Thoughts from the SYP 2009 conference

From Lucy Austin, MA Publishing '09-'10...
"Having staggered through the howling gales and incessant rain to various tube stations and bus stops across London a group of MA Publishing students emerged from the escalators onto Paddington station where they would begin their journey to the SYP 2009 conference (unless of course they were the lucky few to travel in luxury with Keith). With ‘The Impact of Publishing on Society’ as the theme, the day brought with it the ideology of literature, particularly prevalent in Robert Sharp’s talk where he alluded to the power of the spoken word over any other medium in the arts (do check out www.englishpen.org/ to be thoroughly inspired) and a general sense of well being at the thought that our industry can fulfil various important social responsibilities. A particularly humbling experience for the student was to hear the concise and inspiring delivery from Helen Fraser, Managing Director of Penguin, who broke the tough business façade of corporate publishing to articulate a deeper routed sensitivity towards literature and society, convincing the lecture theatre of the positive social impact they seek to obtain. Additionally Chris Meade and David Attwooll successfully pulled digital publishing out of the confused and sometimes dull objectivism it currently inhabits into more of a creative light with some very inspiring thoughts on the future (do have a look at www.futureofthebook.org/). Overall a very interesting and successful day."

- Jump to the SYP 2009 conference site