BIPC Forum - Lewisham: The Borough of Literature

Welcome to the BIPC Forum - Lewisham: Borough of Literature! Come to Catford Library for a forum all about literature; hear from a newly founded independent press based in Downham about their journey to get their venture off the ground; learn about finding your voice as a writer, and using your words as a tool to start writing a book; find out what's in the pipeline for Lewisham as a borough of books and business. This event is suitable for Lewisham based leaders, educators, businesses, publishers, community organisers, creatives and writers. Femmesocial Press: starting up as a publisher Petra Pálkovácsová is one of the founders of Femmesocial Press, an independent publisher established in Downham (in the south of the Borough of Lewisham) in 2023. Femmesocial focus on literature, drama and poetry from underrepresented groups of writers. We will talk to Petra about what led to the founding of the press, as well as their business journey so far and what they hope to achieve in the future. femmesocialpress.bigcartel.com Authentic Worth: finding your voice as a writer Esther from Authentic Worth will be discussing the importance of “finding your voice as a writer”, and using your words as a tool to start writing a book for beginners. She will also discuss how Authentic Worth started with in-person and online workshops and transitioned into running a book publishing company to help aspiring authors to publish their first books. authenticworth.com Spread the Word and the Borough of Literature Find out about Spread the Word's campaign to make the borough of Lewisham the UK’s first ever Borough of Literature. StW's discussions will inform our funding bid to generate the income needed to bring the Borough of Literature to life. Together we will develop an exciting plan for a Borough of Literature that funders cannot resist. Our hope is that we can also help to connect leaders, educators, businesses, creatives and community organisers from across the borough, supporting a vibrant literary community in Lewisham. boroughofliterature.org.uk Schedule 4.45-5pm welcome and networking 5-5.30 Petra from Femmesocial Press (including 10 min Q&A at the end) 5.35-5.50 Authentic Worth publishing on Zoom (including 5 min Q&A at the end) 6.00-6.30 Spread the Word (including 10 min Q&A at the end) 6.30-6.45 networking and close. More information about the contributors:  Petra Pálkovácsová bio Originally from a Slovak rural village, Petra is a London-based poet, artist, researcher, and publisher. She studied at the University of Greenwich, focusing on poetry and critical theory. Petra was shortlisted for the Street Cake experimental writing prize in 2021 with her prose poetry piece ‘I Remember’. She was published in multiple anthologies, including Queer W/rites: A University of Greenwich Anthology, and the Bluebird Anthology, and zines such as the Street Cake Magazine, Marezine, seedlings, Deleuzine, and BASH Magazine. Petra performed at the European Poetry Festival, Bobinska Brownlee Gallery, Arts in the Streets Festival, and Festival Tehlaren in Slovakia, and at the George Tavern, Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art and Pushkin House in London. She self-published her first collection, Mythologies, in 2023 and she founded a publishing house called Femmesocial Press in the same year. She has given lectures on contemporary poetry and independent publishing at De Montfort University in Leicester and Northeastern University in London. She has delivered a talk at the Society of Young Publishers. Esther Solomon-Turay bio Esther is a Wife, Mother and Director of Authentic Worth Publishing. She has a passion for stewarding the giftings of public speaking, storytelling and writing, using them interchangeably to transform real life stories into books. As a multi-published author, she uses her skills to serve the community in publishing their own books, whilst supporting them with coaching and confidence-building. She is a strong believer in the faith and has a passion to see stories come to life encouraging others to turn their pain into purpose. She has been selected to speak at prestigious organisations including the London Book Fair, Barclays Bank, the British Library and other local communities. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, travelling, hosting, cooking and stewarding her family. For more information about Esther and how to stay in touch, visit the website on authenticworth.com. More about the Borough of Literature Spread the Word has a big, bold vision to see Lewisham declared as the UK’s first Borough of Literature. Lewisham is rich with word-related creative activities and is home to some of London’s best new writers and famous authors, as well as many arts charities working with words, stories, and poetry, and many more that include creative writing, publishing, spoken word and other art forms like filmmaking and music. Book via the BIPC London Network Eventbrite here (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1512250835959). We encourage booking as space is limited. Please note: by registering for this BIPC Lewisham event, you will be signing up for our monthly newsletter, which is the best way to keep up with local business events and opportunities. If you prefer not to receive our newsletter, you can unsubscribe at any time by:-1. Emailing [email protected] with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or 2. Clicking the "Unsubscribe" button at the bottom of any newsletter you receive. 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