Contents Editors’ Column — 3 SYP Conference 2014 review — 4 Night of the Living Bookshop — 6 The New Hero in Bookselling: Super Thursday — 8 Will Work for Books — 11 The Man Booker Prize 2014 — 13 SYP Book Club 2014: a year in review — 14 Canon Fodder — 15 A pop-up Christmas — 17 SYP round up: the best European bookshops — 19 Doing it by the Book — 21 Solving the mystery of the ghostly Christmas story — 23 The SYP’s top ten Christmas Books 2014 — 25 Goodbye to the 2014 editorial team — 27 Have a Literary Christmas! — 29 Chair’s column — 30

Commissioning Editors Designer Anna Cunnane Emma Carroll Pardy Dhillon

Editors Rebecca Hunt With thanks to our Sarraounia Christianson Louisa Owen contributors Emma Jessup Editors’ Column We are delighted to be approaching Christmas but also sad at the end of the SYP year and we hope you enjoy what we think is beautifully wrapped treat all about bookselling. Christmas remains the most important time of the year for booksellers and in this issue we look at how they are preparing for the festive season from Super Thursday in November on pp.8-10 to Christmassy literary events around the country on p.29. There is always plenty of discussion over which books will feature in the Christmas charts but we have made our own SYP Christmas top ten on pp.25-26. We all know that booksellers have been suffering from stiff competition and many are taking innovative steps to stand out from the crowd, check out pp.17–18 for the latest on Christmas pop up bookshops. Of course the UK isn’t the only country to boast plenty of beautiful bookshops and on pp.19–20 we take a tour around Europe’s best bookshops – be prepared to want to book your plane tickets. Bookselling has always been associated with ghostly festive tales and the best of our spooky Christmas literary traditions are featured on pp.23–24. On p.13 we look at the impact that the announcement of the winner of the Booker Prize has had on sales in the run up to Christmas. There can be few of our readers who didn’t hear about the tourist locked into Waterstones, Trafalgar Square so on pp.6–7 we see how the retailer has turned this into a marketing opportunity with their own Night at the Bookshop. We have a had a great year for the SYP book club in 2014 so we have asked our book club co- ordinator Zara to tell us about its success and future plans on p.14. Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it to our very successful annual conference last month because we have a review on pp.4–5. One of the most highly anticipated films of 2015 is the new instalment of Star Wars so have a look at pp.15–16 for our feature on the franchises’ ailing novels. Increasing access to books and reading is a major concern for booksellers so on pp.21–22 we look at what is being done to encourage creative writing in prisons. Many young publishers are worried about their pay, especially at this time of year, and on pp.11–12 we review the industry situation. Finally, don’t miss our lovely Chair Helen’s last column on p.30 and goodbyes from the editorial team on pp.27–28.

Thanks for reading and may your Christmas be bookish and your stocking filled with paperbacks. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at the SYP,

3 SYP Conference

2014 review Anna Cunnane

On November 8th the SYP met for our annual conference at the LCC, London. We hold a conference each year, whether in London or Oxford, to come together to learn from our peers and experts about the future direction of the industry. This year’s theme was The Perfect Publisher and we asked all our speakers and nearly 200 delegates to imagine their perfect publisher unconstrained by limits of time and money. When our key note speaker, Ursula Mackenzie (pictured below) was asked to speak about whether publishers would still matter in the future and what self-publishing meant to authors, she argued that ‘each individual publisher must strive to offer both value for money and a sort of home’. Mackenzie identified Intellectual Property and an ability to change and adapt to the digital environment as the industry’s particular strengths. She claimed that ‘it’s vital that we don’t just give up’ in the fight against online piracy and that this involved reminding the government of how much the creative industries were worth to the UK economy. She highlighted the low price of print and e-books as a major concern but suggested that this would eventually be a problem for Amazon too as the low incomes that authors received would choke off their supply line. Above all, she argued that ‘a bit of existential angst never did anyone any harm’ and that she had confidence in us as young publishers to ‘take us [publishing] in new, exciting directions’. Mark Rusher, who managed Orion’s promotion of the phenomenal Gone Girl which won the BMS Spring award in 2013, gave our budding marketers his top twenty tips for creating a bestseller including getting your metadata right and being flexible with budgets in order to chase the sales. Laura Guiseppe from Harper Collins spoke about the importance of creating a narrative behind the campaign for her successful promotion of the new Poirot novel, and Bethan Ferguson from Quercus argued that if you have a small budget the best thing to do is get the trade behind you and they will become your ‘advocates’. Consumer insight was a

4 real buzzword at the conference with Damian Horner, Brand Development Director at Hachette, asking us to look at publishing as fulfilling a consumer need, and Jo Henry of Nielsen reminding us that data is an essential tool for understanding our customer. The panel in our Ideal Bookshop seminar agreed that in order to succeed bricks and mortar stores needed to emphasis the extra value they provide in hand selling. Sheila O’Reilly from Dulwich Books pointed out that if booksellers get behind a book it can really make a difference to its fortunes. Bookshops also have the potential to combine the best in print and digital such as the PRH initiative My Independent Bookshop and events programmes that give reading communities a space to meet offline. The idea of publishers replacing retailers and selling in large volumes direct to the consumer was rejected by the the panellists who felt that with the possible exception of Penguin, publishers did not have strong enough consumer brands to support this. Books are my Bag was mentioned as a great way of getting people inspired and communicating what they love about physical bookshops and crucially had a positive impact on sales. Tom Bonnick from Nosy Crow and George Walkley Head of Digital at Hachette UK spoke to us about job roles in digital publishing, as well as the way the publishing life cycle is changing due to digital products. George told us that future publishers would need to have experience in all areas and that digital is already reaching into all areas of the business with these revenues at Hachette growing from £0.5 million in 2009 to £75 million. He said that while digital was once an afterthought in the publishing process, it is now incorporated into every stage. Tom talked us through the reuse and repurposing of Nosy Crow content into many different products, whether it’s a picture book, a website or an app and even used the example of a concept that began life in an app before becoming a book, reversing the traditional publishing pipeline. George spoke about the innovative things that Hachette were doing with digital publishing including their Churchill app and argued that the definitions of a game, a book and a website were becoming increasingly difficult to define. The concluding panel of an SYP conference is always a heated event where many of the day’s big questions come into focus. Whilst agreeing on many of the attributes that we as young publishers needed to have to succeed, such as knowledge of coding and metadata and an ability to combine editorial and marketing skills, the panel disagreed on whether conventional publishers could be truly innovative. Gareth Howard of Authoright and Sara O’Connor of Hot Key got down to the nature of publishing itself when they argued over whether Amazon was the perfect publisher. Most of the audience concluded that publishers should combine knowledge of deep data with editorial expertise but this conversation continued well into the conference after party!

On behalf of the SYP I would like to thank all of our speakers, the LCC, our delegates and especially conference organisers Sarah O’Halloran, Kate Craigie and Meri Pentikäinen for making the day a success.

5 locked in a bookshop – and ultimately resulted in Airbnb UK getting in touch to suggest they help us host a sleepover. Airbnb: The ‘sleepover’ concept is part of Night Airbnb’s global initiative ‘Night At’, that seeks to unlock places around the world where it’s never previously been possible to stay. For instance, in August, Airbnb offered people in Australia the of the chance to spend a night in three rooms within an IKEA store. More recently, Airbnb listed a redesigned KLM jet liner, bookable for a three night Living stay! How responsive to the idea was Waterstones? A: Waterstones were extremely responsive to the Bookshop idea. Following our tweet suggesting they list their Rebecca Hunt store on Airbnb, Waterstones were delighted to offer book lovers the chance to purposefully spend Nightmare scenario or dream come true? (Hint: the night in their flagship Piccadilly store. definite dream come true!) On the 16th of October American tourist David Willis was locked into Were you surprised by the level of interest in the Waterstones Trafalgar Square store for two the competition? hours, being released after tweeting a plea for W: Not at all! As we’d already seen on Twitter, there help. The media buzz was instant with Willis’s are lots of people who would jump at the chance tweet being retweeted over 6,000 times and of spending a night surrounded by fantastic books! #WaterstonesTexan and #freewaterstonesone trending. Willis was interviewed the next morning by What do you think attracted people to the Good Morning America and Good Morning Britain concept/venue? about his experience. Waterstones, in conjunction with Airbnb, went on to turn a potential PR disaster W: For one thing, books have a certain magical into a feel-good publicity goldmine. We talk to power about them – as any Terry Pratchett or even spokespeople from Airbnb and Waterstones about Borges fan will know. Being surrounded by all these the already legendary Waterstones ‘Sleepover’ different stories is a thrilling experience at the best event: of times but to be given the run of our flagship shop on Piccadilly overnight, with over eight miles of How did the ‘sleepover’ concept come about? shelves, is surely every book lover’s dream. Waterstones: After an American tourist became What were the highlights of the night? temporarily stranded in our Trafalgar Square bookshop, we ran a piece on our blog suggesting W: Our winners and their guests were given a books that people who found themselves trapped in tour of the building – seeing the bits the general a bookshop for two hours might like to read – ‘What public don’t normally get to see, including the to read when you’ve two hours on your hands ... and stunning view over the London skyline from our are locked in a bookshop’. 8th Floor balcony. There were readings from This proved popular on social media – with actors portraying Poirot and Jeeves and a special tons of people saying how they would LOVE to be appearance from Professor Richard Wiseman who gave tips on how to get a good night’s sleep. Not 6 that there was much sleeping in the end – the lure How is the Waterstones One doing now? of books proved too much of a distraction. The last people went to bed at around 5am, after a game of W: David Willis is well I believe. We did invite him to chess in our Russian Bookshop on the 4th Floor. the sleepover but he was in the middle of a holiday A: Overall, it was a magical night – guests had and wasn’t able to make it. the run of the place the entire night (8 floors) from Are Waterstones planning any other special 9pm – 9am. Airbnb provided airbed mattresses, events? And is Airbnb planning any more sleeping bags, pillows, and all the essentials for a events in other literary locations? sleepover money can’t buy! Highlights included a tour of the biggest bookstore in Europe, an Agatha W: We do lots of brilliant events at our shops up and Christie reading given by a Poirot lookalike, a P.G. down the country but have no current plans to do Wodehouse reading given by a Jeeves actor, a another sleepover. A: There are definite possibilities special talk given by Richard Wiseman, author though we wouldn’t want to give anything away! of ‘Night School’, Airbnb goodie bags, and not to mention an abundance of drinks, treats and a continental breakfast the next morning! Thanks Waterstones and How do you think Twitter has changed the Airbnb, we hope we’re PR and publicity landscape? invited to the next one! W: For us, Twitter has allowed us to share our personality more easily – it’s less stuffy than email or Facebook because it’s such an instant and semi-temporary medium. We get to chat to our customers online in the same way our Booksellers do each day in our shops and that’s been invaluable. It also allows for responsive work like this sleepover – but you have to be fast, and flexible. A: It enables people and brands to think and act quickly; without having to wait for news stories to hit the shelves, the world is connected and amazing things can happen in no time at all! Do you think this event highlights how bookshops (and other businesses) should adapt to stay relevant to consumers in an increasingly online market? Is there more bookshops could be doing? W: I think the publishing and bookselling worlds have been working well with social media for years now; many were early adopters of Twitter and are actually just being noticed now for what they’ve been doing for a long time. There’s always more we can do, but our focus online is the same as in our bookshops – to put brilliant books in the hands of hungry readers.

Images courtesy of Air B&B The New Hero in Bookselling: Super Thursday

Sarraounia Christianson

Super Thursday is fast becoming an annual event in the trade publishing calendar. A fairly recent phenomenon it is usually the first Thursday in October and represents the day when publishers release the most books in time for the crucial festive period. The first unofficial Super Thursday was highlighted seven years ago as a day when publishers began their Christmas push. This year Books Are My Bag will be marking it with a three-day program of events across the country with publishers, authors and bookshops. This October 9th saw a bumper crop with over 300 titles published on that day alone, making it the biggest one yet. Although books are not exactly making a comeback, more of a slower decline than before, it seems that the hammering paper books have been receiving in recent years in general and from their digital counterparts is tailing off and sales are beginning to recover. In particular children’s books are especially strong and continue to grow, year on year. Those who wanted e-readers got them for Christmas in the last few years and they’re not broken just yet. Giving someone an gift card to buy their e-books doesn’t quite hold the same mystique as gifting a physical book. Books remain one of the most popular purchases under £20 in the gift- buying market; say the market research group Mintel. The thing about a book is that there is literally something for everyone. No matter taste, age or even for those who don’t enjoy reading too much text, a book out there will cover it. A book is really the perfect gift. A

image courtesy of Nina Matthews 8 book contains a story takes you to another world, ideas that educate, can provide hours of entertainment and information, and are a crucial escape.

A Gift for Booksellers Christmas is the time of year for booksellers. In retail in general it’s a period that completely affects the rest of year. Don’t do well at Christmas; expect to have a rough year of it. Bookshops pull out all the stops to draw in the punters and to try and make choosing a faultless title for your Grandad/Mum/Uncle/ Sister-in-Law as easy as possible. Shoppers love visiting bookshops in the festive season. The creativity of the displays, the warm and cosy inviting lights of a bookshop shining out into the dark cold night are irresistible. Carefully browsing the shelves and artfully arranged tables for ‘that’ book you know your loved one will enjoy. Also for the ever-organized Christmas shoppers out there there is the wait for the period surrounding Super Thursday when you know all the titles you might want to give are released and then ordering them online immediately. Or even pre-ordering! Shoppers can gaze for hours on end to their hearts content at home online with a cup of tea, wondering which one of all the shiny new titles could represent a happy relative or friend.

Tips For The Top Spots The books that do well at Christmas usually centre on big glossy celebrity-driven titles. Food and biography always do well. Non-fiction tends to sell more at Christmas than any other time of year. Last year the very clear front-runner was Alex Ferguson who topped the Christmas charts putting all other titles in the shade, by a long chalk. His book is in fact still selling well, and the ever-savvy publishers have released a ‘one year on’ updated version in October paperback that possesses considerable potential to sell well over the festive period. In terms of fiction the first Bridget Jones title to be penned in fourteen years by Helen Fielding and David Walliams’ children’s book Demon Dentist were both in the top 20 following their respective Super Thursday releases. So last year’s Super Thursday was a successful one, can this year repeat that when it comes to Christmas sales? This year is a little different in that the top spot in the Christmas book chart is up for the taking. There is no book that looks set to wipe the floor with the competition. There are similar sporting titles from the likes of cricketer Kevin Pietersen and ex-footballer Roy Keane, which will no doubt feature, but nothing on the scale of the Ferguson title. In terms of celebrity biography Lynda Bellingham’s offering is expected to perform well, following the recent passing of the author. Upon it’s release on Super Thursday There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You shot straight to number one and has stayed in the vicinity ever since. Martina Cole’s latest crime novel The Good Life displaced David Nicholl’s Us at number 1 on Super Thursday in the Original Fiction chart and many booksellers are tipping the book as one to watch. As for something a bit more literary for those year-round readers Lila the fourth novel by Pulitzer prizewinning author Marilyne Robinson is a Foyles top tip. Christmas 2014 is almost impossible to call. It really could be any of around 20 titles that come out on top. If anything this makes Super Thursday 2014 all the more important for booksellers. For the first time the earliest Thursday in October is a trade-endorsed annual occurrence and has real potential to directly influence the top spots at a very important time of year. The titles that were published on that day could end up being the undeterred climbers that sell oodles of copies and bolster the coming year. It’s up to the experienced booksellers to know which ones will turn out to be gems.

9 Ones to Watch Paul Hollywood’s British Baking by Paul Hollywood (Bloomsbury) Jamie’s Comfort Food by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph) There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You by Lynda Bellingham (Coronet) Roy Keane: the Second Half by Roy Keane (W&N) The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey by Rachel Joyce (Random House) A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson (Simon & Schuster) Awful Auntie by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children’s) Opal Plumstead by Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday Children’s)

Christmas Title Fodder Apart from the opportunities for booksellers and publishers, the exciting thing about books at Christmas is that as a consumer and gift-giver you have the potential to inspire somebody to take up reading again with a fantastic book choice. Books that may fall by the wayside in terms of shifting copies at any other time of the year have potential to do very well for that reason. Never before has a single day held so much potential for the industry. It signals the beginning of the Christmas bookselling season and trumpets the arrival of titles that we will be hearing a lot more about in the ensuing months.

image courtesy of Chris Devers

10 Will Work

for Books Rebecca Hunt

Without (hopefully) being too much of a pre-Christmas buzzkill – it’s time to talk about pay. Publishing is infamously a low-paying profession. Why? Because it can be. Supply far outstrips demand and, while this is true of a lot of industries in post-crash times, it has traditionally always been true of publishing. As Freakonomics succinctly puts it, ‘When there are a lot of people willing to do a job, that job generally doesn’t pay well ... In glamour industries like publishing, advertising and the media, swarms of bright young people throw themselves at grunt jobs that pay poorly and demand unstinting devotion.’ Bookcareers.com began collecting data for a salary survey late last year and, while the results have yet to be published, Suzanne Collier of bookcareers.com has said ‘One of the things that [came] out from the data immediately is that entry-level jobs are still paying the same amount they were five years ago. Middle and senior managers are doing slightly better, but there is quite a disparity with those just starting in the industry.’ image courtesy of Chris Devers The salary survey conducted by bookcareers.com in 2008 found that the average entry-level pay for 19–23 year olds was £17,813. The highest salary band at that time was the 51+ age group which earned on average £38,968. Recent recruitment figures show a small increase from the 2009-10 starting salary range of £17,000–20,000 to the 2013-14 range of £18,000–22,000. From an entry-level role (assistant) you should expect to move to the next role up (e.g. Assistant Editor, Production Controller/Production Editor, Marketing Executive, Sales Executive etc) and earn around the £22,000–25,000 mark. Professional, legal and medical publishing are the most lucrative with entry salaries starting at £20k+ while jobs in trade can drop below the average (starting around £16k) as this is the most competitive sector. In terms of progression, a year’s experience should mostly qualify you for the role above entry-level but in real terms progression can be a frustratingly slow process in publishing. Often promotion will only occur when another member of the team leaves and since 2008 short-term contracts have been on the rise with it becoming increasingly difficult to get out of the temporary contract cycle and into a permanent role. One of the biggest problems emerging as a result of publishing’s low pay is that it presents a real obstacle to diversity in publishing. For many, a low paid entry-level job (not to mention unpaid work experience or internships) is impossible to take on without either family already living in London or the prospect of financial support. Adding to the lack of diversity is the fact that it is almost unheard of nowadays to gain a publishing role without a degree. The issue is a moral one but also has a commercial impact on the publishing business. From continually hiring from the same pool of white, middle-class, university-educated candidates publishing is losing out

11 on a wider depth of experience and creativity. To reach a diverse audience you have to start with a diverse range of books, authors and industry professionals. Another potential problem is the prospect of losing talent to other industries as young professionals, frustrated with stagnating pay and slow career progression, begin to defect to higher-earning graduate sectors or are put off from starting a career in publishing in the first place. The overwhelming majority of women in publishing prompts the question – why are more men not attracted to publishing as a career? Is salary a factor? Industry defection isn’t borne out in the surveys however. In 2008 only 18.9 per cent of those surveyed had determined to leave publishing, which could be a sign of the uncertainty of the job market as a whole in 2008, but also brings me to look at the benefits of working in publishing. A creative, interesting and friendly working environment; the opportunity to collaborate with passionate people; the chance to travel, to meet authors and industry thinkers are often cited as a big part of what makes working in publishing so rewarding. (The free books and cake don’t hurt either). Another positive development for young graduates in publishing is the growing importance of digital publishing which is shaking up old business models and allowing ‘digital natives’ greater scope to influence their chosen industry. So what next? All the big houses say they regularly benchmark against other publishers but until someone breaks rank and benchmarks against industries outside publishing the status quo seems set to remain. Starting on the bottom rung and facing the prospect that your first step onto the property ladder may have to be a hut constructed entirely of second-hand hardbacks might be daunting, but take heart in the fact that industry giants such as Gail Rebuck, Tom Weldon and Nigel Newton once began as assistants and graduate trainees too ...

12 The Man Booker

Prize 2014 Hannah Lyons

The winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize was announced on 14th October: The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, published by Chatto & Windus. The Australian author won in the first year of increased competition – the prize is now open to authors of any nationality, so long as the book is originally written in English and is published in the UK. The novel, his sixth, is ‘a love story … in the form of a story about war’ and is based on his father’s experience as a POW working on constructing the Thailand-Burma ‘Death Railway’ during WW2. The panel of six judges was chaired by renowned philosopher A.C. Grayling, who said that ‘this is a magnificent novel of love and war. Written in prose of extraordinary elegance and force, it bridges East and West, past and present, with a story of guilt and heroism.’

The Telegraph predicted after the announcement that The Narrow Road to the Deep North would ‘no doubt sell like the bastard child of hotcakes and Harry Potter’.

Prior to winning the book’s sales were relatively low at only 3882 copies in three months since UK publication, and were worth £55,000. Sales shot up after the prize: in the week of the announcement UK sales were 10,242 print copies, 3141 per cent higher than in the previous week. This put it at eleventh in the UK Top 50, second in Original Fiction. None of Flanagan’s other books have ever reached the Top 50, and the week’s sales value of £137,430 was greater than that of all of his works over the last ten years as recorded by BookScan. Vintage declared after the announcement that they were printing 100,000 extra copies, and would have an ‘extensive, coordinated’ marketing and publicity campaign running until Christmas to ‘capitalise on the success of the Man Booker’. Royal Mail congratulated Flanagan with a special postmark used for four days after the announcement, increasing publicity. This year’s shortlist, described as ‘exceptionally strong’ by Waterstones fiction buyer Chris White, caused disagreement between the judges, who were not able to produce a unanimous verdict. The other books on the shortlist were How to Be Both by Ali Smith, J by Howard Jacobson, The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Each shortlisted author receives a £2500 prize, with the winner also receiving an additional £50,000. Flanagan said of the prize money ‘In essence, this means I can continue to write’. Winning the prize will certainly remove the threat of having to quit writing to find work as a miner, which he was considering only eighteen months ago.

13 SYP Book Club 2014: a year in

review Zara Markland

Twelve books in twelve months and 2014 has been a fabulous year for the SYP book club. We’ve cried, we’ve laughed and we’ve shaken our heads in disbelief as we’ve read a large variety of books, genres and authors. This is the first year we decided to read a different genre each month and it has been a gigantic success, allowing us to delve in to genres and books we may never otherwise have even glanced at. The most recent ‘translated fiction’ genre pick for November was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and despite being five hundred pages it was devoured to great satisfaction by all. Quite a formidable feat which no other book had yet to achieve this year. We’ve also seen changes in the book club this year as we have moved venues to Coco Momo in Holborn, developed a website area and mailing list exclusively for the book club and organised author events for further discussions with the great writers themselves. This and other publicity has brought us many new faces and points of view, expanding the club like we’ve never seen before. As the coordinator for SYP book club I could not be more pleased or proud of our progress and continual development in 2014. As we look forward to our final pick of the year The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, I can only predict with a very happy heart that 2015 will be just as excellent and we will discover even more deep and juicy reads to delve in to and discuss over a glass of wine and a plate of nachos.

14 Canon FodderLouisa Owen

The Star Wars universe is far larger than six films; it spans 37,139 years of invented history, and the media of books, comics, television, web series, radio, video games and board games. However, when Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, they decided to change the Expanded Universe of Star Wars a little; they decided that the majority of it was no longer canon. Making 40 years worth of literature basically obsolete but still trying to sell it would be suicidal for most publishers, but will it have any When writing for noticeable effects on Lucasbooks’ revenue? Star Wars you have Disney decided on this move so that the new Star Wars trilogy does not have to follow the story arcs these books to remember that created – a clean slate for JJ Abrams and co. Material not recognised as canon will now be called Star Wars Legends. it’s somebody else’s New novels are currently being released by Lucasbooks all following strict guidelines in order to not disrupt the new creation – you can’t trilogy. In order to get an idea of the gravity of this move I talked expect full control. to Jonathan Wilkins, Editor of Star Wars Insider – the official magazine for Star Wars. What is your opinion on the Expanded Universe? How important do you think it is for the fans? It’s vital for the Star Wars universe and fans. Without further adventures, you’d just have three films for a very long time. Having additional content means so many areas that may not get attention in the movies are fleshed out for fans. The novels can add background to fan-favourite characters that the films don’t have time to go into. What’s your take on Disney’s decision to render it non-canon? It’s necessary. I think it was the right move, as difficult as it may be for many fans. It’s all fictional stuff – Wuthering Heights never happened, so you can’t get upset at varying takes on the original story not being canon. Star Wars is predominantly a movie franchise. In order to carry on the story you do not want to be hobbled by events in books. The books are read by thousands, but the films are seen by millions. My mum knows who Darth Vader is, but Expanded Universe characters like Mara Jade? Not a clue. How has it worked up until now regarding the Expanded Universe not straying too far from what George Lucas decrees? Does he get involved? Lucas doesn’t really get involved in the Expanded Universe, but I don’t think it has ever really been that important, until now. Lucasfilm has continuity cops, but if anything does slip through, fans take great pleasure in trying to make things fit. In a series of books published in the eighties called The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley, there was a character called Bollux. Obviously in the UK, that name doesn’t sound too great, so they renamed him in British versions, Zollux. In typical fan fashion they decided that

15 Zollux was actually a disguise, a fake name for Bollux. They just had to make it fit. Lucasfilm has continuity Another example was when they decided to make the animated series, The Clone Wars. cops, but if anything does Karen Traviss was mid-way through writing a series of novels about the Mandalorians (a slip through, fans take great nomadic group who made up a large part of the Grand Army of the Republic in the Clone pleasure in trying to make Wars). When she sent in the pitch for the second book, Lucasfilm said they were changing the things fit origin story of the Mandalorians, thereby completely changing what she had been commissioned to write. She quit, and her trilogy remained at one book. When writing for Star Wars you have to remember that it’s somebody else’s creation – you can’t expect full control. What George Lucas says is gospel, what others say is gospel until Lucas contradicts, which he personally rarely ever does. So what is the plan for the new canon and the old? Well Lucasfilm are going to be having their cake and eating it too – there’ll be a whole new range of canon and they’ll be continuing to sell books on things that never happened (in the Star Wars universe). JJ Abrams won’t be adhering to Star Wars Legends, the new movies will give rise to new canon. It will be easier now, as in the past George Lucas used to make up continuity; Jon Stewart once asked where Obi-Wan Kenobi was from, and he replied “Stewjohn”. That is now a fact. It couldn’t happen like that now! And finally, what’s your favourite part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (including Legends)? The very first book – Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (1978). I saw a battered copy on my friend’s brother’s shelf and it had this evocative cover drawn by Ralph McQuarrie (who was the conceptual designer and illustrator on the original trilogy). The book itself is really off-message in terms of what would happen in Star Wars. It was written before the release of the first film – they had no idea if the film was going to be a success, and the idea was that this novel was like the cheap sequel if the film did OK. The stormtroopers take their helmets off, there are definite frissons of romance between Luke and Leia – it’s so off-track. I enjoyed it though as I think it’s good to explore something other than the intended path. For many, that is what Legends will be – spin-offs that explore the what-ifs – a valuable part of the Star Wars universe.

16 A pop-up

Christmas Pardy Dhillon

With Christmas drawing ever closer, the SYP Editorial team have been interested to see lots of Pop-Up Bookshops popping up (!) everywhere. Faber has been one of the first publishers to embrace direct-to consumer selling this year with its outlet in London’s Cecile Court. Its events arm, Faber Social is working with Natalie Galustian Rare Books to build a literary atmosphere and experience in the run up to Christmas. She says ‘I opened the shop five years ago in the spirit of experimentation—I moved in with a huge collection of books on poker and gambling and sold it as a single collection. Since then I have continued playing around with different themes: literature, vintage cocktail and cookery books, photography, erotica, etc, and so hosting a themed pop-up like this feels very much in keeping with the ethos of the business’. Around 80 Faber titles are on sale, with a host of author events and art exhibitions, as well as offering signed and limited edition books. Lee Brackstone, Creative Director of Faber Social, said: ‘The Faber Social pop-up is a great way for us to draw attention to an area of Faber’s publishing that is growing in strength and stature. Comprising nearly sixty titles, the Faber Social list is comparable in energy and calibre to that of our film list which brought us great success in the 90s. Like those titles, these books are poised to become future classics. It’s so exciting to have a physical space in the heart of bookselling London to experiment and express ourselves directly to readers.’ The first month of the pop-up shop features an exhibition by Andrew Weatherall, who has created one-off pieces of art for the pop-up which ‘bring the sometimes complementary, sometimes clashing worlds of literature and music together in energetic and creative ways.’ The Weatherall exhibition will be followed by one from Stanley Donwood, who creates the artwork for Radiohead’s posters and albums.’We do it through our events, but to do it through the high street – and in Cecil Court, the home of bookshops – is an incredible thing.’ Also in the run up to Christmas, Blackwell’s plans to open up to six temporary shops in areas associated with book lovers and has also recently opened a permanent store at Bradford University. The academic bookselling chain is to open pop-up sites at Christmas markets across the UK and establish short-term leases in permanent buildings. The company has secured Camden Market in London as a pop-up location and has also opened temporary stores in Bath and Bristol galleries. Further log cabin-style stalls are hoped to be secured at Christmas markets in Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh in the next few weeks. Blackwell’s head of sales, Scott Hamilton, said the openings would boost Blackwell’s image and increase its consumer reach in the run-up to Christmas. ‘We have looked to open in sites associated with

17 book lovers. All the temporary shops will be located in successful consumer shopping areas which people know well,’ he said. Hamilton said the bookseller was confident in its current sales performance and was bucking the average sales trend. ‘Back to University TCM is down by 15 per cent, but we are on positive growth year- on-year,’ he said. ‘I think there is definitely a feeling among the students this year that they have come to terms with the £9,000 fees a year they have to pay for their courses, so they are spending more like they used to on textbooks.

‘We have also worked harder this year than any other year with lecturers to stock the books students really need for their courses and we are also working with more universities than ever to deliver students’ bursary schemes, which brings more students into the shops.’ Well there you have it, there will be plenty of pop up book shops, popping up and pleasing you over the festive season, so watch out ...

And happy reading!

18 SYP round up: the best European bookshops Anna Cunnane

The major cities of Europe easily rival our great Ras – Barcelona bookshops in London, such as Foyles of Charring Cross Road, Hatchards and Waterstones, Piccadilly. The Ras bookshop in Barcelona is a shop slash From Shakespeare & Co. in Paris and the Hoepli design space and art gallery located on Carrer del International Bookshop in Milan to Bibliotheca Doctor Dou, 10 in the middle of the city’s bohemian Culinaria Kochbuchantiquariat in Berlin and Ras in Ramblas area and near the MACB (Museum Barcelona, the continent is brimming with bookish of Modern Art). It is known for works on graphic treasure-troves ready to be explored. Like UK design, architecture, typography, photography and booksellers, they all rely on Christmas and the extra film. Travellers might also want to check out La trade it brings to help support them throughout the Central de Callao on Calle Postigo de San Martín, rest of the year. Madrid, a shop that combines its excellent cookbook So for those who are not planning a European selection (among other subjects) with hosting a jaunt this Christmas, here are some of our most bistro and cocktail bar and a varied programme of beautiful,biggest and best finds. cultural activities. Shakespeare & Co. – Paris From Shakespeare & Co. in Paris Shakespeare & Co. is a longstanding independent bookshop situated in the 5th arrondissement on and the Hoepli International Paris’ left bank. The original shop, founded in 1919 Bookshop in Milan to Bibliotheca by Sylvia Beach Whitman, quickly established a reputation for attracting writers such as Ford Culinaria Kochbuchantiquariat in Maddox Ford, James Joyce, Ernest Hemmingway and Ezra Pound. Today it is one of the city’s most Berlin and Ras in Barcelona, famous bookshops with regular incursions into popular culture such as an appearance in the the continent is brimming with Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. It specialises bookish treasure-troves ready to in English language books, both new and second hand, and also features a reading room. be explored.

19 Höllrigl Eduard vorm Hermann must go to Italian publishers Mondadori’s own shop on corso Vittoria Emmanuale. Kerber – Salzburg oekhandel elexyz Located at Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 10 near the B S city’s cathedral, Höllrigl Eduard vorm Hermann Dominicanen – Maastricht Kerber is the oldest bookshop in Austria and was A clear contender for the title of most beautiful founded in 1598 as a bookshop and printworks. bookshop in Europe is the Boekhandel Selexyz Salzburg is famous for its musical history so it’s no Dominicanen built into a 700 year old church in surprise that one of its most prominent bookshops Masstricht. The 13th century church houses a three- stocks numerous titles on musical instruments. storey bookshelf with walkways, stairs and lifts. Archivists among you will also be excited by its The Amsterdam architects that designed the shop collection of historic and new newspapers. chose black, utilitarian furniture that complements Bibliotheca Culinaria the arches, vaulted ceilings and beautiful frescos that cover the walls. The existing function of the Kochbuchantiquariat – Berlin building has been cleverly adapted with book The Bibliotheca Culinaria on Zehdenicker Straße. advertisements hanging from old lighting fixtures 16 10119 Berlin houses more than 15,000 titles and a café where the choir used to be. and is perhaps most similar to London’s own a elle ortense aris Books for Cooks. Officially a second hand bookshop L B H – P specialising in cookery titles, it is a mecca for local What Time Out calls ‘A tranquil boozy and literary chefs and home cooks. A highlight is its collection of escape from the frenetically trendy streets of the th th historical cookbooks from the 18 and 19 centuries Marais’, La Belle Hortense at 31 Rue Vieille du and it even has a section devoted to cookbooks Temple, Paris is all about French pleasures: wine, published in East Germany during the Cold War. good food, books and the company of friends. The wine tasting here is reason enough to visit Another Country – Berlin with bottles from all regions of France available to Proprietor Sophie Raphaeline has kept an sample but there is also a delicious dinner menu unpretentious feel to this shop in the midst of the courtesy of the kitchen at La Chaise au Plafond. widespread gentrification of the City. A comfortable Look out for the famous blue frontage whilst reading room and a back room from which she runs window shopping and enjoy the novel sensation of film nights and quizzes add to visitors’ sense of a receiving literary and wine advice at the same time secret find. A second hand shop, it also offers a from Le Belle’s booksellers. lending loan system that keeps titles in circulation. La Hune – Paris Hoepli International La Hune is a Paris institution located on the St Bookshop – Milan Germain des Prés in le Quartier St-Germain, the neighbourhood of the City traditionally associated The Hoepli International Bookshop at Via Ulrico with literature and publishing. This bookshop Hoepli, 5, is Italy’s largest bookshop with six floors is perhaps most famous for its clientele: the and 500,000 titles. It was founded in 1870 by Surrealists used to meet here for example, but Swiss born Ulrich Hoepli and sells everything from it also functions as an art gallery and has a very law and economics textbooks to poetry and fiction. good selection of fiction and humanities and social It also sells rare antiquarian books and some sciences titles. The upper section of the shop, which English and German titles. An honorary mention displays its famous selection of art and design books, is very popular.

20 Doing it by

the Book Louisa Owen

There have been countless arguments about the aim of prisons; Author Joanna whether it should be punishment or rehabilitation. With 2014 figures Trollope says that showing that 58 per cent of offenders who have served a sentence under 12 months go on to reoffend, it would seem that regardless of refusing prisoners opinion, more attention needs to be paid to rehabilitation. There are many charities set up in the UK that see literature as the answer to books ‘is not the problem of recidivism, believing it not only allows prisoners to gain rehabilitating these employment, but also alleviates the boredom and perhaps hopelessness that leads many to give up on going straight. people who need it so This question of whether literature can rehabilitate has been in the public eye of late, as Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has limited the badly amount of books prisoners can receive. Grayling has decided to curtail the amount of packages families can send prisoners as he says the burden of checking every package for illicit materials is too much for prison security. His claim is that this will help rehabilitation of prisoners; it is all part of an incentives programme whereby inmates ‘earn privileges’ for good behaviour, which will lead to better jobs in prison equalling more money and therefore the ability to buy the commodities their families can no longer send them. The public outcry at Grayling’s decision suggests literacy is considered an important part of rehabilitation. Packages can include many things, but as soon as books were mentioned many rose up in protest. The Howard League for Penal Reform have urged people to bombard the Justice Secretary with books, asking him to send them on to prison libraries which will be the only access some prisoners have to books, and which according to Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Authors, are often poorly stocked. Many have lamented that the harder it is for prisoners to access books, the more difficult it may be for them to rehabilitate. If a prisoner were studying for an Open The public outcry at University degree for example, they would probably have to spend all their prison earnings on books to stay up-to-date Grayling’s decision with the course, as it’s unlikely the libraries will be stocked for every discipline. There is also the rather odd rule that suggests literacy prisoners are only allowed up to 12 books in their cell at any one time. Author Joanna Trollope says that refusing prisoners is considered an books ‘is not rehabilitating these people who need it so badly … and they’re going to offend again and cost the taxpayer yet important part of more and be kept expensively in prison for another term.’ rehabilitation.

21 One of the many prison charities that have stood by Trollope’s viewpoint is the Koestler Trust. Founded by Arthur Koestler, the Trust encourages prisoners to create art and literature in order to not only lead more positive lives themselves, but to increase public awareness of the creative work of the incarcerated. The Trust does this through Awards and exhibitions of work by prisoners. Koestler himself was incarcerated three times in his life and wrote the internationally acclaimed Darkness at Noon (1940), a fictional book inspired by his experiences. This was written after his first stint in prison, when Koestler was arrested in Spain whilst reporting on the Spanish Civil War, and went on hunger strike in order to get pen and paper. He found writing helped him through some very dark times, and indeed the below extract from Darkness at Noon provides a rather apt comparison for the current state of affairs: “Have you got prison vouchers?” [asked the warder] “My money was taken from me on my arrival,” said Rubashov. “Then you must wait until it has been changed for vouchers.” “How long will that take in this model establishment of yours?” asked Rubashov. “You can write a letter of complaint,” said the old man. “You know quite well that I have neither paper nor pencil,” said Rubashov. “To buy writing materials you have to have vouchers,” said the warder.’ Of course, it is an attractive idea that prisoners can mend their ways through the creative arts, but where is the evidence that this actually works? The Koestler Trust published a report in conjunction with the London School of Economics based on the effectiveness of its programmes. The research was carried out from 2008 until 2014 based off 60 ex-offenders, and the findings were ‘long-term positive effects on the mentored offenders, especially pro-social attitudes that reduce the likelihood of reoffending.’ It also found an increase in employment of ex-offenders by a third. It seems the facts are in agreement with the authors campaigning outside Grayling’s office – the creative arts can provide a way out for some prisoners and so should be taken more seriously, not made more difficult to obtain. Especially as those working for literacy in prisons are already facing an uphill battle; around 15 per cent of entrants to the Koestler Awards had no formal qualifications. Arthur Koestler was a controversial figure, and indeed he had a somewhat chequered past, but the point of this article is to look beyond the past and to what his Trust is doing in the present. The Awards he set up have demonstrated the keenness of prisoners to get involved in creativity; the number of entrants has risen from 4804 in 2007 to 7367 in 2013. In the words of the Koestler Trust, it’s about ‘celebrating the best achievements of people who made grave mistakes.’

images courtesy off the Koestler foundation The Koestler Art Centre and The Koestler Exhibition 22 Solving the mystery of the ghostly Christmas story Emma Jessup

The chestnuts are roasting on the open fire. Jingle-bells are rocking around the Christmas tree and Rudolph just flew through a starlit sky. When we think of the Christmas spirit, we think of holly, ivy, a jolly fat man and, occasionally, a kid in a food trough. Maybe, at a push, we may also think of a cheeky Christmas tipple – mine’s a whiskey. But, although somewhat strange, the ghost story is as much a part of the Christmas present as turkey and figgy pudding (whatever that is). But where does this spine-chilling festive tradition come from? I’m going to bust this ghostly mystery right open ... There is a long association with the telling of ghost stories around the hearth on Christmas Eve. Christmas as a festivity can be traced to the pagan Winter Solstice. As daylight faded into night earlier and earlier each evening, it was feared that the barrier between the living and dead became weaker, and in this sinister atmosphere, supernatural tales thrived. Roger Clarke in A Natural History of Ghosts: Hunting for Proof gives an example from Christmas 1642 when shepherds told of seeing Civil War soldiers fighting in the sky. While this could be the result of too much eggnog, it’s certainly not the earliest example of ghostly tales. ‘A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one / Of sprites and goblins’, said Shakespeare in The Winter’s Tale (1609-11). In 1589, Christopher Marlowe wrote of an old woman who ‘would tell me winter’s tales: And speak of spirits and ghosts that glide by night’ in the Jew of Malta. Shakespeare may tell of winter’s tales, but Christmas is in the winter months and the Christmas we know and love is very much a Victorian invention. Our understanding of Christmas ghost stories is of sparsely inhabited stately homes, visitations of spirits in the night, unexplained knockings and fleeting sightings of long-dead children. These are the results of the Victorian ghost story. The Victorians were obsessed with ghosts. They appeared in literature, theatre, photographs and drawing room séances across the country. The rise of the industrial revolution and installation of gas lamps in people’s homes could go some of the way to explaining why they were so popular. Poorly fitted plumbing meant that carbon monoxide frequently leaked into people’s homes, causing hallucinations, among other unpleasantness. But publishing also had a role to play. Ruth Robbins, professor of English Literature at Leeds Metropolitan University, cites the rise of the periodical press as a key factor influencing the Victorian Christmas ghost story. Publishers recognised the requirement for a mass of content, and the answer to this need came in spectral form. By printing the tales, publishers cashed in on the previously oral tradition with short, cheap, formulaic content which could be

23 churned out en masse and easily edited to the required length, satisfying a hungry audience with a taste for the macabre. Charles Dickens, never one to miss a commercial opportunity, penned his highly successful ghost story A Christmas Carol, which was published in serial form, before Christmas in 1843. Scrooge’s ghosts of Christmases past, present and future are as well-loved today as they were by the Victorians, with ‘bah- humbug’ adorning many a Christmas jumper for those just sick of the tinsel. Incidentally, 1843 was quite an important year in the founding of Christmas tradition as it was the year the first Christmas cards were sent. The Victorian Christmas was not particularly about Christianity – it created secular traditions that valued family, generosity to those less fortunate and a time for personal reflection. Later in Victoria’s reign, the ghost stories became spookier. Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is a gothic ghost story in the form of a manuscript written by a governess hired to take care of a young boy and girl. She soon discovers that the children are visited by the ghosts of their former governess and gardener, who attempt to possess the children in order to live again and continue their love affair. It’s a chilling tale of evil, which has successfully brought its readers out in goose-bumps from 1898, when it was first published, to the present day. The tradition of ghostly tales told around the fire no longer had Dickens’ happy endings. Henry James writes ‘The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be’. The tradition had moved a step further – towards terrifying its audience. MR James was next to take the terrifying baton, or candle, to the hair-raising tradition. A noted medieval scholar and provost of King’s College in Cambridge, James would invite a select group of students and friends to his rooms on Christmas Eve to listen to him read one of the ghost stories he had written. ‘If any of [my stories] succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained’ he said of his works. His tales were a mastery of pure evil and horror. The stories of MR James were so popular that the BBC began to televise them annually in the 1970s in the series A Ghost Story for Christmas. These were revived in 2005 on BBC Four and are a regular feature in the Christmas schedule. They are so popular that in 2013, Mark Gatiss documented James’ life and works on Christmas Day, as well as directing James’ The Tractate Middoth. Christmas ghost stories are popular fodder for film, television and theatre – with adaptations of The Turn of the Screw released ten times between 1959 to 2009 and on the stage at the Almeida in 2013. The Woman in Black, a West End theatre triumph for over 25 years has also been realised as a cinematic phenomenon no fewer than five times since 1914 and even has a sequel set for release on New Year’s Day 2015 – aptly named The Woman in Black II: Angel of Death. In his cheery 1963 hit It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Andy Williams didn’t just sing of carolling out in the snow. He also chimed that ‘there’ll be scary ghost stories / and tales of the glories of / Christmases long, long ago’. Unusual though it may seem, the ghost story is very much routed in Christmas tradition. So move over Halloween, Christmas is coming.

24 The SYP’s top ten Christmas Books

2014 Pardy Dhillon

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens It was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions together with the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens’ sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis ‘“It’s a magic wardrobe. There’s a wood inside it, and it’s snowing! Come and see,” begged Lucy’. Four adventurous siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie – step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change ... and a great sacrifice. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C. S. Lewis’s classic fantasy series, which has been drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over sixty years. This is a stand-alone read, but if you would like to explore more of the Narnian realm, pick up The Horse and His Boy, the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement C. Moore ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’. Until 1823, little was it known that St. Nicholas was a Greek Orthodox Bishop who helped the poor, resurrected murder victims and weightlessly multiplied wheat. That was until American academic Clement C. Moore gave Saint Nicholas a joyful makeover, some new red velvet threads and eight reindeers in his ever-popular festive poem, making him the Santa Claus we know today.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg Late on Christmas Eve, after the town has gone to sleep, a boy boards a mysterious train that waits for him: the Polar Express bound for the North Pole. When he arrives there, Santa offers him any gift he desires.

25 The boy modestly asks for one bell from the reindeer’s harness. It turns out to be a very special gift, for only believers in Santa can hear it ring.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss Grinch, whose heart is two sizes too small, steals everyone’s gifts because he hates Christmas. But Christmas is not about what’s under the tree, it’s about what’s in our hearts, according to Dr. Seuss. Come December 25th, the Grinch sees everyone is still filled with festive joy and he returns the festive booty, resulting in his heart growing three times larger.

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs One winter’s night, a snowman comes to life and an unforgettable adventure begins. Raymond Briggs’ classic is a true piece of Christmas magic – narrated entirely through pictures, it captures the wonder and innocence of childhood and is now recognised throughout the world.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, 1905 The Gift of the Magi is a short story, written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter), about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been a popular one for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.

Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien The Father Christmas Letters, also known as Letters from Father Christmas, are a collection of letters written and illustrated by J. R. R. Tolkien between 1920 and 1942 for his children, from Father Christmas. They were released posthumously by the Tolkien estate on 2 September 1976, the 3rd anniversary of Tolkien’s death. They were edited by Baillie Tolkien, second wife of his youngest son, Christopher. The book was warmly received by critics, and it has been suggested that elements of the stories inspired parts of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern The Greatest Gift is the story of family man George Pratt, who contemplates suicide one Christmas Eve. Wishing he had never been born, George is confronted by a stranger, an angel in disguise, who grants his wish and shows him what the world would be like if he had never existed. A 20th century parable, The Greatest Gift celebrates the difference that each life, no matter how simple, can make.

th Miracle on 34 Street by Valentine Davies ‘If you searched every old folks’ home in the country, you couldn’t find anyone who looked more like Santa Claus’. Generations of believers in hope and goodwill have made Valentine Davies’ Miracle on 34th Street a treasured part of their holiday traditions. Millions of copies of this award-winning story have sold since its first publication in 1947, delighting readers of all ages. A facsimile edition of the book is now faithfully re- created, offering a new generation and fans of the original – the beauty of the classic 1940s design. Details of how the book came to be written, and made into a beloved film, are included in a brief historical note.

26 Goodbye to the 2014 editorial

The end of an SYP year is always sad for the committee members that may be moving on. Here our editorialteam team tells us what they have enjoyed about being on the InPrint team this year and what they are getting up to in 2015:

I can’t believe it’s been two-and-a-bit years since I wrote my first article as a freelancer covering the 2012 conference for InPrint. Seven issues, a new job and two house moves later it’s time for me to move on to pastures new, allowing the next lot of eager publishing beavers to write for this great publication. It’s been a hectic but fulfilling year with four issues crammed into twelve short months. I’ve loved my time on the editorial team and will miss the unerring enthusiasm and passion for publishing displayed by all. Thanks to everyone I worked with along the way and I wish all SYP-ers a great festive season. Can’t wait for the first issue of InPrint to drop through the letterbox in 2015! – Sarraounia

I’ve loved being on the editorial team for the SYP over the last two years that have also seen me land my first publishing job! This year has been especially hectic as Commissioning Editor but also filled with fun and creativity. I am really proud of the four issues we have created and hope you have enjoyed reading them. I have to say thank you so much to our amazing team as well as all of our writers and contributors who have made this possible. Next year I am delighted to be taking on the role of Chair of the committee so I will have many more opportunities to feature in InPrint and watch the magazine go from strength to strength. – Anna

It is incredibly difficult to sum up 18 months and beyond in 125 words, but here goes. Leaving the SYP committee is bittersweet; it has been an absolutely fantastic experience filled with fantastic people. From committee meetings through pub quizzes and editorial meetings, highlights include photographing two conferences, two pub quizzes and the AGM! My InPrint highlight has to be page 8 of the conference issue, and of course, this, my last issue as designer. I’ve loved every moment on the InPrint team and it’s going to be very strange relinquishing the baton. Next year I will be leaping headlong into a photography project, which has a lot to do with words and will be able to be viewed on my website: www.eloucarroll.com from January. – Emma Carroll

27 Well, where have these three years gone? I remember back in 2011-12 I joined the SYP as a member and felt completely and utterly absorbed by its ethos and publishing values. Being on the committee has been the most self-fulfilling, honourable and rewarding thing that I have ever done during my career in publishing. I have never been around people who are more passionate, more devoted and more loyal to publishing than my fellow committee members. Every single member of the committee makes the SYP what it is: a society who celebrate, educate and welcome those in and wanting to get into publishing. I will look back in the years to come and say they are the reason I got into publishing and is the reason why I will work so tirelessly to contribute to the industry. I shall sing its praises for, well ... Ever! Thank you, and thank you again to the wonderful, most gracious SYP. – Pardy

This year that I have spent on the committee of the SYP has truly been a fantastic experience. Working on InPrint has been great fun, and that’s had a lot to do with both the brilliant Editors I’ve had the pleasure of working with and also the publication itself. I’ve been able to learn and write about a huge range of topics, from North Korean sci-fi to fan fiction, to prisoners’ book rights (this issue!). It’s a very creative magazine. The whole society is filled with such passionate people and it has been a joy to be a part of. I wish all the new committee members luck with it in the future, and hopefully I’ll be able to pick up an InPrint from time to time to see what exciting articles they have been working on. – Louisa

This year has flown by and if anyone is thinking of joining the SYP committee I can’t recommend it highly enough! My personal favourite SYP moments of the year were the annual SYP pub quiz, the summer book- swap and learning more about self-publishing and the role of literary agents through the SYP events and mentor scheme. It has been such a thrill to get each issue of InPrint in the post and to see how everyone’s article turned out and what a great job Emma did on the covers. (Also I felt very lucky to get first look at my editorial partner Louisa’s articles, which never needed any editing). In the next year I look forward to being busier than ever in my new role and going along to as many SYP events as I can. – Becks

It’s hard to think of an activity I’ve done over the past few years that has been as varied, interesting, exciting and challenging as my year on the SYP Committee. For the first half of the year I was Student Liaison Officer, and visited universities and gave talks on the benefits of the SYP and how it can help to launch your career and progress it further. The second half of the year was spent as an Editor for InPrint, which was hugely rewarding and helped me progress my writing considerably. Along the way I’ve also written for PressForward and helped at SYP and other publishing events, such as Completely Novel. I’ve loved every second on the Committee and am sad to pass the baton, but I’m really looking forward to the events and articles that the Committee produce in 2015. – Emma Jessup

28 Have a Literary

StuckChristmas! for ideas on what to do this festive season? suggests some bookish events that will Sarraounia Christianson leave awkward office parties and slushy ice rinks out in the cold.

Free Christmas Performances Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon CV37 6BB. Sundays from 30 November – 21 December 12:00pm. www.rsc.org.uk Enjoy a mulled cider and mince pie while watching festive performances from a variety of acts in Shakespeare’s Stratford.

On Angel Wings St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, London SW3 6NH. Saturday 20 December, 6:00pm. www.onangelwings.co.uk Michael Morpurgo and Juliet Stevenson will be performing a re-telling of the Christmas story based on Morpurgo’s book. With A Capela carols by Voices at the Door.

Screen Tea The Story Museum, Oxford OX1 1BP Sunday 21st December, 2:00pm www.storymuseum.org.uk A screening of the animated film versions of Raymond Briggs’ children’s books The Snowman and The Snowman and the Snowdog.

A Christmas Carol with Michael Slater The Charles Dickens Museum, Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX. Monday 22 December, 6:30pm. www.dickensmuseum.com A reading of the classic Christmas tale, told in the surroundings of the lovingly restored home of Charles Dickens.

Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour Through-out the festive season. www.edinburghliterarypubtour.co.uk Whether you choose to go before or after your Christmas dinner, follow Clart and McBrain on a tour of the pubs, wynds and cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Uncover the hidden stories among the literary landmarks, which become gloriously colourful during the Christmas season. 29 Chair’s columnHelen Youngs

Unfortunately, one can only chair the committee for a year and so my reign will end on 13th January 2015 at our AGM in the Stationers’ Hall. It has been a pleasure to be involved with the SYP at this exciting time in the industry. There is so much going on from YouTuber book deals to Tracey Emin scribbles and Google Glass envy. We’ve had speakers adorn our SYP stage who are from big publishers, small independents, new tech start-ups and more. Every month has been filled with an event, social and book club and they have most certainly whizzed by. Now it’s time for our end-of-year celebrations — thanking our committee of volunteers, our members and everyone who supports us. Throughout the year we’ve had a group mentor scheme running with mentors across the different MERRY departments in a publishing house. Both myself and Fede, our Vice Chair, know how important it is to have advice and guidance in the early stages of a career and we wanted to provide this service with top notch industry professionals. It has turned out better than we ever thought possible because our mentee groups have now become friends and are learning from each other. I do hope the scheme will renew itself again next year so keep your eyes peeled. CHRISTMAS The SYP aims to support the industry and is a learning tool for people trying to get into or ahead in publishing. We had our annual full-day conference in November and covered topics such as diversity, digital marketing and the role of an agent. It was a fun day and thank you to everyone who came along. It was exciting seeing the next generation of publishers in the audience. Our sponsors were a big part of making the day happen: Inspired Selection, The Publishers’ Association and the London College of Communication. Also, a big shout out to our new media partner The Bookseller for their ongoing support. I’ve had a fantastic three years on the committee and recommend volunteering to help the SYP reach new heights. You won’t be able to keep me away from the events and rather excitingly I’m judging the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize next year. This is an award that celebrates women in publishing and the SYP has supported it from the outset. I’ve met many marvellous young publishers during my time on the committee and want to say thank you to a very special team this year: Fede Andornino, Chelsea Vernon, Esme Richardson, Zara Markland, Colette Smith, Kate Newcombe, Nira Begum, Sarah O’Halloran, Meri Pentikainen, Kate Craigie, Stacey Croft, Emma Jessup, Rebecca Needes, Anna Cunnane, Pardy Dhillon, Rebecca Hunt, Ounie Christianson, Louisa Owen, Emma Carroll and Hannah Lyons. YOUNG A chair couldn’t wish for a better committee. Cheers! PUBLISHERS

30 MERRY THE SOCIETY OF CHRISTMASlove from YOUNG PUBLISHERS

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