Who are you, and what do you do?
I’m Tess. I’m the founder of Slingshot Books, a tiny radical publishing house creating playful and politically potent books for kids and their grown-ups. I aim to serve a revolutionary readership, providing people with print objects that ignite their imagination and passion for change. I also publish anti-imperialist periodical The Sunday Paper as a not-for-profit imprint of Slingshot.
My work and thoughts are currently focused on The Sunday Paper, so I’ll talk about that first:
The Sunday Paper was born during the Palestinian popular uprisings of May 2021 as an art project and an act of protest. Specifically, it was created to oppose Zionist-owned Schwartz Media, a company that has for years monopolised ‘progressive’ arts and media in ~~Australia~~, weaponising its power and influence to suffocate criticism of the Zionist entity. I was a fan from Issue 1, a voluntary unpaid proofreader for Issue 2, and then I waited and waited for my copy of Issue 3 … that did not arrive.
In April 2023, after discussions with one of the founding editors Matt Chun, Jeanine Mohanned, Hasib Hourani, and other members of our extended anti-imperialist arts community, we decided it was imperative to bring The Sunday Paper out of hiatus. We saw a need for a platform where authors can freely discuss anti-colonial liberation struggle, including armed struggle, without their analysis being limited by censorship — whether that be of the PEP (progressive except Palestine) or the liberal hand-wringing kind.
Jeanine and Matt commissioned most of the pieces for Issue 3, and Hasib selected and wrote an editorial on the poetry pieces. I did a lot of the copy editing, proofreading, and styling texts for layout. We all briefed the designer Paul Marlycharane, whose striking cover design and internal layout are being so appreciated by readers. We hoped to bring some of the aesthetic sensibilities of the 1970s editions of then-Beirut-based newspaper Al Hadaf into the paper, while still keeping it contemporary in its look and feel, and honouring the signature stylistic elements created by Dennis Grauel for Issues 1 and 2.
Issue 3 is now on kitchen tables across this continent and the world, and being sold in book shops, tattoo parlours, cultural hubs and more. And so it should: the voices in this issue are erudite, knowledgeable, powerful and galvanising. Despite having edited many of the articles in the paper, my personal copy is covered in highlighted sections and notes — there’s so much to reflect on and engage with in this issue.
Here's what I’m currently doing at Slingshot:
I've recently sent PULL IT DOWN, an anti-colonial flip-the-flap board book, to press. I came up with the idea of a book where children (and grown-ups) are invited to pull down a flap and thereby enact the demise of a colonial monument. I told Matt Chun about my idea, and he was extremely enthusiastic about bringing it to life. Part of my professional role is to publish the excellent content that conventional publishers might choose to reject on political or commercial grounds. I think PULL IT DOWN is the kind of book that no other children’s publisher on this continent at this particular moment would be willing to make and stand by, due to its strongly anti-colonial messaging. I hope it helps children to realise that the colonial monuments they see in public spaces aren’t a given, or just a fact of life — they are an imposition on the environment, they celebrate land theft and racist colonial projects, and they can be questioned, ridiculed and indeed removed.
What hardware do you use?
I use a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. If I was a tech nerd the first thing I’d do is learn how to break up with Apple. But I’m not, and I don’t have time to solve this ethical problem, so I’m still in Apple Land. Also Bose noise-cancelling headphones.
And what software?
I use Google Docs to collaboratively edit with authors throughout the structural and copy editing stages. Once they’re happy with the text and ready to sign off, I transfer over to Word to do a proofread and style text for layout. The paper is laid into pages on InDesign. As with Apple, I’d love to break up with Google and Word and InDesign, but I don’t have the technical skill set for such a move.
It’s due to his political principles that Dennis Grauel designed PULL IT DOWN on Affinity Publisher rather than InDesign — which has been a bit tricky, but hopefully worth the challenge!
Despite being a publisher and therefore essentially a creative project manager, I struggle with time management and making effective to-do lists. I find Asana helpful for this (alongside my beautiful risograph-printed daily planner from Neighbourhood Press).
What would be your dream setup?
A setup that’s created and run by anti-imperialist labour-responsible tech nerds, and that centres sound political praxis alongside total elegance and efficiency.