publishers unite to lobby against spending cuts

01.01.70 | Graeme Neill

Twelve independent literary publishers, including Tindall Street Press, Arcadia and Dedalus, have joined forces to lobby against the funding cuts anticipated as part of the government’s upcoming spending review.

Publishers involved in the initiative includes several other Arts Council-funded poetry and fiction publishers. The Arts Council is expected to be among the bodies hardest hit by the coalition government’s comprehensive spending review. 

Jeremy Poynting of Peepal Tree Press, who organised the group, said the twelve companies planned to explore opportunities for collaborative working “to limit the impact” of any cuts in funding, including developing joint digital publishing projects. 

“No one, not even Arts Council England, yet knows how bad the cuts are going to be, but at a time when welfare, health services and the entire public sector is bracing itself, we know literary publishers cannot expect preferential treatment," he said. Poynting warned that, without the kind of small presses represented within the group, new poetry would “all but disappear”.

“Our aim is to ensure that the future of poetry and independent literary publishing remains ambitiously creative, visible, and vibrant even in this climate of reduced funding for the arts.”

• Arcadia
• Arts Council
• Dedalus
• independent publishing
• Jo Young
• Peepal Tree Press
• tindall street press