Those of you who follow me on twitter will have seen lots of tweets about the Parabola Project and their we fund campaign. I am delighted to announce that they hit their target and the long awaited Parabola Project Issue II: Quickening is finally here. I am itching to get my hands on a copy because it looks absolutely gorgeous and sounds even better! The launch party is at the Rum Bar in Falmouth on Tuesday 29th November.
To start the story from the beginning, I will need to tell you a bit about my step-sister Clare. She is one pretty inspirational lady. Many, many summers ago, she and her sister went for a surfing lesson with their Dad. They all had a lovely time, and for Clare’s Dad and her sister, that was that. For Clare, it was another matter entirely – she was hooked. Weekend trips to Cornwall got more and more frequent until eventually, she took the plunge and left her PR job in London to follow her dream and become Deputy Editor for a new magazine, Stranger, in Cornwall. Since that fateful day she has established herself as an “original and exciting writer, editor and communications consultant with an eye for a good story”.
Not content with building a name for herself, Clare wanted to help other writers get established too, so she founded Telltales, “a monthly night for readers, writers and listeners”. Telltales brings together well-known writers and those just starting out, and includes everything from prose to poetry. Clare says, “I’ve always loved the look, feel and smell of the printed page so I knew I wanted to build on Telltales by creating something that people could hold. The first issue of the Parabola Project happened because I was hearing so much great work at Telltales but the ephemeral nature of performance meant that the intricate beauty of some of our writers’ work wasn’t making the impression I knew it could if people could read the work themselves.
On top of that I really wanted to showcase the incredible writing talent in Cornwall and beyond, whether it was the raw power of first time writers’ words or the crafted narrative of established wordsmiths. For me, Parabola has always been about getting creative writing out there to a wider audience and showcasing, motivating and inspiring the UK’s writing scene. Since we started Telltales and Parabola, writers who have been coming along have secured agents and publishing deals, performed at Port Eliot Festival, won awards and generally built their confidence and ability. That’s what it has always been about for me, so to see that actually happening has been wonderful.”
The first book was a huge success and raised enough money for a sequel, but Clare wanted to second issue to be bigger and better, so in yet another enterprising and inspiring move, she decided to crowd source the funding she needed… “The Parabola Project Issue I: Origins was all about style and substance; engaging short stories, novel extracts, travel journals, poetry and prose, blended with eye-catching design and eye-popping photography and illustrations. It went down a storm. We sold 90{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} of Issue I and raised enough to do it all again with Issue II.
But that didn’t feel like enough. We could see that we could create something even better. Through a successful Wefund campaign we raised a further £2,000 to put into the production pot, enabling us to print more pages, profile more writers and imagemakers, reach further afield, offer more to readers; and inspire new creative communities. Wefund was a lot of work, but it was amazing to see the support that Parabola got, real people digging in their pockets to make the bigger, better issue happen. Everyone has been so brilliant and the icing on the cake was when Eden pledged £500 and Jubilee Whard (an environmental complex in Penryn, Cornwall) pledged the last £185 to make it happen. That was a huge endorsement of what we are trying to do, from big players in Cornwall. I would recommend Wefund if you are willing to put the leg work in, and lose a little sleep over whether you’re going to make your total!”
Clare worked with her partner Zander Grinfeld of Venn Creative to design both books; “He is a very intelligent designer who understands that design, words and images have to work together – it’s something that I have struggled with in the past. I’ve worked with designers who don’t even read the words, who just plonk them on the page. That just wouldn’t have worked for Parabola. Venn also has a great network of imagemakers that Zander could draw on to get the right illustrations and photography for each piece of writing; marrying the captivating words with equally captivating imagery was really important.”
Clare’s passion for the written word is infectious and she’s definitely been a big inspiration to me in my fledgling writing career. I asked her what the best part about pulling together Issue 2 was… “Reading! I have read the content about 40 times now and every time I find new stuff that makes my hairs stand up. At the moment, my absolute favourite line (it’s on the back cover too) is from hugely talented Emma Timpany’s story, The Glasshouse Mountains – ‘if only that dead-looking dirt was time, she would pick a handful of it up and sprinkle it over these rocks, peel back the roads like liquorice…’ beautiful.” Doesn’t she just make you want to pick up a pen and write something beautiful too?!
She went on to say “I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed the visual aspect of pulling Parabola together. We won a design award last year and I think this issue is even better. Some of the illustrations, like Edward Tuckwell’s and Millie Marotta’s are jawdroppingly good. I can’t believe we are lucky enough to publish them. They are truly stunning. Molly Naylor’s poetry is amazing. She’s a real rising star on the literary scene so we’re super happy to have her in there. I also think Emma Timpany is one to watch – her writing is so expansive, she paints landscape beautifully and has something of Ernest Hemingway and Doris Lessing about her. And I think Gareth’s May’s skill with comedy is impressive. They’re all great though, it’s a brilliant mix.”
I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy (you can buy one here) and will be raising a glass to everyone involved with what looks set to be another wonderful publication on Tuesday. Well done Clare!
