Transmission (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Transmission is a literary magazine in the United Kingdom
. Transmission is a non-profit publication, and everybody involved in its production is a volunteer. It is published three times a year.
, it was originally chiefly concerned with finding and championing unpublished authors from the North of England. However, as the magazine grew in popularity it began to accept submissions from all over the UK (although it still remains loyal to Manchester). Since its launch, it has featured short stories and interviews with a range of notable literary figures including Doris Lessing
, Toby Litt
and (in September 2006) Dave Eggers
.
The magazine has been largely praised for combining a literary content with striking design. From the first issue, the design has been overseen by Jo Phillips. In 2006 Transmission began to hand-print its front covers, the design of which is conducted by Edwin Pickstone at the Glasgow School of Art
. In January 2006, Dan McTiernan left the magazine to pursue other interests, leaving Graham Foster as the sole editor. In October 2006, Transmission sponsored events at both The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Manchester Literature Festival. In Cheltenham
, Transmission was the sponsor of a reading by Marina Warner, and in Manchester the magazine sponsored a talk by Palestinian novelist Samir El Youssef.
, Edmund White
, Sarah Waters
, Andrew Biswell
, Toby Litt
, A. L. Kennedy
, Douglas Coupland
, Dave Eggers
, Paul Magrs
,
Jon McGregor
, Haruki Murakami
, John Banville
, Nicola Monaghan
, Chuck Palahniuk
, Michael Chabon
, Christopher Brookmyre
, Fiona Campbell
, Wesley Stace, Rose Tremain
, Colm Toibin
, Dan Vyleta, and Empar Moliner
to a feature on two of Britain's leading literary festivals. The magazine has also examined the meaning of death in the novel and written about Douglas Coupland
's debut stage play, September 10th 2001. In a regular section, entitled "Writer's Block", literary professionals offer writing guidance. Notable contributors to this section include novelists Paul Magrs
, Ian McGuire and Ray Robinson
. Publishers such as Comma Press's Ra Page and Carcanet's Michael Schmidt
have also written articles for this section.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Transmission is a non-profit publication, and everybody involved in its production is a volunteer. It is published three times a year.
History
Transmission was founded in 2004 by Dan McTiernan and Graham Foster. Printed in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, it was originally chiefly concerned with finding and championing unpublished authors from the North of England. However, as the magazine grew in popularity it began to accept submissions from all over the UK (although it still remains loyal to Manchester). Since its launch, it has featured short stories and interviews with a range of notable literary figures including Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
, Toby Litt
Toby Litt
Toby Litt is an English writer, born in Bedford in 1968. He studied at Bedford Modern School, read English at Worcester College, Oxford and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury....
and (in September 2006) Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
.
The magazine has been largely praised for combining a literary content with striking design. From the first issue, the design has been overseen by Jo Phillips. In 2006 Transmission began to hand-print its front covers, the design of which is conducted by Edwin Pickstone at the Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art is one of only two independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow.-History:It was founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design. In 1853, it changed its name to The Glasgow School of Art. Initially it was located at 12 Ingram...
. In January 2006, Dan McTiernan left the magazine to pursue other interests, leaving Graham Foster as the sole editor. In October 2006, Transmission sponsored events at both The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Manchester Literature Festival. In Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, Transmission was the sponsor of a reading by Marina Warner, and in Manchester the magazine sponsored a talk by Palestinian novelist Samir El Youssef.
Interviews
Transmission has interviewed: Doris LessingDoris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
, Edmund White
Edmund White
Edmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...
, Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.-Childhood:Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966....
, Andrew Biswell
Andrew Biswell
Andrew Biswell is the biographer of Anthony Burgess. He is a lecturer in the English department of Manchester Metropolitan University.Biswell wrote his doctoral thesis on Burgess's fiction and journalism. His biography, semi-authorised by Burgess's widow, is entitled The Real Life of Anthony Burgess...
, Toby Litt
Toby Litt
Toby Litt is an English writer, born in Bedford in 1968. He studied at Bedford Modern School, read English at Worcester College, Oxford and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury....
, A. L. Kennedy
A. L. Kennedy
Alison Louise Kennedy is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is known for a characteristically dark tone, a blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work...
, Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
, Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
, Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs is a writer and lecturer. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England, and now lives in Manchester with his partner, author and lecturer Jeremy Hoad.-Early life:...
,
Jon McGregor
Jon mcgregor
Jon McGregor is a British author who has written three novels; If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which was nominated for the 2002 Booker Prize, winner of the Betty Trask Prize and winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 2003, and So Many Ways to Begin, which was published in 2006 and also...
, Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami
is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
, John Banville
John Banville
John Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
, Nicola Monaghan
Nicola Monaghan
Nicola Monaghan is an English novelist and author of The Killing Jar, Starfishing and The Okinawa Dragon.Monaghan was listed in The Independent’s New Year 2006 list of rising talent, and won a Betty Trask Award, the Author's Club Best First Novel Prize and the Waverton Good Read Award for her debut...
, Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
, Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
, Christopher Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author...
, Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell , also known as Fee or Weefee, is a Scottish cricketer who has represented her country in several international matches....
, Wesley Stace, Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
, Colm Toibin
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
, Dan Vyleta, and Empar Moliner
Empar Moliner
Empar Moliner i Ballesteros is a Catalan writer and journalist.She works for the newspapers El País, Avui, and appears in several TV and radio programs as Minoria Absoluta , El matí de Catalunya Ràdio and Els matins .-Published books:* L'Ensenyador de pisos que odiava els mims. ISBN 84-233-3114-8*...
Articles
Transmission features very varied articles of a literary basis in every issue. Articles have ranged from a behind-the-scenes look at the Royal Exchange Theatre in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
to a feature on two of Britain's leading literary festivals. The magazine has also examined the meaning of death in the novel and written about Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
's debut stage play, September 10th 2001. In a regular section, entitled "Writer's Block", literary professionals offer writing guidance. Notable contributors to this section include novelists Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs is a writer and lecturer. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England, and now lives in Manchester with his partner, author and lecturer Jeremy Hoad.-Early life:...
, Ian McGuire and Ray Robinson
Ray Robinson (British novelist)
Ray Robinson is a British novelist and short-story writer, known for his début novel, Electricity .-Career:...
. Publishers such as Comma Press's Ra Page and Carcanet's Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt (poet)
Michael Schmidt is a Mexican-British poet, author and scholar. He studied at Harvard and at Wadham College, Oxford. He is currently Professor of Poetry at Glasgow University, where he is convener of the Creative Writing M.Litt programme...
have also written articles for this section.
Short fiction
Transmission was founded in order to publish short fiction from unpublished writers. In each issue, the fiction is based around a theme, some of which have been "Identity", "Nature" and "Time". These themes are broad and have been interpreted in a variety of ways by featured writers. Each issue also includes a "Micro-Fiction" section, which consists of short stories that are under 500 words in length. Every story is illustrated by up-and-coming illustrators, providing the magazine with its own look.Plaudits
- "A well-judged balance of fiction, interviews and articles - reading it feels like it might do you a favour, not the other way round." (City Life)
- "touching" "entertaining" and "pulls off one of the hardest tricks in fiction..." (Time Out)
- In 2006 Transmission won the Incwriters Magazine Award for outstanding contribution to literature.