Call for community volunteers to help with a book written by Gypsies and Travellers
A charity book publisher is reaching out for volunteer editors to take part in a project to develop a collection of written works authored by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people.
The idea, say the publishers Arkbound, is that the book will feature a mixture of autobiographical materials, including diaries, that demonstrate the experiences of people within these communities, including both positive experiences and challenges faced.
The Travellers’ Times contacted Arkbound to find out more:
“We are advertising for co-editors to join our voluntary editorial board,” said Arkbound’s Beth Cowen. “Our aim is to have a board that consists of as many editors from the communities we hope to represent as possible. This is to bring together a range of skills and experiences appropriate for shaping and developing this project.”
“Any experience of journalism/editing/writing would obviously be great, especially for reviewing submissions, but we have resources at Arkbound for the editorial side of things, so lived experience and interest in the project is more important.”
“We are seeking editors that will spend time on reviewing submissions to the project (diaries etc) as well as advising on the overall direction of the collection, raising awareness within networks for submissions/funding/dissemination and helping with publicising the project and eventually the book itself.”
“The time commitment we’re asking for is relatively minimal to start with (unless desired otherwise), including a meeting approximately every 4 weeks to begin with, with the rest of the editorial team, which is just two of us so far. Ideally, we will be a team of 4-5 people. So perhaps 4 hours per month (including one hour for the editorial board meeting) to start with, but this could increase to several hours per month as the project picks up steam. Nevertheless, if this was too much for you, we would potentially be able to recruit an Arkbound volunteer to assist you with your agreed upon tasks (and would offer the same to all potential editors).
If you are interested in hearing more then please reach out to: matthew@arkfound.org or beth.cowen@arkfound.org
TT News
(Main photograph: Appleby Fair © Eszter Halasi)