10 Questions With Jan Fortune-Wood - Welsh Author & Publisher

Jan Fortune-Wood is a Welsh author and publisher. She has published four novels and is the proprietor of one of Wales' most innovative and dynamic independent publishing houses. AmeriCymru spoke to Jan about her writing and her future plans for Cinnamon Press.

AmeriCymru: You are both an author and a publisher - which came first and did one lead to the other?

Jan: I’ve written all my life. My creative writing took a back seat for a long time while I was home educating my children and working (I was a Church of England minister), but I did write books on home education and alternative parenting during this time. About ten years ago i was seriously ill and we moved to North Wales. When I was beginning to recover I went back to writing poetry and had an offer from a small press to publish my first collection. A bit later I did an MA (masters degree) in novel writing and the same publisher took my first novel. By this time I’d began to dabble with publishing via a small press poetry magazine and I was also realising that in my MA I particularly had editing skills that I could use so Cinnamon Press was born.

AmeriCymru: Your novel 'Standing Ground' is set in a future time dominated by the despotic E-Government. But it is replete with references to mythical Arthurian characters. Can you tell us a little more about the book?

Jan: I’ve written four novels and The Standing Ground was far and away the most fun to write. It was aimed at older teenagers, but seems popular with adults too. The ideas came when home education in the UK was under attack from government moves to dictate more of the content of education at home and have more invasive policies into family life. At the time there were also wider moves to introduce ID cards for everyone which my older children were involved in opposing.

The Standing Ground imagines a not too distant future in which the benefits of technology are magnified, at least for the affluent, but the price of this is an all pervasive controlling government that no longer trusts parents to raise their own children, but instead removes them to ‘pods’ attached to schools with minimal parental contact and a restricted curriculum, no history or philosophy, for example). One of the main characters is Luke, a fifteen year old who is pushing against the system, partly because he senses that his own father is different and not so tied into the system. Nazir, Luke’s father, is a famous artist, but also seems to have privileges that Luke can’t quite understand. Despite this connection Luke’s freedom is threatened when he begins to ask too many questions and it seems likely that he will be sent to a draconian correctional facility to be made to conform.

Online Luke has met the other main character of the book, Alys. She claims to live outside of E-Government in a corner of Wales (present day Gwynedd) that has resisted and maintained a small population of free people. Luke has no idea if Alys is real or just an online fiction to trap him, but he has decide whether to take drastic action to try to reach Alys in The Standing Ground.

Alys’s family have their own problems – within The Standing Ground there is a fierce debate as to whether this fragile free area should use their resources to try to communicate with the wider population and break the control of E-Government (Alys and her mysterious maths mentor, Emrys Hughes, have their own project to break government encryptions) or whether they should use the European parliament to gain recognition as an independent state, giving them more security.

I’ve always been fascinated by mythology and the archetypes it gives to stories. The Arthurian legends speak of Arthur returning at dark times to bring freedom and living in North Wales. The landscape is steeped in the legends of the Mabinogi, including the stories of Artur (or King Arthur). So in this story the characters slowly emerge as modern representations of those archetypes and their power of maths and technology also contains older powers that converge to stand against the darkness.

AmeriCymru: What are your future writing plans?

Jan: I have a new novel out this month, Coming Home – a novel about a man who abandons one family only to later abandon another, returning to Wales to try to pick up his life and written from the perspective of himself and the women in his life.

I’m currently working on two new books. The first is a poetry collection centred on a village in the mountains above my home called Cwmorthin. It was once a large slate mine with barracks and houses and chapel and mine workings, a harsh industrial place known as ‘the slaughterhouse’ because of the high death rate of the miners working there, but also a thriving community with ‘cabans’ in which the men met daily to discuss politics, religion, philosophy and to sing. Now it is a place of picturesque ruins and utter tranquillity, but the culture has gone. I’m examining the emotional landscape of the place through natural landscape and architectural ruins in poetry sequences.

The second is a novel that deals with issues of transformation, centred on three characters who undergo major life changes in traumatic circumstances and whose stories interweave. It’s set in England, Wales and Zimbabwe and covers periods from the Zimbabwean bush wars to the present day. It’s involved lots of research and lots of getting to know the characters, but I’m hoping the writing will come together over the next year and then the editing can begin.

AmeriCymru: When was Cinnamon Press founded and what tempted you into the publishing business?

Jan: Cinnamon Press was five years old in 2010 so we’re still relatively young. I was looking for a new direction after major illness and life change (I had a series of severe work place assaults in my parish work) and started a magazine to keep my brain ticking over. Then, doing the MA, I realised I had a knack for editing so Cinnamon began as a very small scale tentative project, but the success of early books helped it to snowball. We are still very much a small press and run on a shoestring with a lot of voluntary input, but the books have gone from strength to strength.

AmeriCymru: What does Cinnamon Press look for in a work for publication or an author?

Jan: Our tag line is ‘independent, innovative, international’ We’re really looking for distinctive voices whether in poetry or prose – books that have something to say and say it with skill. We put a lot of care into editing, but we don’t have the resources to take on books that are really not ready to be published so authors need to be sure the book is of high quality before they submit. In simple terms we want good writing that engages us.

The Cinnamon Press Catalogue

AmeriCymru: In addition to publishing, Cinnamon Press provides a range of services and competitions for aspiring and established writers. Care to tell us a little more about this aspect of your work?

Jan: It’s often hard to get started in writing and small presses can be good places 

to get that first platform. The competitions run twice a year. The novella/novel competition and the poetry collection competition are for first time authors in those genres from anywhere in the world. The competition leads to a full publishing contract for a first collection or first novel/novella and the books that have been published in this way have done very well, including being short listed for some prestigious literary prizes. The short story competition is open to any story writers and the winning story appears in an anthology named after the story along with the best runners up from the story and poetry competitions. We’ve also gone on to take single author collections from two of the authors who’ve done well in the story competitions.

We offer other services to help writers, both beginners and more experienced writers. These include several writing courses that run through the year and a mentoring service that I run with two other Cinnamon Press writers.

AmeriCymru: Cinnamon Press also publishes Envoi magazine, can you tell our readers about that?

Jan: Envoi is the oldest poetry magazine in the UK, now in its 54th year. It’s a large format, perfect bound magazine with a good range of poetry from new and established poets, reviews, articles and features such as guest poets or poetry in translation. Envoi receives an enormous amount of submissions so it’s very competitive to get into, but this means that the quality stays high.

AmeriCymru: Where can people buy Cinnamon Press titles online?

Jan: We have a dedicated website at www.cinnamonpress.com with all of our books available and postage rates for international customers set up there. Books are also available at www.inpressbooks.co.uk an Arts Council site promoting small press books and at the Welsh Books Council site, www.gwales.com The books are on Amazon in the UK and the Book Depository in the UK, but our own site or Gwales or Inpress are the recommended ones.

AmeriCymru: How do you see Cinnamon Press developing over the next few years?

Jan: We started with poetry collections and then added full length fiction. Over the last couple of years we’ve published some unique and exciting nonfiction of cross genre titles and we will be continuing to develop this area of publishing. We’ve also just published our first single author short story collection and will be developing this genre further. Another new area in 2010 was a book combining poetry and imagery – I Spy Pinhole Eye by Philip Gross and Simon Denison won the Wales Book of the Year award and this year we have our second imagery and poetry collaboration, a very exciting book that looks at issues of ecology, Where the Air is Rarefied by Pat Gregory and Susan Richardson. With such wonderful books my main development aim is to get the books out into more arenas – these books really deserve to be read.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Jan: Welsh publishing generally exists on tiny budgets and our readers really matter. Do support the books in any way you can and if you’d like to be added to our monthly mailing list with news of new books and offers send me an email – jan@cinnamonpress.com

Thank you for reading and all the best for 2011.

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

An Interview With Valerie Wood-Gaiger ...W-Icon.

Learn With Grandma

Member Valerie Wood-Gaiger – author, grandmother and teacher – recently won a contest to become one of two W-Icons, or spokespeople, for the British Women's Institute (WI). The Women's Institute is the largest voluntary organisation for women in the United Kingdom. The first British Women's Institute was formed at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Anglesey, Wales, in 1915 and today the WI boasts more than 200,000 members.

Valerie lives in Myddfai, in the county of Carmarthenshire, in south Wales. Besides her work with the WI, Valerie is active in her community, enjoys walking with her dogs, is a great-grandmother, an author and one of the founders and operators of Grandma’s Stories, a small publisher, through which she will be publishing a series of books on "on pan European prehistory".

You recently won a competition to become one of two W-Icons, how did you come to be in the competition and what does that mean for you?

I read about the competition in WI Life magazine, just before closing date, and thought I could have a go at that! Got my entry in one hour before Carmarthenshire WI Federation office closed for two weeks! I only applied the day before the competition closed, and before I knew it I found myself in the top ten. We then had two days ask people to vote for me. I live in Myddfai, where there are only about five computers, so I enlisted help from my grandchildren. I was amazed that I received votes from Ukraine to California, Latvia to Australia! I am thrilled that Wales has another winner. The judges actually decided to have two winners. The other one is Emma Cunningham, a 35 year old, from Hampshire. Between the two of us we illustrate the wide age range of women involved with the modern WI.

Many people may not be aware that as well as being fun, the WI is, always was, a campaigning organisation. A current campaign is against slavery in the West. I've just returned from a conference in the Ukraine on language learning where I was the keynote speaker. While there I was able to speak to a lot of students and took the opportunity to warn them to thoroughly check before accepting jobs promised to them in the West. Usually promised jobs are bona-fide offers but there are cases, even here in Wales, where young women, have had their passports, money and mobile phones taken from them and they are forced into prostitution. W.I. is much more than simply "jam and Jerusalem" [jam-making competitions and "Jerusalem," a song many WI chapters sing to open their meetings]. We are encouraging younger women to join and it is an excellent organisation for those women who are recently retired. When retirement comes, work networks can be lost but membership of the WI can provide the opportunity to establish a whole new network of friends.

I am increasingly being asked to give talks to WI, U3A, Rotary (I am a Paul Harris Fellow, which should impress any Rotarian's reading) which I like doing. The next conference I will speak at is on eLearning in Berlin. I will introduce Inter-Generational eLearning. It is absurd that my 10-year-old grandson can produce a PowerPoint presentation and I can't. We older people can learn from the young and we have lots of skills to pass on – we need to do so in a modern technological way.

How did you come to be involved in the WI?

I joined as a young woman in the late 1960s, early 1970s, when I moved to a village in Hampshire. I then lapsed when I lived in London and rejoined when I moved to Myddfai in 1999. WI is a great way to meet new people. WI are keen to attract younger members, incidentally, that is why there are now two SKY W-Icons. There was to have been just one winner but the judges decided to have two: me, sixty-seven years old and a great granny, and Emma, a young mum of thirty-five. I also think that WI is ideal for ladies who have just retired and have lost work-related networks. WI is a great network.

What will you do with the grant that you've won in the competition?

The money will be donated to the 'not for profit' company, Learn with Grandma, which I co-founded after I read that 64% of grandparents look after their grandchildren on a regular basis. In the past that was something they did because they wanted to but these days, with both couples having to work and so many divorces, it is becoming a necessity. I wanted to use this money to help people all over the country have fun without breaking the bank, especially important in these economically difficult times.

One of our publications will be Grandma’s Guide to Great Days Out, which will list FREE places to take your children or grandchildren, and those that offer excellent value for money, less than £25.00 for a family ticket. There will be no charge for inclusion in the guide.

We are looking for places like St Fagan's, wonderful and FREE! In the 100-acre parkland of St Fagans Castle are over forty buildings moved from all over Wales. Roam round the late 16th-century manor house, see workshops where craftsmen demonstrate traditional skills, native breeds of livestock in the fields and galleries with exhibitions of costume, daily life, farming implements and the largest collection of Welsh Love spoons in the World. All FREE. The only charge is £2.50 to park the car and you can eat Welsh food in the café or take a picnic. Places that offer great value for money like Ladyland Farm where, for only £6.00 per person, you get a tractor ride and a badge, you get the opportunity to get right in with the animals, to hold fluffy day old chicks, rabbits and kittens, to see the baby calves, lambs and piglets and to feed & stroke them and bed them down.

How many books have you written and what are your plans, as a writer and publisher?

I am currently working on a series of fourteen books that trace history from the Ice Age chronologically through to Roman times. The first of these, The Ice Journey , is based on America's Smithsonian Institute research that indicates that the original humans to reach the American continent were from what is now Europe. My books are aimed at Key Stage 2 but can also be used in helping adults to read and the dual language Welsh/English version is ideal for adult Welsh learners. This series will end with The Welsh Empress of Rome, the wife of Magnus Maximus, murdered in 388. All books in this series will be bilingual. They're aimed at older children and for adults to read with children and the subject matter is designed to interest a very wide age range. I like weave little known facts into a fictional story. Most adults who read my books find themselves saying, "I didn’t know that." Parents, grandparents, even teachers learn with the children. Books are equally suitable for adults learning a second language. Following a trip to Ukraine recently (I was keynote speaker at a conference for English teachers from eastern Europe) we are working towards publishing in Russian/English, Ukrainian/English, Latvian/English and perhaps Polish/English.

I write from the perspective of a grandmother teaching her grandchildren and at the end include a Learn with Grandma Section with comprehension questions as well as things to do. I remembered all the things I used to do with my grandma, included those and added science and modern technology.

For The Ice Journey , I show how to make a DNA molecule using sweets. Fortunately the old educational idea of learning through doing is now back in fashion. The second book in this series, Beck, an Ice Age Hunter, will be published in the New Year. I am also working on a series based on pan European folk & fairy stories that will be for younger children, These books will also contain our Learn with Grandma actives.

How did you come to write The Ice Journey?

After some research I decided to write a history of the people of the Celtic lands. There is a lot of interest in the Celts but people do not really know much about them. I decided to start, long before the Celts, back to The Ice Age because that was the start of ‘modern’ history. The only people alive were homo sapiens – people exactly like you & me. Also because I hope one day to bring these stories to the American market.

When will this series be available?

Grandma’s Stories is a new, small publisher. We can only afford to publish one book at a time, when we have the money to do so. Book two of the prehistory series will be out in the New Year. After that it is in God’s and our customers hands. We need more customers!

Prior to writing this book, did you have a background or an interest in archaeology, anthropology or related sciences?

No formal background but a great interest in archaeology, anthropology & related sciences. This had been fostered by my grandmother. After my children grew up most of my holidays were spend visiting ancient sites in many countries. I always did the research before going. I went on an archaeological dig in Portugal last summer. I saw it advertised on an online archaeological magazine & decided to go. It was very interesting, great fun and I loved the journey to northern Portugal. The train ride up the Douro Valley was spectacular.

What was your prior career?

Quite a few. Ranging from photographer to shop owner to soft toy agent (I earned enough from that to have a 19 room house. A Rolls Royce, send my three children to boarding school and run a huge overdraft!) to founding a charity to create work for disabled people, for which I was awarded MBE and, in the same week, I was made redundant, age 58. After wasting two years crying, I woke up and realised that I was not redundant, that it was time I pulled myself together and started a new life.

You have a great-grandson, how many children and grandchildren do you have?

My son Neil will be 50 on 2 December. He lives in Glastonbury has two children: Emma, nearly 25, Adam, 22 yesterday. My son, Nicky, 48, is a DJ and a teacher. He lives in Ithaca in the USA and has three children. Maria, 23, is Danish and lives in Copenhagen. She is mother to Magnus, who will be 2 years old in January, Kristian, age 12 and Lula, age 10. My daughter, Alison is married to Erik and lives in Surrey. She has two sons: Oscar, age 10, and Hugo, age 8.

Did you tutor or educate your own children or grandchildren? Have any of them followed in your footsteps?

I was only 17 when Neil was born. We had a lot of fun learning stuff together when they were children. They have all made their own path in life and live all over the world. I am now working on a new ways of maintaining contact with my grandchildren. I started writing books after Kristian said ‘I love you grandma but I need to see you’. I am "Facebook Friends" with the older grandchildren. I have now bought a webcam to tell Magnus stories and am off to Berlin in December to launch a new intergenerational e-learning project.

Can you describe the place you live? How long have you lived there?

Myddfai is a tiny village - about 30 people live in the actual village, plus second homes, Prince Charles has bought a property here. I'm very involved in my community, I go to church and chapel and help organize events to help keep the community together, so important since our pub closed. I have two dogs to walk, great walking round here! And there is the day job. It is a hill village, three miles above Llandovery and in The Brecon Beacons National Park. It is stunningly beautiful and the people have been so kind and welcoming. I thank God for the wind that blew me here. I hope to die here.

Vote for Val to be the Women's Institute Icon

Hello my name is Valerie. I live in Myddfai, a tiny village in The Brecon Beacons National Park, in rural Wales and I need your help!

Sky TV are looking for an 'Icon' for their new learning channel.

I am a member of the Women's Institute who are organising the competition. I entered this competition and now I am in the top ten!! There are only 2 finalists from Wales and if I won it would really help my village.

My company is, Grandma's Stories Ltd and I write fun educational books for children & adults who are learning Welsh. We will have a Welsh language site when resources allow. The Big Plus is that, with the £10,000 first prize, we could launch our new not for profit company 'Learn with Grandma' properly and set up a dedicated website.

Please vote for me and ask your friends to do so too!

This is vital. Myddfai is such a tiny community there is no way I could muster the sort of support someone from a large community could attract. Especially at such short notice.

HOW TO VOTE

Voting will be on the Daily Express website starting on Thursday 18 September until Sunday only. Click on the link to vote

So not much time to get those votes in! Please will you forward this to your friends too.

God Bless
Valerie

Grandma's Stories