About eighteen months ago Indira had the idea of compiling an anthology of WW short stories and asked me if I’d work on it with her. Well, we’ve finished it now and we’ve called it Pangea meaning all lands, or all earth. Pangea was the name given to the earth when it was ancient and before it broke up and formed different continents, so we see the name as a metaphor about being together both as humans and as writers.
It’s been a fascinating process, and both of us could now write a book on how to compile an anthology, but we’re more interested in compiling more anthologies together rather than writing the ‘how to’ book. My biggest fear was that we wouldn’t be able to find a publisher as so few publishers are prepared to deal in anthologies, at least ones they haven’t compiled themselves. At one point, I became very involved in the process of searching through publishers and putting them in categories of ‘possible,’ ‘worth a try,’ ‘doubtful but check out,’ ‘suspect publisher.’ It’s irritating to have to make a list of publishers you suspect are dubious and who you won’t go near, but if you don’t, you have to keep their names inside your head and that can get hard even if you’ve got a really good memory. Anyhow, we struck lucky and found a publisher who had been working for the most part in non-fiction academic books and who had recently branched out into fiction.

I’m handing this over to Indira now ...

When I think back on the process, one of the things that strikes me is how Becca and I were able to read the hundreds and hundreds of stories, past and present, on WW, and find a synergy in the way we saw a story, and also, how we worked when editing it. None of the work was face-to-face. Becca is in the UK, I am in India, our time zones are different, as are the climate and the day-to-day pressure and pace that affect us. And yet, it was as if we sank into each story, each story became a world when we were working on it. And ultimately Pangea became the centre from where we reached out to the authors. Quite a remarkable experience!

... But actually we did meet face to face once in London. But I, being so over-excited at the thought of meeting Indira, and so stupid, wasted precious minutes, waiting around the corner at the wrong museum, how like myself, I thought, as I came round the corner and there she was.

Congratulations! How exciting! When will it be available and who is in it?

There are 25 different WW writers in it and it'll be published on the 15th April 2012, and nearer the time, we'll signal it up again.

Just checked on Amazon and it was saying not yet released. Any chance of an update? (Also, would love to know the WW members who contributed?)
Best of luck with it,
G

It was due to be published on April 15th then there was a last minute change and publication date is now July 15th. The authors are, and I'll see if I can remember all the 25 names in one go:- Vanessa Gebbie, Mary Farquharson, Tom Williams, Andy Charman, Indira Chandrasekhar, Dee Weaver, Jennifer Walmsley, Clayton Lister, Rebecca Lloyd, Stephen Tyson, Liesl Jobson, Sarah Hilary, Trilby Kent, Tara Conklin, Sarah Leipciger, Oonah Joslin, Caroline Robinson, Shola Olowu-Asante, Emmanuella Dekonor, Fehmida Zakeer, Joel Willians, Lisa Marie Trump,John Bolland, Juli Klass and Katie Mayes.
These are authors who were once members of WW or who are still. Since Indira and I put Pangea together, and that was over a space of two years, Indira working in Mumbai and me in Bristol, we asked our authors to tell us about their writing successes and this is what we got back:-

Tara Conklin – Debut novel ‘The House Girl’ published by William Morrow in the US and Harper Collins Canada in April 2013. Her story in Pangea deals with the same characters and subject matter as the novel.

Vanessa Gebbie – ‘The Coward’s Tale’ Bloomsbury. This novel came out in hardback in the UK in November 2011 and in the US in February 2012 and in paperback in UK at the end of March 2012.

Dee Weaver – Her novel ‘The Winter House’ is published on Amazon Kindle as an ebook and is a paranormal romance with very good reviews.

Mary Farquharson – is producing and editing a book and CD of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s poems in the voice of Chevela Vargas, (the Edith Piaf of Latin America).

Sarah Hilary – Her short story ‘The Mauve Throw’ which received an honourable mention in the Tom Gallon Trust Award is available as an ebook from Shortfire Press.

Trilby Kent – Her most recent novel is 'Smoke Portrait' and her YA novel ‘Stones for my Father’ came out in the UK and in South Africa in February 2012.

Joel Willians – His short story collection ‘Five Reasons for Leaving’ will be published by Route Publishing in the UK and in Finland in September 2012 and it includes versions of both his stories in Pangea.

I've read Vanessa's extraordinary Book The Coward's Tale and written a review of it on WW.

Wonderful news! Congratulations to all.

What a great idea for a project. Congratulations to all the writers!

It'll be coming out in India and in the UK, so launches in both countries we hope.