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This article examines the impact of a poet‐led classroom‐based poetry programme on secondary school students' writer identities and self‐expression, particularly focusing on BPoC teenagers. Drawing on the Writing Realities framework, the research uses focus groups, participant observations, and interviews with the poet‐in‐residence. Rather than analysing the students' poems, the study explores their engagement with poetry writing and the poet‐in‐residence, highlighting the contribution to self‐reflection and meaning‐making. The findings reveal how the residency introduced students to diverse poetry forms, community‐based poetry, and collaborative writing, facilitating critical engagement with themes relevant to their lives. However, the school's status as a Predominantly White Institution hindered full expression of BPoC students' identities. The presence of the poet‐in‐residence, a young mixed‐heritage Muslim woman, positively influenced students' relationships with writing, particularly for BPoC students, by providing a protected space for self‐expression and identity exploration. The study underscores the importance of creating supportive environments in schools to nurture BPoC students' creativity and writer identity, emphasising the need for anti‐racist practices and culturally sustaining pedagogies to empower students from socially marginalised groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in self-publishing, digital folk culture and social media participation, have revolutionized reading and writing practices. Readers can directly contact their favourite authors, and publishers, through social media and become authors, and publishers, themselves. One of the outcomes of digital reading and writing is that writing is now becoming more democratic: traditional publishers are no longer the sole gatekeepers of culture. The popularity of social writing platform Wattpad is a recent example of how a new generation of influential and innovative writers is entering the publishing arena. This also demonstrates that there is a demand for authorship without the intervention from publishers. Despite this, traditional notions of authorship, ownership and control are prevalent in contemporary publishing hindering the true potential of creativity. The disharmony between the rise of the amateur author and the control of the traditional publisher is confronted in the digital public sphere. Consequently, issues such as authority and influence are mediated during the activities and interactions that take place on social media and other online platforms. Established authority figures, such as famous authors or well-known publishers, that exert authority and influence in the traditional sphere, can shift this authority and influence to the digital world; however, this sphere is also occupied by emerging networks of influencers, such as emerging authors or micro-celebrities, who gain popularity as a result of specific trends, in specific domains, at specific times. This article will examine how new and established authors are using social platforms, and social media, to publish their writing, build communities and extend their dialogue with readers and other writers. A netnographic study of Wattpad will identify which authors are the influencers and innovators in social publishing. Consequently, this article will underscore the increasing importance of social networks and social relationships in 21st century publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a dramatic imbalance of cultural output in the global publishing industry. English-language publishers are disinclined to translate and publish foreign language books as a result of the popularity of English-language books and the high costs of translation. Three per cent is the oft-quoted number that indicates that foreign fiction in translation makes up only a minimal part of the UK book trade. This lack of bibliodiversity may have serious cultural consequences. There are thus several national and international initiatives to promote the publication and cultural capital of works in translation in order to reach a wider audience. Book prizes are generally understood to have a positive impact on the discoverability of a title and consequent sales; winning authors, as well as those on the longlist and shortlist of prestigious prizes, can expect a significant boost in sales of the books in question. But in a culture where translated foreign fiction titles represent only a small percentage of books published, does this phenomenon extend to prizes for translated foreign fiction? This paper explores the--audience-building and sales-generating-- impact of the UK's most prestigious award for literature in translation, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (IFFP), in particular in light of the prize's recent merger with the Man Booker International Prize (MBIP), and speculates whether this may help with the 'three per cent problem'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates contemporary independent publishing in the UK. It explores whether independent publishers based outside London believe they can: compete in the global publishing environment; help to promote and preserve regional cultures and identities; and maintain diversity in cultural output. It also examines how independent presses based outside of London see themselves situated in the national and international publishing arena. Small publishers in the North and Midlands of England are used as case studies in this research because they constitute small publishing communities that exist alongside the larger, dominant publishing industry in London. Although the foci of the empirical research are the industries in the North and Midlands of England, the paper is contextualized within national publishing discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates contemporary independent publishing in the UK. It explores whether independent publishers based outside London believe they can: compete in the global publishing environment; help to promote and preserve regional cultures and identities; and maintain diversity in cultural output. It also examines how independent presses based outside of London see themselves situated in the national and international publishing arena. Small publishers in the North and Midlands of England are used as case studies in this research because they constitute small publishing communities that exist alongside the larger, dominant publishing industry in London. Although the foci of the empirical research are the industries in the North and Midlands of England, the paper is contextualized within national publishing discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through interviews with agents based in London and Scotland, a survey of Scottish authors, and a survey of Scottish publishers, this paper will illuminate the importance of the literary agent in the 21st century and the role they play in the process of rights sales. A study of the Scottish publishing industry will be used to examine whether literary agents can operate successfully outside London. Little literature covering these issues is currently available. This empirical research will help to redress this lack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine the changing nature of the accessibility and consumption of information, particularly in relation to evolving intellectual property laws and new technologies. To illustrate these changes the results of a survey of consumers will be analysed and will, thus, offer a perspective on the role new technology, copyright laws, and the change in cultural attitudes play in defining contemporary content. Additionally, this paper analyses the impact of free content, supplied by commercial content providers, on both piracy and promotion, from the view of the consumer, and determines why users consume works illegally and what alternatives could be offered to prevent this. In doing so, it will further highlight the complex nature of content and both consumer attitudes and practices in the digital environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the origins of the economy of authorship, focusing on the evolution of copyright laws and their effect on the position of the author. Previous studies have examined the role of the patron, the industrialisation of writing and the professionalisation of authorship, and the advent of literary agents. This paper reviews the models and concepts derived from these studies, and extends them into the last fifty years. It outlines the changing nature of authorship with particular reference to the different ways in which authors have derived income over the years. It evaluates the role of the contemporary literary agent and offers a perspective on the role of copyright in defining contemporary authorship particularly in the contexts of digital media and of globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]