Congratulations to Rukhsana Yasmin, a physicist turned publisher, who was named the winner of the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize 2012 after just five years in the trade. We had a wonderful evening at the Free Word Centre in Farringdon with the ceremony packed with publishers, young and old as the prize winner was announced. Matthew Hollis, Editor at Faber & Faber and prize-winning author, who was a good friend and colleague of Kim Scott Walwyn, aw...

Our second seminar session at The London Book Fair was on How to Get Ahead in Publishing. We had an excellent panel of four industry experts who have all come from very different and creative backgrounds. The panel was as follows: Michael Kowalski, CEO, Contentment Jon Slack, Director, DSC South Asian Literary Festival Bea Moyes, Director of Content, Ether Books Sophie Rochester, Founder and Editor, Literary Platform Michael Kowalsk...

How To Get Into Publishing was our eagerly-anticipated seminar which took place last Wednesday at the 2012 London Book Fair, Earls Court. We work in an industry that a lot of people want to get into and that’s very flattering but also quite daunting. It’s scary that so many of us want, burn and strive so hard to work in an industry that is very difficult to get into, progress in and earn enough in. However, it’s not all doom and...

So yesterday it became real. Four simple words placed in one simple sentence made me realise what I have signed up for, what I have to do, and for the first time I was nervous. What were those words? No backing out now! OK I am being a tad dramatic but when I went to the final registration event yesterday I was given my number (35275 for those of you who want to know). The combination of finally getting my number and hearing those words mea...

At the start ofthe SYP’s second seminar How to Get Ahead in Publishing at the London Book Fair, Ella Kahn 2011 SYP Chair announced the shortlist for this year’s Kim Scott Walwyn Prize. This is the only national prize to recognise both the professional achievements and promise of female publishers.Each shortlisted candidate will receive a one-day training course to aid their career development, courtesy of The Publishing Training Cen...

With four days to go until The London Marathon, we asked SYP Commissioning Editor Rosy Locke how her training was going. Here is what she had to say... When I announced to friends and family that I was running the London Marathon a popular reaction was, before the disbelief gave way to horror, laughter. I have never been an athletic type, rather inclining more towards Camel Blue, Domino’s and all the channels Sky has to offer. However ...

Blackshaw, a young theatre company, invited us along to Party in a Library – sounds a bit naughty, but fear not my book-loving library-respecting friends, this party was not held in an actual library, no, this title merely refers to the dress code, literary inspired happenings and the book-swapping of the evening. Blackshaw have adapted Mervyn Peake’s novel Titus Groan from the Gormenghast books for the stage and quite rightly execu...

I feel I can safely say that anyone you ask who came to the Northern and Midlands SYP on 29 February would call it a great start to 2012. Held at The Adelphi pub in Leeds in our own upstairs room, a friendly group of publishers, authors, freelance editors, students and performers gathered to talk about the industry, enjoy some great local food including some lovely fish goujons and have a few pints of the locally brewed beers along the way. ...

The Publishing Training Centre is sponsoring two seminars at this year’s London Book Fair. Both sessions will take place in the Cromwell Room at Earls Court Exhibition Centre and entry is free - but come early as the sessions fill up quickly. Digital Publishing Production: There’s method in the madness (The apparatus for digital publishing) London Book Fair, Monday 16th April 2012, 17:30 to 18:30 in The Cromwell Room. Hosted...

Founded in 2003, the Prize honours the life and career of Kim Scott Walwyn (Oxford University Press Publishing Director) who died in 2002, and celebrates exceptional female publishers. In 2011, the Prize committee and Booktrust -which has managed the Prize since its inception- partnered with the Society of Young Publishers and the Publishing Training Centre in order to recognise not only achievement but also promise amongst women in the industry....