It was Myriad Week here at Broken Frontier last week – a celebration of Myriad Editions, one of our favourite publisher’s diverse and eclectic back catalogue of graphic fiction, memoir, medicine and journalism. Over the course of five days we ran focused coverage on their output including reviews, spotlight posts and four comprehensive interviews with Myriad Creative Director Corinne Pearlman and graphic novelists Jade Sarson, Gareth Brookes and Ian Williams.
You can catch up with the entire event and every article in one place here.
Following up on that today it’s a pleasure to be able to report on some exciting news for fans of Myriad and their creators. The publisher have announced their merger with media co-operative New Internationalist. The full press release is reproduced below…
Brighton-based independent publisher Myriad Editions is to merge with independent, non-profit media co-operative New Internationalist, based in Oxford.
Myriad Editions will continue to publish under its own imprint, with Candida Lacey and Corinne Pearlman remaining Publishing and Creative Directors respectively. Myriad will use the creative, sales and administrative resources of New Internationalist and continue to work from Brighton and London, with an additional presence in Oxford.
Candida Lacey, Myriad’s Publishing Director says:
‘This is such a positive development for Myriad. It is an opportunity to grow to a new level with partners whose ethos and belief in independent publishing ties in with ours. New Internationalist supports our mission to discover and publish exceptional literary and artistic authors and bold, game-changing books, and will help us reach a wider, more diverse and global readership for our authors. Myriad has a longstanding association with New Internationalist in their role as the UK publishers of our State of the World Atlas series. This is a collaboration where the groundwork is already firmly in place, and we look forward to a healthy cross-fertilisation of ideas and practice as we continue to build Myriad’s list.’
New Internationalist has over 40 years’ history as a publisher with a political mission to tell the stories that no one else is reporting. They have just raised over £700,000 through an innovative community share offer.
Dan Raymond-Barker, New Internationalist Marketing and Sales Director, says:
‘We are very excited by this merger. New Internationalist and Myriad are two like-minded independent publishers and we look forward to producing great books together. Myriad will continue as an imprint and maintain its identity as a publisher of ground-breaking fiction and graphic works. We also anticipate the partnership will create a fertile environment in which both lists will explore new ideas, creating unique books that enrich social experience. The skills, experience and judgement of Candida Lacey and Corinne Pearlman, and their associated network, will bring a new dimension to the team.’
Myriad transformed from a packager to a publisher in 2005, and with Arts Council support in 2009 and 2011 developed an innovative programme to nurture new talent. Best-selling authors include crime writers Elizabeth Haynes and Lesley Thompson, winners of Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award Jonathan Kemp and Ben Johncock, and graphic authors Kate Evans, Darryl Cunningham and Una. Myriad champions emerging authors through two work-in-progress competitions.
UK print distribution will continue unchanged as both New Internationalist and Myriad are handled by Turnaround. Digital distribution is managed by Ingram International for New Internationalist and Faber Factory for Myriad, and these arrangements will continue for the time being.
