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The centenary of women’s suffrage earlier this year and discussions around gender issues in the media have seen a surge in books written by women, for women, hitting the shops. But one area still largely underrepresented by women is the outdoor-adventure genre.
As the UK’s leading publisher of outdoor-adventure titles, at Vertebrate Publishing we want to address this imbalance with the publication of Waymaking, an anthology of prose, poetry and artwork by women who are inspired by nature and wild places.
Waymaking aims to continue the legacies of Gwen Moffat’s Space Below My Feet and Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain which set a precedent for women writing about wilderness that isn’t about conquering landscapes, but instead about living and breathing alongside them, becoming part of a larger adventure.
Addressing the gender imbalance
So why are we doing it? At the moment we are missing fifty per cent of voices of adventurers, nature lovers, hillwalkers and mountaineers. We want to record their experiences to inspire other women to get out there and to tell their stories.
100% of the royalties go to charity
All royalties from the sales of Waymaking will be split equally between the John Muir Trust and Rape Crisis, helping to conserve our wild places and raise awareness of the problem of sexual violence in our society and others.
The contributors and editors
The contributors of this inspired collection include award-winning author Bernadette McDonald, world-leading climber Hazel Findlay, adventurers Sarah Outen and Anna McNuff and many more talented and adventurous women. The book is being edited by award-winning poet Helen Mort; Kendal Mountain Festival Artistic Director Claire Carter; Heather Dawe, one of the UK’s leading endurance athletes; and Vertebrate’s own editor, Camilla Barnard.
The full list of contributors is as follows:
Jean Atkin | Polly Atkin | Camilla Barnard | Hazel Barnard | Sandy Bennett-Haber | Jen Benson | Judith Brown | Claire Carter | Genevieve Carver | Imogen Cassels | Maria Coffey | Lee Craigie | Joanna Croston | Lizzy Dalton | Nick Davies | Heather Dawe | Cath Drake | Paula Dunn | Lily Dyu | Caroline Eustace | Hazel Findlay | Paula Flach | Anna Fleming | Nikki Frumkin | Claire Giordano | Alison Grant | Geraldine Green | Lilace Mellin Guignard | Alyson Hallett | Melissa Harrison | Leslie Hsu Oh | Kathryn Hummel | Katie Ives | Kathleen Jones | Mab Jones | Solana Joy | Dr Judy Kendall | Anja Konig | Tami Knight | Tara Kramer | Dr Alexandra Lewis | Tessa Lyons | Alice Maddicott | Bernadette McDonald | Anna McNuff | Helen Mort | Evelyn O’Malley | Sarah Outen | Kari Nielsen | Libby Peter | Jen Randall | Penelope Shuttle | Ruth Wiggins | Allison Williams | Pam Williamson | Deziree Wilson | Krystle Wright
The book will be published in autumn 2018.
Help get female voices out there!
If you think this sounds like a good first step in putting the voices of adventurous women in the literary archives, and that giving the royalties to two charities is a great bonus, please pledge whatever you can. The funds raised via Kickstarter will support production costs and help us spread the word about the book.
Thank you so much for your support!
With thanks to Ben Winston (photographer) and Rab for the photos of Libby Peter; Praveen Maloo for the photo of Kathryn Hummel; and all other photographers who kindly donated images of the contributors included in the promotional video.
Risks and challenges
As is often the case with publishing projects, there is some risk that the schedule could be disrupted due to unforeseen issues and, subsequently, the publication date pushed back beyond the intended date. However, Vertebrate (www.v-publishing.co.uk) is prepared to deal with any problems that might arise, for instance, by outsourcing design and editing if necessary or replacing one of the book’s submissions should a contributor not longer wish to be part of the project.
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Funding period
- (30 days)