New publishing house launches in Bournemouth

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A new Dorset-based publishing house was launched this week during an action-packed event in Bournemouth.

Fresher, based within Bournemouth University’s Media School, aims to ‘encourage and support aspiring writers and offer a platform to all new voices’ by offering a chance to submit work for publication and support from experts within the university.

The launch event, which took place at Kino in Bournemouth Square, also showcased the first publication from Fresher publishing, a book called Fresh, a collection of new writing and short stories produced entirely by final year Bournemouth University students.

The project has been driven by Fresher’s Editorial Director, Emma Scattergood, who is a Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media at Bournemouth University. Emma said, “We are delighted to be launching Fresher – and its first book – and are looking forward to growing as a platform for new writing talent in Dorset. Having our own publishing press is a great way of allowing our students to get valuable practical experience and, I hope, will go a step further in establishing Bournemouth, and especially the university, as a centre of creative writing.”

As a part of the launch event, authors were invited to read excerpts from their short stories. One author, Joan Ellis, read a passage from her new book, ‘I am Ella. Buy Me’ due to be published through Fresher as an e-publication later this year. Joan said, “The book, based on my experience, is the fast-paced story of a young woman battling more than just fat thighs and small boobs in the sexist world of London’s mad, bad Adland in the 1980’s. Thanks to Fresher I look forward to my novel being published in the summer.”

The event was also an opportunity to announce the winner of the Most Promising Student Writer Award, created to celebrate the achievements of the student writers who contributed to the book ‘Fresh’. The award was won by Charlotte Clifton (pictured), a Communications and Media student from BU, for her short story ‘Scales’; the tale of a young girl and her struggle with a medical condition.

Charlotte said, “It feels fantastic to know that all the hard work has paid off, and quite surreal to see my writing in a published book! I’m absolutely thrilled to win the award, especially as there was so much talent to choose from – being recognised for something that I love to do is so wonderful and has really given me the confidence to get back to my desk and keep writing.”

As well as giving an opportunity to aspiring writers, the publishing house offers the opportunity for university students to gain valuable experience of publishing by taking on various roles within the publishing house. These roles include marketing and PR, as well as editing, typesetting and cover design for some of the publications.

Writing submissions are encouraged from writers of all ages and backgrounds as the publishing house seeks to give opportunities to new writers. If you are interested in further information about the publishing house, or submitting a piece of writing, you can do so through the Fresher website.