21 March 2008

Dundee book of new writing now available

‘Great writing begins with small magazines...’

A new anthology of new writing, backed by the University of Dundee, will be in the shops today.

The third annual issue of New Writing Dundee is now available for £4 at the Dundee Waterstones, Borders and the DCA. The collection has upgraded from a magazine to book format and will feature writing from around the world by both award-winning published authors and previously unpublished new talent. Showcasing Dundee’s excellent publishing potential, noted authors such as Meaghan Delahunt, Namita Chakrabarty, and Jonathan Falla will he featured alongside thirty-three other talented writers of both prose and poetry.

The University of Dundee student-based editorial staff is deeply grateful to both Kirsty Gunn, who has provided a foreword, and the University English and Creative Writing programmes for their eternal support.

‘New Writing Dundee is a group effort of huge proportions, which is why it is such an interesting project,’ says editor Rachel Marsh. ‘The book represents everything Dundee publishing has to offer. We have support from the University, stories and poems from local talent, feedback and entries from world-renown authors, and will be showcased at the Dundee Literary Festival on the 20th of June. Before the first book has even been sold, this year’s project is a success.’

Professor Kirsty Gunn, Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Dundee says, "Small magazines are the very essence of creative endeavour - an expression of thought and imagination, of experimentation and risk and opinion and verve that one simply does not find in the mainstream media." Kirsty, whose novel, The Boy and The Sea, won the 2007 Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award, says: "I tell all my creative writing students to publish in small magazines before they even think about publishing anywhere else. For here they will find their first "home" - a place w here their work can be judged by others outside the classroom who, along with editors and readers, can share with them an interest and feeling for the work all are publishing; a place where we can come together to converse, to share with each other a sense of artistic hope and joint endeavour."

For more information contact New Writing Dundee at newwritingdundee@dundee.ac.uk or dundeeliteraryfestival@gmail.com to get tickets to the NWD event.

For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk