Manchester-based publishers Comma Press has been awarded £56,167 to lead the Northern Fiction Alliance, which includes two other National Portfolio publishers (And Other Stories and Peepal Tree Press) and emerging indies such as Dead Ink Books, to four international book fairs in Frankfurt, New York, Beijing, and Buenos Aires.

The award was part of the Arts Council’s International Showcasing programme  which enables more UK artists and cultural organisations to collaborate with artists and partners across the world as well as to showcase and export their own work in new markets.

They will showcase and sell the work of several exciting and diverse authors to help build the cultural identity of strong British writing as well as British publishing based in the North.
Manchester City Galleries will receive £100,000 from the same fund to develop a series of new commissions, exhibitions and performances by mid-career Indian artists in partnership with Indian arts organisations. The commissions will be shown across Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth and Manchester Museum as part of UK-India Year of Culture.

 The project will connect to Manchester City Galleries’ large South Asian diaspora audiences and be complemented by a separate programme of work with Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan artists.

Nicholas Baumfield, Senior Manager for Arts Council England in the North said:

“This is great news for the arts in the North. The development of international partnerships means audiences in this country and overseas get the chance to experience the best art from all over the world. Artists will be commissioned to make work in their own countries for exhibition here and at home. These projects will be the beginning of long-term relationships

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