Folding Rock Is Looking for Board Members

About Folding Rock

Founded in 2024 following the awarding of landmark funding from the Books Council of Wales, Folding Rock is Wales’ newest and boldest literary magazine, publishing the best creative prose from established and emerging writers. Following in the footsteps of The Stinging Fly in Ireland, Gutter in Scotland and Granta in England, Folding Rock is a high-quality, print-first publication that showcases excellent new fiction, creative non-fiction and criticism, as well as beautiful design and illustration.

Our magazine is printed in Wales by the historic Gomer Press and released thrice-yearly in March, July and November. Issues are made up of a combination of commissioned pieces and open submissions, as well as occasional interviews, critical essays and visual art. We also publish free-to-read content on our website, including feature articles and book reviews.

Folding Rock is run by joint company directors Rob Harries and Kathryn Tann, both of whom began their careers in Welsh independent publishing. Rob is an experienced freelance editor and designer who has worked for presses across the industry in Wales and London. Kathryn is an author, editor and creative producer with experience in both publishing and literature programming.

 

Our Mission

Folding Rock exists for three main reasons:

  1. To share and showcase the best new writing in English, from and connected to Wales. Amid years of talk about regional diversity in UK publishing, we’re here to shout about the one area most often overlooked, and make sure readers, publishers and decision-makers pay attention to the rich creative landscape of Wales.
  2. To support and develop new talent. We want to use our growing network of writers, professionals and publishers to grow skills – as well as create a meaningful pipeline for the most exciting new voices to succeed, and find the audience they really deserve.
  3. To create a thriving community. We want our magazine to be a reason for people to come together, connect, share stories and celebrate great writing we can all be proud of.

 

The Story So Far

The first issue of Folding Rock, titled ‘Roots’, was released on 8 March 2025 at a sell-out launch party in Cardiff city centre, and featured fresh work from award-winning authors including Sophie Mackintosh and Joe Dunthorne, as well as brilliant new voices and emerging writers. Since then we’ve done events in Ireland, Aberystwyth, London and Scotland, launched our second issue, ‘Speak to Me’, on 10 July, with a summer party in Barry (our magazine HQ), and we’ll be appearing at the Green Man music festival in August.

Our team is small – it comprises founding editors Kathryn Tann and Rob Harries, with marketing help from Frances Turpin and design expertise from Matt Needle. We recently announced our newly appointed contributing editors: three experienced authors who will be lending their extensive networks and literary taste to the magazine as we reach out as widely as possible to find the best new writing. Folding Rock is not for profit, and is a registered company limited by guarantee.

With a growing number of partnerships (including the Dylan Thomas Prize, Hay Festival, Poetry Wales and Inclusive Journalism Cymru), as well as more plans and future projects on the horizon, now that Folding Rock is on its feet we’re ready to see where we can take it next.

 

The Role

Folding Rock is looking to appoint its first advisory board to help steer the organisation in the best possible direction as it grows and evolves into a significant part of the literary landscape of Wales.

The board will not be legally responsible for the company, but will play a vital role in the shaping and developing of our activity. They will be asked to:

  • Attend thrice-yearly board meetings (usually online); these will provide a chance to check-in with the magazine, offer suggestions and advice, and ensure that the magazine is staying true to its mission and purpose
  • Help with goal-setting and evaluation
  • Ensure that we are following good practice and fair policies around diversity, equality and inclusion
  • Act as all-round champions and ambassadors of the magazine, our writers and our mission

Board members are appointed for an initial term of three years, with the possibility of extension for one further period of four years. Meetings will take place (usually online) three times a year – in October, February and June – one of which will be an AGM (October).

Being on an advisory board is a voluntary commitment. However, any reasonable expenses or travel costs incurred while on magazine business will be reimbursed, and board members will receive a complimentary subscription to the magazine.

 

Who We’re Looking For

We want our board to represent a true cross-section of the reading and writing community we are building. For this reason, you don’t have to be an experienced board member, university-educated, or above a certain age or professional status to apply. If you have a passion for the arts in Wales, and a determination to see brilliant writing properly recognised both here and elsewhere, then we want to hear from you.

Nevertheless, we are also particularly interested in hearing from those who have experience in media, subscription and membership models, financial roles and fundraising. These needn’t necessarily be within publishing, but a general knowledge or interest in the book industry is ideal. You absolutely do not have to be a writer to be on our advisory board. We’re looking to cover a range of skills and perspectives, but hope that all members will be enthusiastic readers – of whatever kind!

We strongly encourage submissions from individuals belonging to backgrounds historically under-represented in the arts in Wales.

 

How to Apply

To register your interest in becoming an advisory board member, please submit a CV and cover letter via the online form below no later than 23.59 on 14 September 2025.

We’ll be carrying out informal interviews via Zoom at the beginning of October, with a plan for all board members to be in place by the publication of our next issue, Issue 003, on 6 November 2025.

If you have any questions, or would like to find out more about the role and our magazine, drop us an email at info@foldingrock.com.