About

Fair Acre Press

is an independent publishing house, committed to publishing high quality books and pamphlets that are good to hold, touch, look at and read; books that will call out to you – over and over again.

In 2019:

We have published:

Aeschylus’ PERSIANS by Kaite O’Reilly, winner of the Ted Hughes Award for new works in Poetry
Persians is a beautifully poetic version of Aeschylus’ tragic play. Kaite O’Reilly’s masterly retelling of this 2,500 year old story focuses on how war destroys people’s identity and her use of language is contemporary but never loses any of the historical context ~ The Poetry Society

Windy Old Fossils by Tom Wentworth
Tom’s a generous writer. In Windy Old Fossils he gives the actors lines they can ring every drop of comedy and tragedy from ~ Elizabeth Freestone

From Rowan Ridge by Chris Kinsey
I thoroughly recommend From Rowan Ridge, a celebration of a poet’s endless curiosity, yet a book with an inescapable bittersweet quality ~ Robert Minhinnick

My Darling Derry by Sally Festing
Unafraid of emotion, she confronts reality squarely, marvelling equally at its beauty and its pain ~ Helena Nelson

In 2018

We have published:

• #MeToo – rallying against sexual assault and harassment, a women’s poetry anthology. Edited by Deborah Alma. Foreword by Jess Phillips MP

Winner of the Saboteur Awards

• DIVERSIFLY – new poetry and art on Britain’s Urban Birds. Edited by Nadia Kingsley. Foreword by Brett Westwood

Longlisted in the Saboteur awards 2018 in the BEST ANTHOLOGY category

• The Goldsmith’s Apprentice by Keith Chandler – wonderfully endorsed by Prof. David Morley and Jonathan Edwards

“The Goldsmith’s Apprentice is a triumph; an absorbing and impactful collection of heartfelt poems…”

• The last of the light is not the last of the light by David Calcutt

“This is a collection full of grace, at once deeply authentic and heart-felt.”

• Matt Hazard: Return of the Naive – a Paul “kieltyascharged” Kielty book of cartoons

“Matt Hazard comes from way out on the left field, and bounces off the walls on his way in, and I laughed out loud frequently!”

Nadia Kingsley:

• is one of 4 visual artists, and project managing, an Arts Council England-funded project “Painting by Pixels” that culminates in an exhibition at Qube gallery, Oswestry, Shropshire in August 2018
• is one of many poets and artists collaborating and showing work at VAN gallery, Shrewsbury in March/April 2018
• will appear in 2 events at Saboteur Awards festival day on May 19th – on #MeToo and DIVERSIFLY books
• is giving a talk to the Bridgnorth Naturalists on April 10th
• will support the #MeToo launch in International Women’s Day week, and at festivals and events through 2018

In 2017

we published:

• Beyond Spring – Wanderings though Nature  – a gorgeous nature writing book, by author and broadcaster Matthew Oates

• ran a successful Kickstarter campaign – to raise funds for the printing of Matthew’s book
• ran an Arts Council England-funded project on DIVERSIFLY/ Urban Birds

In 2016

• a children’s poetry book – I once knew a poem who wore a Hat – by Emma Purshouse and Catharine Pascall Moore that won the Rubery Award for Poetry
• a novel – Sitting Ducks – by Lisa Blower – that is shortlisted for the Arnold Bennet Literary Fellowship Award
• a wildlife photography book – Wilderland: wildlife and wonder from the Shropshire Borders – by Andrew Fusek Peters – which attracted excellent reviews including a five star review from Amateur Photographer magazine.

Science, the Natural World generally, Shropshire in particular
Poetry, prose, photography, art, craft, cartoons, challenging ourselves with new genres and projects
Finding new audiences and giving those audiences something new
Collaborations – between Sciences and Arts, and between the different genres within the Arts
Making podcasts

As previously stated –  publication is by invitation only. This means there is no submissions process other than when we are running specific projects.

We are proud to be a member of the Independent Publishers Guild

You can read Nadia’s answers in their Meet the Members section here

Zest Press  is an Imprint of Fair Acre Press.

Zest Press supports authors in bringing their quality writing and projects to print.

This is a small venture which is increasingly being sidelined by time constraints because of Fair Acre Press’ endeavours and activities, but if you are interested in paying for Nadia’s expertise in getting your book into print; without marketing or post-publication support please do email Nadia at fairacrepress@gmail.com and she will see if she can help.

About Nadia Kingsley

PODCAST:

• I am the creator and producer of The Word Bin podcast

POETRY:

• I have had poetry published in magazines and anthologies, plus have three poetry pamphlets in print, and have been placed in poetry competitions.
• I wrote a poem a month about a specified herb for medical herbalist Jayne Palmer’s herbal blog since January 2015 for two years – and which culminated in A Year in Herbs: a collaborative pamphlet with Jayne’s edited blogs, Nadia’s improved poems with12 friends and family’s artworks
• I have read poetry at Stratford Literary Festival, Wenlock Poetry Festival (including the ‘Ones to Watch’ event curated by Jacob Sam-La Rose), Ted Hughes Festival, around the West Midlands, Knighton’s Poetry Marathon in aid of refugees, as guest poet at a fundraiser for Cuan Wildlife Rescue Centre, at Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s Merefest, at Birmingham Literature Festival.
• I co-wrote poems, and performed in e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g: The History of the Universe in 45 minutes (see below). We also performed parts of this on stage with the Greenwich Observatory’s Public Astronomer Dr Marek Kukula, at Stratford Literary Festival 2016

• In 2017 I was guest poet at the Cuan Wildlife Rescue Centre fundraiser, Wenlock Pottery, Shropshire in June alongside Keith Chandler and Chris Kinsey. I read at Bridgnorth Writer’s group day of poetry and music, alongside David Calcutt and Keith Chandler.
• On September 9th 2017 I will read at a Refugee fundraising event at Knighton, Shropshire.
• In 2017 I wrote poems for specific events – including Charles Darwin related poems for Merefest, and Cuan Wildlife Rescue Centre poems based on their workers’ ‘adventures’ and a guided visit.
• In 2017 two of my herb poems were published in The Physic Garden, edited by Adam Horovitz

PROJECT MANAGER:

• I project managed Shropshire Butterflies – a poetic and artistic guide to the butterflies of Shropshire – including involving 67 contributors: ecologists, nature writers, poets, artists; organising several group performances, an art exhibition, and a poetry and butterfly walk at Dudmaston Hall.
• I project managed, co-wrote, and performed  e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g: the history of the Universe in 45 minutes at festivals such as Birmingham Literature Festival, Stratford Literary Festival, Birmingham Art & Science Festival, Wenlock Poetry Festival.
• I project managed, presented podcasts and wrote for the Maligned Species project.
• I am programme directing ten hours of nature and poetry in the Speaking of Nature tent at MEREFEST, Ellesmere, Shropshire on September 16th 2017
• I project managed a podcast and poetry & art book project DIVERSIFLY/Urban Birds project – supported with public funding through Arts Council England
• I project managed and made art and co-ran workshops with Paul Kielty in a digital art project Painting By Pixels – supported with public funding through Arts Council England
• I project managed Umbrella – an animation project – with lead artist Paul Kielty – supported with public funding through Arts Council England

SHORT STORIES:

• I have written a short story for Literary Salmon’s debut short story collection The Casual Electrocution of Strangers which can be dowloaded for free here.
• I have short stories that have been placed and have won competitions. Two were recorded by short story radio: Shopping List; After the Tone – you can listen to these on this page. (see right hand side)
• In 2016, I, and others wrote a short story a month, on a given prompt. The project was called ‘Prompted Tales’ and was run by Alex Townley –  My stories are here

ART:

• I have had ceramics, sculpture, photography and a textile installation exhibited in London, Brighton, Birmingham, the Cotswolds and Wolverhampton.
• BA (Hons) ceramics, 2:1 from University of Wolverhampton

SCIENCE:

• A’levels in Maths, Chemistry & Biology
• MBBS from King’s College London, MRCGP
• Worked as a GP, and then a medical examiner

OTHER:

• I have been invited on panels at Writing West Midlands Writer’s Toolkit 2015 –  blogging, and working with small presses
• I was asked to write a guest blog on the website of  the 2010/11 ‘Ted Hughes Award for New Works in Poetry’ winner Kaite O’Reilly
• I was asked to write a guest blog on the Independent Publisher’s Guild (ipg) website
• I was ‘In Conversation’ with novelist James Hannah (author of The A to Z of You and Me) at Shrewsbury Festival of Literature 2016
• I curated the ‘Who Needs Nature?’ event at Birmingham Literature Festival 2017 – bringing together, in a ONE OFF event – Matthew Oates, Mary Colwell and Brett Westwood
• I was interviewed by Public Access America podcast in July 2020 about The Word Bin podcast. You can hear it on soundcloud here

EDITOR OF FAIR ACRE PRESS:

I set up Fair Acre Press in 2011 – to publish the Shropshire Butterflies book.
I had always felt the need to create a book, but hadn’t realised until I was choosing and placing the poems, and art; commissioning poets,ecologists and nature writers; making connections with specialists and organisations –  that I would feel such satisfaction.
I was struck by the bug…

Here are a few photos of my exhibited visual art work: