We are very pleased to announce that The Selkie Publications CIC will now be working closely with Hillfire Press. This comes after a change in leadership, with Lena Kraus, founder and editor-in-chief of Hillfire Press, taking over as the new managing director of The Selkie and Zala Jambrovic Hatic, Hillfire’s executive editor, taking on the role of chief editor.
Hillfire Press is an author collective founded in 2021 by Lena Kraus. The collective consists of emerging as well as established authors and publishes an annual anthology of short prose and poetry. Its debut volume launched in May 2022. Hillfire draws its roots to the postgraduate programme for creative writing at the University of Edinburgh, where most of the contributors first met and learned the craft of writing.
The Selkie will continue publishing work by underrepresented writers, preserving the original nature of the publication.
Taliha Quadri, the former managing director, stepped down with a parting statement:
Chelsea Welsh, Lis Mesa, Sonali Misra and I met in Edinburgh in 2018 and clicked over our shared vision for better representation in literature. We wanted to do something practical to help, so we created an online platform for underrepresented writers: The Selkie.
Our hopeful little project grew into a community interest company in 2019 with me as its managing director. I’ve loved my time at The Selkie and I’m proud of how far we’ve come, but it’s time for me to move on and for The Selkie to open an exciting new chapter with Lena Kraus at the helm.
I’d like to leave a special thank you to Chelsea, Lis and Sonali for their trust and guidance all these years, and to Sam Le Butt and Lexie Angelo for their support in shaping the company and being so generous with their time.
It’s been a pleasure, Selkies!
Taliha Quadri
We would like to use this opportunity to thank Taliha and the other founders and board members for all the hard work and time they dedicated to this wonderful project in the past few years. This was clearly a labour of love for everyone involved, and we are grateful for the opportunity to lead The Selkie into the next chapter of its journey.
Full speed ahead!
Lena Kraus, Managing Director
Zala Jambrovic Hatic, Chief Editor