Creative writing students at Leeds Trinity University are celebrating their first book deal in a tie-up between Indigo Dreams Publishing and Wordspace, the university’s creative writing imprint. An After-Dinner’s Sleep is a collection of poems by MA students Gill Lambert, Maria Preston and Hannah Stone that have been described as “funny, wistful, moving and, at times, deceptively simple” by Leeds author and poet, Mark Connors.

The book marks the beginning of a collaboration between Leeds Trinity University and Indigo Dreams, which earlier this year won the Ted Slade award for services to poetry. 

Hannah Stone said she was delighted to be "associated with such a vibrant publishing house before I even graduate. This volume is testimony to the talents and dedication of the creative writing team at Leeds Trinity University, who have nurtured our writing and challenged us to be ambitious about our audience and readership. Working with Gill and Maria has provided a creative synergy which makes us able to find a common voice as well as individual voices.”

Leeds Trinity University’s MA in Creative Writing was launched in 2013. The course also helps writers to make practical steps in getting their work seen and heard by a wider audience, including a performance slot for Gill, Hannah and Maria at last year’s Ilkley literature festival. 

The university’s partnership with Indigo Dreams has also included the launch of Close as Second Skins, a poetry collection by Paul ‘Oz’ Hardwick and Amina Alyal, professor of English and associate principal lecturer in English at Leeds Trinity. The collection contains a sequence of tanka – a seven-line Japanese form – based on work Amina and Paul have been performing with Japanese-style music since 2011. The linked poems criss-cross space and time, adding what Kevin Bailey of The Haiku Quarterly has described as “a refreshingly Romantic cast to an old poetic mould, creating images and evoking emotions that will resonate in the reader’s memory”.

Oz Hardwick said: “In recent years, Leeds Trinity has become known as a place where good writing happens, not just on our undergraduate degrees and the creative writing MA, but also through our monthly Wordspace open mic events and our annual Writers’ Festival. This partnership offers some great opportunities. We have two more books lined up for later in the year – one in summer, another in autumn – so there are exciting times ahead.”

Indigo Dreams’ Ronnie Goodyer said:  “Anything that brings the creative word to the page and gives opportunities for talented people to reach a wider audience is to be admired and supported, and we are proud by association. It is particularly pleasing to be working with Oz Hardwick again, as he knows the literary world and the requirements, timescales of publishing, something that makes the joint experience even more enjoyable.” 

Background: Publisher showcase