Publisher of the Month: Freight Books
The Freight Books imprint was the result of formalising the ad hoc publishing activities of Freight Design, one of Scotland’s leading and multi-award-winning design companies based in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Established by Davinder Samrai and Adrian Searle in 2001, Freight designed and published a number of books over the years, mainly as self-commissioned projects, including The Hope That Kills Us, the first ever anthology of Scottish football fiction, and The Knuckle End, an innovative and multi-award-winning anthology of new writing from Glasgow University’s renowned Masters creative writing programme.
‘Publishing a number of anthologies of new writing drew me into the creative writing scene in Scotland and I ended up doing a Masters course myself,’ says Adrian Searle. ‘After I graduated, I and a fellow student, Colin Begg, noticed that there were very few places in Scotland to publish short fiction and poetry. We decided to start our own high quality magazine of new writing.’
Gutter magazine, now the leading magazine of fiction and poetry in Scotland, coincided with a management buyout of Freight from its former parent company, one of Scotland’s leading advertising agencies, by Adrian and Davinder.
‘With the MBO and setting up Gutter, 2009 was a very busy year, but we were delighted at the response to the magazine,’ says Searle. ‘Immediately we attracted a number of well-known names, both to the editorial board and as contributors to the magazine. Gutter also won the top design award in Scotland that year.’
‘The success of Gutter gave us credibility amongst writers as they could see the quality, both editorially and visually. Very soon we had writers knocking on our door, asking us to read their manuscripts.’
With the freedom the MBO brought, Searle and Samrai decided to formalise the ongoing publishing activity. A graphic novel about Afghanistan and PTSD, Dougie’s War by Rodge Glass and Dave Turbitt, published to acclaim in 2010, set the ball rolling. ‘Christopher Wallace, a former winner of the Saltire First Book Award, had published three novels with Flamingo in the late 90s. He had a wicked political conspiracy thriller, Killing the Messenger, based on his experience creating advertising for the government, which we’d already published an extract from in Gutter.’ That was Freight Books’ first novel, and since then the company hasn’t looked back.
‘While we don’t see ourselves as exclusively Scottish,’ says Searle, ‘the majority of books we publish are from Scottish-based writers. That’s entirely down to the network we have through Gutter. However, the books we choose are selected on appeal for a UK and international audience.’
Ramshackle, Freight Books’ second novel, is by a Chicago-born writer, Elizabeth Reeder, who now lives in Glasgow, but the book is set in her home city. Furnace, a collection of short stories by South Wales writer, Wayne Price, who teaches creative writing in Aberdeen, was long-listed for the world’s biggest prize for story collections, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, along with some of the world’s biggest literary names.
August 2012 sees three events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the publication of Toni Davidson’s long-awaited second novel, My Gun Was As Tall As Me, a visceral epic about child soldiers and NGOs set in Switzerland and Burma.
The remainder of the year is busy with the September reissue of a forgotten classic of Scottish literature, All the Little Animals, by Airdrie-born Walker Hamilton, who tragically died aged 34 the day he finished his second novel and less than six months after the publication of his debut.
‘It’s a strange and haunting adult fable about running away, identity, the environment and road-kill,’ says Searle. ‘The novelist Alan Warner, who is on Gutter’s editorial board, suggested we look at it and we loved it. And there’s such a tragic and compelling story behind the book.’
In October, Freight is publishing a debut novel set in the Highlands by Barry Gornell, The Healing of Luther Grove, and its first foray into humour, the hilariously irreverent 101 Uses of a Dead Kindle, by conceived Adrian himself and illustrator Judith Hastie, which aims to cement the iconic status of the world’s most popular e-reader.
‘Life is busy and we’re already well down the line with titles for 2013 – although there’s still a lot to be done,’ says Searle. ‘It can be tough balancing the needs of the design business with those of publishing but we love both and it keeps life interesting!’
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Add to Basket101 Uses Of A Dead Kindle
£5.94
- Paperback - Freight
In a few short years the Kindle e-reader has become one of the most iconic objects of our contemporary culture. But what happens when a Kindle dies? '101 Uses of a Dead Kindle' shows the many imaginative, irreverent and often downright bizarre ways your dead Kindle can live on! -
Add to BasketAll The Little Animals
£6.79
- Paperback - Freight
A 31-year-old man with the mind of a child, Bobby escapes from the stepfather he hates after the death of his mother. Mr Summers is a gentle killer who can never be caught. Together they are a bizarre pair who take pity on the little animals. -
Add to BasketDougie's War
£14.95
- Paperback - Freight
The story of Dougie, a Scottish soldier returning from active service in Afghanistan. 'Dougie's War' uses the graphic novel form to broaden understanding of post traumatic stress, highlighting the battle service personnel face on their return from combat. -
Add to BasketFurnace
£7.64
- Paperback - Freight
From the scorched hillsides of Morocco and heat of California to the ferocity of the Spanish afternoon and discomfort of a Scottish heatwave, the characters in this collection sweat under the glare of both the sun and the author's forensic gaze. -
Add to BasketThe Healing Of Luther Grove
£7.64
- Paperback - Freight
Arriving at their idyllic and newly renovated Highland home, wealthy 30-somethings John and Laura Payne hope they are leaving their problems behind in the city. But the couple's presence disturbs neighbour and local eccentric, Luther Grove, forcing him to confront long buried secrets. -
Add to BasketThe Hope That Kills Us: An Anthology Of Scottish Football Fiction
£14.95
- Hardback - Freight
Edited by Adrian Searle, this volume is an anthology of Scottish football fiction. -
Add to BasketKilling The Messenger
£12.99
- Paperback - Freight
A gripping, intelligent, high stakes political conspiracy thriller with a satirical edge, this book tests its two central characters to the limit as it exposes the advertising industry's subliminal programming of the Facebook generation, the cynicism of government spin and the temptations of power. -
Add to BasketThe Knuckle End: A Meaty Collection Of The Best New Writing In Scotland
£11.95
- Hardback - Freight
This anthology features the work of some of the best new writers in Scotland and is the first collection dedicated to graduates of the University of Glasgow postgraduate creative writing course. This course has helped launch the careers of writers such as Louise Welsh, Zoe Strachan and Anne Donovan. -
Add to BasketMy Gun Was As Tall As Me
£7.64
- Paperback - Freight
High in the Alps, Tuvol, the son of a great European humanitarian crawls into a snow hole in an attempt at death. Saved from suicide, he leaves his family to try and help those whose lives have been shattered by war. -
Add to BasketRamshackle
£7.64
- Paperback - Freight
Roe is like any other fifteen-year-old Chicago teenager. Her only worries are schoolwork, keeping up with her best friend and whether she should sleep with her boyfriend. Then her adoptive father disappears one winter's day. As she tries to find out why he left her, her past unravels in front of her. -
Add to BasketSushirexia: 32 Stories About Hunger
£9.95
- Paperback - Freight
32 writers have taken hunger as a theme to offer up 32 remarkable short stories. Diverse in style and content, they range from tales of heart-breaking poignancy to laugh-out-loud farce.
