About | Honno Ltd New

Honno's Story

Honno is an independent co-operative press run by women and committed to bringing you the best in Welsh women's writing.

It was established in 1986 by a determined group of volunteers who wanted to increase the opportunities for Welsh women in publishing and bring Welsh women's literature to a wider public. They asked the people of Wales to show their support for the new enterprise by becoming shareholders in the cooperative and in the first six months more than 400 people bought shares. Honno continues to be supported by hundreds of individual shareholders who believe in its work.

True to its roots the press still only publishes work by women of Wales. Most of Honno's titles are novels, autobiographies and short story anthologies in English as well as Classics in both Welsh and English. We have in the past also published poetry, children's and teenage titles and books in both Welsh and English.

Over the years the Press and its titles have been awarded many prizes.

It is guided by the Honno Committee of volunteers who set the strategic direction of the Press, decide the publishing programme and manage the office and staff. The Honno office is located in the mid-Wales coastal town of Aberystwyth.

Honno receives financial support from the Books Council for Wales.

Meet the Team

DESK EDITOR

Gemma June Howell

Gemma June Howell was born in Caerphilly Miners hospital into a politically active family from Rhymney housing estate, Graig-Y-Rhacca. She is a grass-roots activist, editor, writer, poet, academic and co-founder of the Cardiff Sisters of Solidarity. Previously Associate Editor for Culture Matters, she edited Land of Change — a vibrant prose anthology which reflects the diversity of contemporary Wales.

She began performing and publishing with the Red Poets over 20 years ago, with poetry appearing in Bloodaxe Books (2015) and The London Magazine (2020). She’s also published a volume of poetry, Rock Life (2015) and Inside the Treacle Well, a collection of short stories (Hafan Books: 2009). In 2021 Gemma appeared on BBC R4 'Tongue & Talk,' to discuss her Anglo-Welsh dialect poetry.

Gemma has a PhD in Creative & Critical Writing from Swansea University. Underpinned with critical theory, her research focuses on the lived experiences of working-class women within the form of a künstlerroman novel. Her work mainly explores working-class identity in post-industrial Wales.

COMMISSIONING EDITOR

Rebecca Parfitt

Rebecca Parfitt has worked in publishing for 15 years. She also worked as a bookseller for Waterstones for many years. Her experience of the book industry is wide-ranging. In 2013 she founded a magazine and publishing imprint called The Ghastling which specialises in folk horror, psychological horror, ghost stories, the uncanny and the weird - of which she is publisher and editor. She is also an avid reader and lover of books of all genres.

Rebecca’s poetry collection, The Days After, was published in 2017. She is a recipient of the Hay Festival Writers at Work scheme. In 2020 she received a Literature Wales bursary to complete her short story collection. In 2021 her first film, Feeding Grief to Animals, was commissioned and produced by the BBC and FfilmCymruWales of which she is writer and director.

Rebecca lives and works in the beautiful Llynfi Valley, south Wales, with her partner and two young children.

BUSINESS MANAGER

Lynzie Fitzpatrick

Lynzie Fitzpatrick was born in Hull, East Yorkshire but grew up and still lives near Aberaeron, Ceredigion with her young family and too many animals. She worked in Aberystwyth for a decade in accountancy and business management before moving to the National Trust to work in business and fundraising. Whilst working and raising a family, Lynzie also found time to write her own novels and set up a successful editing business.

In 2011, Lynzie published her first novel, The Running Game, a politically charged dystopian thriller, under the pen-name L E Fitzpatrick and has since added a further three novels and three short stories to this series. Her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish and Italian, and all her stories are now in audio.

She has spent the past decade working with several small presses and many independent authors as a proofreader, editor and writing coach and continues to champion great fiction and new authors.