Publisher Lorna Brookes talks about a special event for cat lovers, and a new chapter for Crumps Barn Studio
As a publisher, I love the cold evenings at this time of year for the opportunity to stay cosy by the fire with a good book, but shocking as it may be to admit it, sometimes even that isn’t enough to chase the chill away. Even book editors feel the gloom of winter sometimes.
Being a woman who has established her own business, I’m in the habit of fixing things. And this time, I’ve even surprised myself. Determined to ward off the prospect of a wintery February, I’ll be opening the doors of the new Crumps Barn Studio shop in Cirencester for a celebration of cats.
Put simply, I am hosting a fun and family-friendly exhibition of original artwork and books that feature cats and their role in our lives.
A Festival of Cats – it sounds like a collective noun.
I should explain first of all that this has only been made possible by my recent decision to move Crumps Barn Studio into town. We’ve been publishing books from a beautiful but fearsomely isolated rural office since 2012. Our ten-year anniversary slipped by in October in a haze of preparation for an exciting new chapter. After months of hunting (which in itself was an adventure of mouldy hovels and ramshackle caverns), we finally found a new premises in the heart of Cirencester.
It’s beautiful, too – part of an old mews at No. 2 The Waterloo. Full of heritage and conveniently close to the library.
This move has been a long-held dream. I loved my old office of course, but sometimes it would strike me how much my relationship with the finished books was restricted to the sight of plain brown boxes arriving from the printers before sending them straight off to the wholesaler. For anyone who has spent months at a time working on a new title, that lack of personal contact would feel a little strange. For a book lover like me, it has been agony.
Now I work in a space that is open to my authors and the visiting public alike, and the books are laid out on tables like a gathering of old friends.
Excitingly, I don’t tend to use bookshelves and this initially left the walls rather bare. And that has allowed me to stumble across a new and unexpected secondary purpose – providing a gallery space that offers an opportunity for artists who are developing their professional practice.
Which brings me to my plans for February.
We opened our new Cirencester shop in November. December was a whirlwind of finding my feet and navigating the snow and the Christmas rush. After all that excitement, I was afraid that the new year would feel rather flat by comparison. I latched upon the idea of a Festival of Cats as an act of self-preservation. I thought I would need the boost of something cheerful to look forward to.
In fact, so far the new year has been just as busy as the end of the last, but by now I’ve sent out my invitations to authors and artists to take part, so I’m brightening the gloom of February with a shop full of cats whether it is, in reality, wintery weather or not.
I owe the origin of the idea to children’s author Penny Wright. Quite a few of the books we’ve published have featured cats and she bears responsibility for two of them – Pippin and the Medicine and her latest story Fluffy’s New Home. Both are fictional accounts of real-life rescues of two of her much-loved family cats – in fact, Pippin featured in the Pets issue of Cotswold Life last August.
I mentioned to her that I thought I might link some of our catty books with an art show. Then she suggested that if I was going to curate a real exhibition, perhaps I ought to publish a new book for it, too. An anthology of poems and short stories for older readers perhaps? I must be a very suggestible person. Or perhaps I just love books about cats and I barely need any excuse to publish another one. ‘Let’s do it,’ I said.
And then the artists began to get involved too. We’ve been offered original work by established Cotswold artists Jeremy Brookes, Kitty Garland and Molly Lemon. Cirencester printmaker Katie Ballard opened our first solo show in November and she’ll be returning with new work, and as the closing date looms, I’m receiving individual pieces by other local artists.
I’m starting to think that a Festival of Cats is in fact a collective noun for something that is very fun indeed.
It amazes me that all this began with a plan to brighten my own prospect of a gloomy February. It was just a personal wish, really. I was not expecting it to become a celebration of the magic that comes from getting together with many other people – both the creative minds that produce art and writing, and the visitors who come to the shop.
Now, that’s really a thought with the power to brighten even the dullest of winter days.
The Crumps Barn Studio Festival of Cats opens on Saturday, February 4 and runs to Tuesday, February 28. Everyone is welcome and admission is free.
Crumps Barn Studio is at No.2 The Waterloo in Cirencester, just off the Market Place towards the library. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30am to 4.30pm.
Lorna Brookes is the main editor at Crumps Barn Studio. Twitter: @crumpsbarnbooks
