Get to Know Some of Our Team!

Written by Edith Powell

Written Off, built from the ground up by Rebecca Kenny and fantastic volunteers, works tirelessly to be a voice for Northern writers and marginalised voices. We hope to be a space for people to write about whatever they want. Life is hard and long and relentless, but life is also marvellous and complex and beautiful. The poetry and art which we value so dearly should reflect all these things!

Yet, in 2025, it’s difficult to find publishers who value these voices over profit and tokenism. It’s difficult to create, fund, and manage the pockets of indie joy dotted around the country such as Written Off. How do we make it work?

Written Off is made up of brilliant volunteers who work on top of their day jobs to make wonderful things happen. Let's discover more about some of these people, including Rebecca Kenny (she/her) @rebeccakennywrites, Alex Callaghan (they/them) @poetry_ditties, Aubrey Maxwell (he/him) @misteraubreylamour and Charlie Parker @charlieparkerpoet. 

Who are some of the people behind Written Off? How did they get into indie publishing? What are their interests? What are they reading right now? What’s their favourite things about working for Written Off? What are some of the challenges? I’m just as intrigued as you so let's get started!

How did you find Written Off and begin volunteering?

Our wonderful founder Rebecca Kenny has written her incredibly inspiring story in the About Us section of the website. 

Alex found Written Off through attending a book launch and joining Bone Down. They began to moderate our open mics and write blogs before becoming an editor. 

Charlie submitted a chapbook in 2022 via an Instagram submission request which then became a full collection. Subsequently, ‘during the process of selling my own book to independent UK bookshops, I was asked if I could do the same role for Written Off!’

Aubrey found WO by scrolling on Instagram and following us! He was officially introduced through his partner, known as Hellpoet. He began volunteering in October whilst Hellpoet’s book Alternative Sermons was being released. He now rocks our social media pages with the rest of our social media team.  

What’s the best part about working for WO?

Rebecca’s loves being able to ‘go on a journey with a writer’, seeing the results of her and their hard work. ‘It’s a really exciting thing to see a book come to life, and despite the inevitable stress, I love holding the end result in my hand and knowing that I played a part in creating something so beautiful and so deserved.’

Alex’s favourite parts about the job include ‘seeing the community I’ve helped nurture and be a part of’ as well as getting to make wonderful books!

Charlie enjoys ‘working in a creative environment.’ With new books published every month, Charlie loves that new people have the chance to ‘have their say on the world’. He also loves seeing the cover art and discovering new artists as well as ‘the moment someone finds out about WO’. 

Aubrey says that ‘the team is just amazing, and Rebecca is a star. It’s really wonderful to be involved in something that is truly so dedicated to platforming their poets and forging such a strong community’. Couldn’t agree more Aubrey!

What are some of the challenges? 

When asked about the challenges in running an indie publishing house, Rebecca acknowledges that ‘money is always a challenge. Our margins are paper-thin but that’s not a challenge unique to us. Small presses are always up against monopolies like Amazon, so we are always fighting for our place at the table.’ Rebecca also mentions that ‘our time margins’ are ‘very tight’ due to all the staff working day jobs on top of their work with Written Off. This balancing game can make it exceedingly difficult to fit everything in. Rebecca also finds that she sometimes misses the connection between herself and a writer now that most processes are virtual in the publishing sphere. Whilst these challenges remain and will undoubtedly continue, it’s evident from the results of this hard work that Rebecca’s passion drives this indie ship onwards and upwards! 

Alex agrees with Rebecca’s frustrations around time. ‘Balancing a full time job, Written Off and being able to take care of myself is a continual cycle of neglect. The moment I give attention to one, the others become neglected, but it’s worth it for the good work we do.’

Charlie finds that getting bigger bookshops to ‘recognise who we are and what we do’ is a real challenge sometimes. ‘They often don’t think we’re an actual poetry press, or we’re just a mob of unruly, self-published beatniks’ (Charlie’s own words). He mentions that occasionally, book sellers tend to see themselves above indie publishers, acting as if they are doing us a favour rather than appreciating the work for itself. 

Aubrey follows suit, saying ‘I’m always itching to be doing Written Off work, so balancing it with both my day job and personal life becomes hard! But it makes it all the more worth it when I do get to sit down and focus on Written Off for a while.’

What are your hobbies outside of working?

Rebecca’s hobbies include walking, music, and good food! ‘There’s nothing better than a gentle stroll somewhere beautiful’. Before the crash, Rebecca used to hike often, however, must keep these strolls to small walks. Either way, her adventures will be ‘followed by a gorgeous roast dinner’. 

Alex writes poetry, reads books, plays folk music on the violin and the flute and knit. They admit to having a lot of hobbies but not much time to dedicate. I think we can all relate to this!

Charlie reluctantly admits to being a football fan, supporting Sheffield Wednesday / ‘the greatest team in the land’. He refuses to acknowledge any other opinions and will comment no further on the matter. We ask you respect the football views of our team, no matter how ill-judged. (Only joking Charlie!)

Charlie also enjoys running, batch cooking, walking by his local river, and writing his novels!

Aubrey writes poetry and prose! He also reads when he gets the time (a strong theme emerging here). He plays video games occasionally, enjoying ‘a few FPSes, BG3 and a whole lot of Dress to Impress’.

What are you reading at the moment? 

Rebecca is reading Cat Lady by Dawn O’Porter, although she admits she’s been ‘dipping in and out’ for a while, vowing to make some more time to read for pleasure.

Alex is reading The Books that Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence. 

Charlie is reading The Source by Dr. Tara Stewart. He describes it as ‘a self help popular science style book’ which his friend recommended. The book focuses on positivity and the correlations that can have with your life. 

Aubrey is working his way through Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, currently on Pandora from New Tales of the Vampires. 

What’s one of your favourite books of all time?

One of Rebecca’s favourite books is Watermelon by Marian Keyes because of the way she writes family dynamics. ‘Since having a child, I can relate even more. I love how Keyes is able to take tough topics and deliver them with sardonic humour and fun. It makes me realise that it is possible to find joy in the most ridiculous and awful of events’. 

Alex cites their comfort books such as The Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. They’re also a big fan of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, in particular Reaper Man and Wyrd Sisters. 

One of Charlie’s favourite books is The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell. He describes the book as ‘a fabulous, marvellous, wonderful book about the exploits of painters and decorators in a fictional Northern town.’ ‘It explains the difficulties and minutiae of working class lives under petty, sadistic bosses, capitalistic British values, and the futility of advocating for a better life for those at the bottom when often the abuse of the system leaves us all addicted to its misery.’ Charlie then acknowledges that it doesn’t sound like the cheeriest of books but you should still ‘get it on your book list, you cowards!’ 

Aubrey says that a series he always finds himself returning to is The Hunger Games. ‘I have adored those books ever since I had to convince the lovely ASDA salesperson to let me buy Mockingjay despite supposedly being too young’.

Well, I hope you’ve learnt more about some of our team, I know I have!!

Hopefully we will be able to find out more about some of the other members of the team in the future! If you have any questions for us, please get in contact on our socials!