Transmission launched in September 2004 - the result of a student project on Manchester Metropolitan University's Creative Writing course. It's a not-for-profit publication dedicated to giving a voice to unpublished writers and artists. Now into its 4th edition, it has growing reputation in the world of literature, and has just won an Inc Writers Society award. But it doesn't just contain new writing. Its fourth edition featured an interview with Tipping the Velvet writer Sarah Waters; the 'Writer’s Block' section has tips from published writers; and also contains book reviews. Graham Foster, co-founder of Transmision explains how it came about:
 | | Sarah Waters interview |
"It came from a course in Creative Writing that me and the co-editor Dan McTiernan were on. We wanted to set up a literary magazine primarily because there wasn’t anything out there for unpublished writers that looked a bit more professional. Some of the others are really great but they’re not showing themselves to their full potential. We wanted to change that.... We used a student project that we were doing called the Transmission project, and that’s where we got the name of the magazine from. And it was designed to illustrate the transmission of written prose, fiction into different media." It's obviously something you feel strongly about.. "All of us involved in the magazine think that the mainstream at the moment is quite dangerous…" What do you mean dangerous? "Well it’s killing variety really. The publishers are looking for the next big thing, the next Da Vinci Code, and young writers who want to write something a little bit more literary maybe, are suffering because of that. They don’t have many outlets to do that, it’s very hit and miss sending manuscripts off to agents and publishers. We wanted to try and change that. It sounds a bit idealistic and I don’t know if it’s working… but hopefully it will." And because you knew writers who were finding it difficult to get published.... "In the fact that we ourselves are writers and the rest of the people on our course… I don’t think there was a pressure on us. But it was just something that a lot of us wanted. It was just that we didn’t want to play the game of the major publishers really, we wanted to get on with it ourselves without having to rely on other people." You're a lot younger than editors of other literary magazines. Is there an age gap in publishing? | "We’re definitely fiercely Mancunian/Northern. If we were setting this up in London, I don't think we'd have come this far really" | | Graham Foster, Transmission |
"There is and there isn’t. Publishers are looking for the next hot young writer because that’s easy to market especially if they look good in their author picture on the back cover and they can speak in interviews. But you spend your life learning writing rather than suddenly being able to do it. But then again, I’m going to interview a 16-year-old from Burnage who’s just had his first novel published. He won a competition at MMU and got his novel published. I think quality speaks for itself but definitely publishing companies have got quite a narrow vision when it comes to what they want to publish next." What does Transmission do that Granta and the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) don’t? "We would like to believe that we make literature a bit more fun. Because Granta and TLS are quite bit stuffy! (laughs) Erm they’re both great. I shouldn’t say anything bad about them! And we read them but they’re a daunting prospect for young up and coming writers and we wanted something that made literature a bit more fun. We have a micro lit section and a lot of the stories that come through are quite funny and we want the illustrations we commission to show that." You invite writers to submit their work. How much response are you getting? "The interest is getting huge. The fact that I’m sat here today says that. While we dont ‘want it to be hideously commercial and mainstream we have kept an eye on what interests people and that’s why we have interviews. We’ve got Sarah Waters in Issue #4, we’ve had Doris Lessing and we’ve got Toby Litt and AL Kennedy coming up as well. So I think people are interested in hearing what published writers have to say. And we do reviews as well and that’s our attempt at being a little bit more commercial and getting people reading the magazine as well as submitting to the magazine." You have an interview with the author of a new book about Anthony Burgess. Is Tranmission a magazine for Manchester? "Andrew was one of my tutors at MMU. It did used to be a magazine for Manchester writers but we got so many submissions from all over the North that we decided to make it a magazine for the North. We’re definitely fiercely Mancunian/Northern and a little bit suspicious of the literary circles in London they’re quite inbred at the moment. If we were setting this up in London.. I don’t think we would have come this far really." The name Transmission – is it a deliberate reference to Joy Division? "The Joy Division connection is something we all realised but it’s not really intentional. I think we just named the magazine in a fit of laziness really because it was for a project called the Transmission Project. But I suppose the title sums up what we’re trying to do: to transmit writing and illustration to people that are interested in that. I feel that we have filled a hole in the market – I don’t know if that’s righ – but we feel we’re doing something that connects with people." So what's the future for Transmission? "We’re all very motiviated for it to continue. I don’t think any of us want to see it fizzle out. We’ve got stuff set up for the next two issues. So we’re just keeping going and we’re getting a lot of people that want to subscribe as well which is good. So it’s definitely going to continue for the foreseeable future." And you're getting positive feedback from writers out there? "We’ve just won the IncWriters Society Award – that’s a resource centre for writers and it has a lot of literary criticism on there. So that means we’re doing something right. And all the feedback from people that we meet at launches – they really want to get involved and they want to see it flourish because there’s nothing like Transmission out there. I think we’re definitely capturing people’s imaginations." Finally - who are your favourite authors? I’ve got a passion for 1960s American literature.. like the Beat stuff like Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg. That’s influenced me a lot. And I’m a big fan of Hunter S Thompson as well. I’m also a big fan of Margaret Atwood, and Douglas Coupland is one of my favourite writers, and Paul Auster who’s an US writer from New York." | 
