British Fantasy Awards 2012 Embrace Outsiders, Chomu Press
Brighton, 30 September, 2012, FantasyCon. In the recently reformed British Fantasy Awards, relative newcomers Chômu Press (established in 2010) received the special jury PS Publishing Award for best independent press.
- (1888PressRelease) October 12, 2012 - The butterfly in the room…
With the publishing world in a state of crisis and transformation, the Chômu Press philosophy may be striking sympathetic chords. Their name derives from that of an obscure Japanese poet, and means, literally, "butterfly dream". A flyer for Chômu Press distributed at the convention depicted a butterfly emerging from the cocoon of a reader's now-opened mind. The connotations of rebirth are clear, and expressive of the sentiments of many publishers that there are opportunities in the current state of uncertainty as well as risks.
Chômu Press explain their mission by saying: "When Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and others were forming United Artists in 1919, the head of Metro Pictures apparently said, 'The inmates are taking over the asylum'. We see today's literature in stagnation and hope to stage a similar coup for lunatics in the world of publishing. We aim to make the indie writing scene as visible and exciting to people as the indie music scene has been, maybe even to bring the indie into the mainstream."
Accepting the award from PS Publishing's Peter Crowther, Quentin S. Crisp, editor at Chômu Press, expressed his belief that there are "many amazing writers out there" deserving a wider readership, and urged the audience to try out the works of new talents such as Justin Isis and Luke Geddes.
The Chômu Press catalogue includes writers such as Jeremy Reed, dubbed by The Independent, "British poetry's glam, spangly, shape-shifting answer to David Bowie"; Reggie Oliver, successful playwright and actor, who has begun an epic series of novels giving a fictional historical account of the origins of Dracula; songwriter and film-maker Julie Sokolow, whose album Something About Violins was acclaimed by Pitchfork, Wire and The Washington Post; and Daniel Mills, whose novel Revenants was included in Booklist's top ten of historical fiction for 2011.
Chômu Press publications are available worldwide from Amazon, Waterstones and other online retailers.
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