We are happy to announce that pilot issues of our ‘sister’ publications ELLA (Eesti lühilugude ajakiri) and JESS (Journal of Estonian Short Stories) will be released in February 2014. The pilot issues of both publications will be distributed freely at launch events in both Tallinn and Tartu!
After a somewhat uncertain beginning we, as the Villane Raamat MTÜ, are slowly establishing ourselves as a not-for-profit publishing house, committed to providing our contributors with meaningful remuneration. During the course of the past year we have developed a close working relationship with a number of organisations including the Estonian Printing Museum in Tartu, who are assisting us in producing the pilot issues of ELLA and JESS. Similarly, local businesses have begun to support our activities. On Tuesday, 4th February the cafe-bar NAIIV (Vallikraavi tänav 6, Tartu) will be allowing us to use their premises and facilities free of charge for our first launch event. On Thursday, 6th February Kehrwieder cafe (Saiakang 1, Tallinn) will be doing the same for our second launch event.
ELLA and JESS are only the start of what Villane Raamat has planned for 2014. We intend to establish a series of creative writing workshops in peripheral locations around Estonia in both Estonian and English. Young people will have the opportunity to participate in these workshops free of charge. They will be hosted by experienced and published writers and will result in a journal of the collected works, produced in collaboration with the Estonian Printing Museum, for the participants to keep. The idea behind these workshops is to develop writing skills in a non-formal learning environment and support foreign language acquisition. Moreover, the whole ethos behind Villane Raamat is that literature is not only for enjoyment but can also be a means of inter- and intra-cultural dialogue. At present we are vigorously pursuing funding from the European Commission to support these activities.
We are writing to you today not only to inform you of our activities, but also to ask you for your assistance. We are trying to raise 300 Euros to help with the costs of the launch events and to distribute information about our creative writing workshops for Estonian youth. Whilst the Estonian Printing Museum is providing us assistance with producing the pilot issues of ELLA and JESS there are a number of consumables that we need to cover the costs of, in addition to the logistics of having events in both Tallinn and Tartu. Similarly, whilst NAIIV and Kehrwieder are providing us with a location and facilities, we would like to offer guests modest snacks and refreshments. These launch events will be instrumental in gaining support and collaborators for our creative writing project for economically disadvantaged areas of Estonia.
As mentioned above, the pilot issues of ELLA and JESS are freely available. However, due to financial constraints, there will only be limited number of hardcopies produced and distributed at the launch events in Tallinn and Tartu. Nevertheless, we will ensure that a freely accessible digital version is available online (temporarily on our blog whilst we are developing our website: http://villaneraamat.wordpress.com). If you are able to help us raise the 300 Euros we need for our activities we would be extremely thankful. Whilst a donation of any amount will be gratefully received, for any individual donation equivalent to 10 Euros or more we will print and send an extra copy of ELLA (Estonian language) or JESS (English language) if the donor so desires. In the event of a larger donation from a group or society we’d be happy to send additional copies (please contact us). Furthermore, the names of individuals or collectives will be included in both ELLA and JESS for any donations received before Friday, 24th January 2014 (unless you would prefer to remain anonymous). Any funds raised in addition to 300 Euros will go toward helping us continue with our activities.
To donate please visit the ‘about’ page of our blog (http://villaneraamat.wordpress.com/about) where secure donations can be made via PayPal. We would also like to invite you to visit, like and share our Facebook pages with your friends and family. Please inform them of our activities and our present fundraising campaign.
Facebook pages:
ELLA: https://www.facebook.com/ELLA.ajakiri
JESS: https://www.facebook.com/JESS.journal
Villane Raamat: https://www.facebook.com/VillaneRaamat
Yours sincerely,
The Villane Raamat editorial and administrative team
