The history of Reality Street
REALITY STREET (previously Reality Street Editions) was formed in 1993, as an amalgamation of two independent poetry presses: Ken Edwards' Reality Studios, which had been operating in London since 1978 (starting with Reality Studios magazine, which ran between 1978-88), and Wendy Mulford's Street Editions, founded in Cambridge in 1972.
The two presses recognised a common interest in publishing the poetry of what Ken has termed the "parallel tradition": its various formations in the UK being the British Poetry Revival (Eric Mottram's term), the Cambridge diaspora, and what has sometimes been called "linguistically innovative" poetry - all overlapping categories. There was also a common interest in post-New American Poetry, Language Writing and related North American fields, as well as adventurous poetry in other English-speaking regions and from other languages and cultures.
In recent years, Reality Street has also been interested in experimental prose, both narrative and non-narrative.
Wendy decided to retire from small press publishing in 1998, since when Reality Street has been run by Ken Edwards - with help from Elaine Edwards. The press moved from London to Hastings in 2004.
In 2016, Ken took the decision to cease production of new titles, although all remaining titles will be kept in print as long as possible.
We publish well designed and printed trade paperback editions at affordable prices. Trade orders should be directed to your usual wholesalers, but we keep a small stock of each title here in Hastings to fulfil direct customer orders. Please visit our ordering page for more details. We're only a small, part-time operation – but this means that we can lavish care on the production of each book.
Your feedback is always welcome – but those contemplating submitting a manuscript please note that we do NOT plan any new titles. See here for further details.
Please use the feedback form on our contact page to get in touch.