ERIC is partnering with Somerset House and leading publishers Hachette UK, PanMacmillan and Penguin to bring you a daylong free event which celebrates careers in publishing and related industries, through the lens of storytelling. Immerse yourself in the different interactive room experiences that our event partners have designed and learn about the incredible creativity behind publishing.
If you’re interested in reading, writing, drawing, design, marketing, photography …or pretty much any creative skill, come to this event and discover a whole industry you never even knew existed.
On the main stage throughout the day we will be inviting young, diverse and aspirational speakers, representing the next generation who are making waves in the publishing world and doing things differently. Each event room will be partitioned into sections of specialist areas including editorial, audio, ‘spoken word karaoke’, video installations alongside key publishing leaders as well as your peers to engage in conversations and offer advice. Somerset House will also be joined by partner the Creative Society offering a pop-up Creative Job Studio bringing networking and insight with some behind-the-scenes of Somerset House Studios meeting some of the artists along the way.
The Huntley Archives
50 years ago Bogle-L’Ouverture published its first book The Groundings with my Brothers by Dr Walter Rodney. Founded by Eric and Jessica Huntley, as radical Black publishers and activists, Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications launched the careers of several well-known writers including Lemn Sissay, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Valerie Bloom and Andrew Salkey among many others. The Bogle-L’Ouverture and the Huntley Archives – now deposited at the City of London’s London Metropolitan Archives – are managed by the FHALMA Foundation who develops interventionist art, literary, education and heritage projects, such as No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 (www.nocoolurbar.org), showcasing Black contributions to British culture. Beverley Mason, FHALMA's chief executive and elder Eric Huntley are leading on the legacy of the archives, with new publications, as well as giving voice to the Huntleys’ campaigns of resistance, anti-racist, socio-political interventions and their fiercely determined support for new talent, further equipping today's intergenerational audiences with knowledge of Black British culture, creativity and identity. www.fhalma.org
Image: Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist-Lemn Sissay (cover design Meryvn Weir-cover illustration Linda Jones). Courtesy of Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives. LMA reference. 4462
