Inside SFFH Publishing

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Confirmed Line-up

Saturday 4th June

10:30am - 11am: Nazia Khatun, Publicist with Orbit

11:15am - 11:45am: John Baker, Agent with Bell Lomax Moreton

3:00pm - 3:30pm: Simon Spanton, Commissioning Editor at Angry Robot

Sunday 5th June

11:00am - 11:30am: Polly Grice, Publicist with Head of Zeus

11:45am - 12:15pm: Robbie Guillory, Agent with Underline Literary Agency

These sessions will take place in the Creators Hall and are free to attend, no ticket needed.

Agent & Editor One-on-Ones

Writers will have the invaluable opportunity to talk directly to an agent from a literary agency or an editor from a SFFH publisher about their work, seek advice about any stage of the writing process, and receive direct feedback on pitches and ideas.

Friday 3rd June - 2pm - 4pm, digital via Zoom

Saturday 4th June -12:30 - 4:30pm, in person

Sunday 5th June - 12:30 - 4:30pm, in person

Meetings will be 15 minutes long, and there will be a £20 fee.

By booking tickets for this event, you are committing to submitting your submission letter and the first 2000 words of your novel (or less) by Monday 09.05.2022

Please send your material to admin@cymerafestival.co.uk

Please note that both agents and editors will be joining us for this event, and you will be paired at random.

Booking Deadline Monday 9th May 2022.

Open Mic

Do you have a fresh piece of writing ready for the world to see? Then we want your reading! Poetry, a bit of a novel or short fiction, we love it all!

There will be two in-person open mic session over the festival weekend, plus one digital one.

The in-person Open Mic will take place in our Creators Hall at the following times

• Saturday 4th June 1:30pm to 2pm

• Sunday 5th June 2pm to 2:30pm

To join us in person, please apply here

To join the digital open mic, please make a recording of your reading and submit it via this form.

We will edit all submissions together into up to two videos which will premier across the festival weekend (3rd to 5th June 2022). Please keep your reading to five minutes maximum.

Submission deadline for both in-person and digital is Sunday 22nd May 2022.

Brave New Words

Cymera: Scotland’s Festival of Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror offers a platform for Scotland-based emerging and newly published writers to read their work in front of our audience.

Brave New Words readers will appear on screen just before some of our main events.  Readings will be a maximum of five minutes.

Are you a Scotland-based writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror and are interested in being one of our readers?

Drop us an email on programme@cymerafestival.co.uk and tell us a little about yourself and your work.

Please note that whatever piece of work you intend to read has to be available to purchase, in digital form or in print. Both traditionally published and self-published writers can apply. Spots are limited and will be allocated by our programming team.

Deadline Sunday 8th May 2022.

Writing workshops

Our #Cymera2022 programme is bursting with writing workshops, both in-person and online via Zoom.

Check out our dedicated workshop page