Rory Cook

Rory Cook is a writer and editor. He founded the small press Monitor, which publishes poetry and writing by artists in bespoke editions and has programmed interdisciplinary events across the UK and internationally. Monitor is currently the inaugural Small Press in Residence at UCL Special Collections. Rory previously worked at Prototype Publishing, another leading UK small press.

His interdisciplinary PhD (University of Salford, 2025) used the concept of flatness as a way of reading how contemporary artists and poets respond to new technologies. He is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths and London College of Communication, and co-edits the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry.

“I’m looking forward to speaking on this panel themed around showcasing and celebrating underrepresented writers, which is a vital part of publishing and programming.”
Rory Cook

Patrick Cash

Patrick is a Relationship Manager in Literature for Arts Council England, the national development agency for creativity and culture. He looks after a roster of National Portfolio Organisations and makes funding decisions on ACE’s National Lottery Project Grants programme.

His specialisms include individual writers and independent publishing, and he regularly provides advice to both artists and organisations applying to ACE funding. He also works as a writer himself outside of his ACE work.

Photograph by Adrian Pope

Phil Wrigglesworth

Phil is a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at UWE Bristol part-time and for the rest of his time you’ll find him digging spuds for tea on his allotment and of course making magazines and zines.

Aiming to celebrate all forms of left-wing culture as expressively as possible. Hopefully challenging the narrow narratives set out within the short sightedness of the Neo-liberal publishing model.

Picture taken at The Clarion, East Lancashire

Azad Ashim Sharma

Azad Ashim Sharma is the director of the87press and serves as poetry editor at Philosophy and Global Affairs and the CLR James Journal; he is also the commissioning editor of The Hythe Review. He is a PhD Candidate in English and Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of three poetry collections, most recently, Boiled Owls (Nightboat Books / Out-Spoken Press, 2024) which was shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize.

His second collection Ergastulum: Vignettes of Lost Time (Broken Sleep Books, 2022) was the recipient of the Caribbean Philosophical Association’s Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Outstanding Book Award. In July 2025, Azad was inaugurated as the Poet Laureate of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. He lives in South London and is currently working on a novel and his fourth collection of poetry.

Photograph by Sopo Ramischwili

Veruschka Selbach

Veruschka Selbach has been the Managing Director of Pluto Books and the Left Book Club since 2017.

She started working in publishing when emails were sent on a screechy dial-up connection and scissors were still used to lay out a catalogue.

She has worked in a number of independent publishers and has international experience across sales, marketing, management, consultancy, and most things digital.

As MD of Pluto Books she’s trying to balance an anti-capitalist radical work ethos with reality, without being a hypocrite. She is a fellow at the RSA.

Tatevik Sargsyan

Tatevik Sargsyan is a design strategist, facilitator, and publisher/editor of Anamot Press. We publish poetry and essays on queer experiences across borders, host writing workshops, run writers residencies, and curate interdisciplinary literary events. She is the Co-chair of the Lipman-Miliband Trust and a Trustee of the Poetry Translation Centre.

She said she‘d like to be a part of our panel because, ”I work in philanthropy and publishing, I am interested in different models of sustaining independent publishing, I am exploring developing a Literary Arts Fund for the UK independent publishing community and nonprofit literary organisations.“