📢 Announcement
What makes a publication loveable? One that is crafted in community!
With huge excitement and much anticipation, we're thrilled to announce that we have received generous funding from the Open Book Collective Development Fund to build the foundations of a community publishing endeavour. In keeping with our approach, we're working in collaboration with our partners at Radish Press and sharing this announcement simultaneously on both our platforms.
Community flourising, scaling small
About the project
Our project will create a model of participatory exchange for publishing practitioners who take a community-led approach to publishing and communication. Working with practitioners and community members, participants in the project will weave a collaborative framework that centers community-led publishing as an essential facet of open knowledge production and consumption. The overarching aim of the project is to develop community-engaged practices that illuminate and champion radically inclusive publishing approaches, including shared language, definitions, activities and sites of existing engagement. The supporting structures that emerge from the project will offer much-needed scaffolding for ongoing work and ignite opportunities for new ways of publishing in community to flourish.
Why this matters (to us and you)
To borrow from Audre Lorde, publishing is not a luxury. It is a powerful necessity for grassroots communities seeking to ignite change across many levels of society. Our work takes seriously the importance of whose voices are valorised by, and inform the design of, our publishing structures.
During the course of our publishing nerdships, we have sown many community-led publishing seeds that are now flourishing (see links below, including Zoe’s Projects). With this new collaborative project, the possibilities of publishing in true service to community-led knowledge makers have been sown.
Publishing is power. The rich array of community-led publications has potential wider appeal than scholar-led open book publication alone and can provide a vital resource to mission-driven communities in, for instance, creating impactful assets and making the case for future funding.
Are you ready to nurture thriving community publishing models with us?
Taking inspiration from permaculture principles (earth care, people care, fair share), The Community Publishing Garden: centering grassroots publishing initiatives in the open book publishing system will comprise a digital space for community engagement, collaboration and design.
We invite you to join the project and help shape the future of community publishing. During 2025, we will work together in three phases to:
Build Community: Bring together individuals and organizations passionate about community publishing to foster a collaborative environment.
Define and Map: Develop a shared understanding of community publishing, its potential, and its current landscape. We will identify existing initiatives, emerging trends, and opportunities for collective action.
Establish Structures: Create sustainable frameworks to support ongoing collaboration and the advancement of community publishing.
By participating in this initiative, you will have the opportunity to:
Network with like-minded individuals and organizations
Contribute to the definition and advancement of community publishing
Shape the future of knowledge sharing and dissemination
What can you do next?
We'd love to welcome you all in in some way and are keen to understand what you would like to experience. Do you have a story to tell, publishing solutions to share, or wisdom to gather? We'll be posting updates here as the project moves forward and grows in harmony with vibrant community publishers out there. If you’re eager to share and connect, please be in touch with us via this lightly structured form or everyday email: hello@radicallyhopeful.org
And connect with us on Bluesky 🦋.
In community, in gratitude
We are grateful to the reviewers for taking time to consider our idea with openness and enthusiasm and in the spirit of community that underscores this project, we are sharing the proposal outline for any further comment. The proposal in full is available to all and all constructive comments are most welcome.
We also take this moment to reflect on the support received so far on this journey towards centering community publishing in the open books system. A special shout out to the pioneering CUNY Center for the Humanities, whose generous offer to host a nursery edition of the CPG in late 2024 was instrumental in testing the framework: https://centerforthehumanities.org/event/the-community-publishing-garden/
Links to projects that have inspired this one:
We are hugely indebted to the OBC’s Development Fund for providing us with the project resources to make the Community Publishing Garden project a realisable possibility.
Follow our progress on the OBC blog.
