About us
Fingerprint Editions is the brainchild of Jen Hyatt and Barbara Whitfield, two women who write. We have both published numerous articles, written for stage, been agented, and second read for the Bridport Prize but remain unable to find a home with mainstream publishers. Moreover, the publishing industry tends to value commercial imperative above stimulating change which sits poorly with our experiences and beliefs. Fingerprint is our way of redressing the balance - to offer women from diverse demographies a channel to be heard by sharing their stories.
Jen Hyatt
“Instructions for living a life:
pay attention
be astonished
tell about it”
—Mary Oliver
I was raised on a Dorset farm by a stoic working-class mum from Birmingham and a middle-class dad whose struggle with depression and alcoholism led him from farm hand to foundry worker to early redundancy. At school, with family challenges and as a bright kid from the wrong side of town, nothing about me fit (not least my sexuality long before the term queer was used).
This led to political activism and a career outside the mainstream - founding numerous social ventures worldwide. Despite awards and accolades, like many women, I struggle with imposter syndrome, constantly striving to prove I am ‘good enough’; although realise my life is blessed compared to millions who face abject poverty, persecution and prejudice daily.
Writing has been a joy and salvation throughout my life. Through a Curtis Brown Creative course during lockdown, I was lucky to meet Barbara who has become a close and cherished friend. Together, we are building Fingerprint Editions as a channel for cultural activism – highlighting social issues to spark conversation and action.
Barbara Whitfield
“Create dangerously, for people that read dangerously….”
—Edwidge Danticat
I grew up in Birmingham in a large family with little money but plenty of library books. I benefited from a system that sent ‘bright’ kids to ‘good’ schools, even if a good girls’ school meant formal lessons in elocution, deportment, and sewing, with unwritten ones on women’s role as secretary, wife and mother. I did not fit in.
So, I bumbled through the decades, working, travelling, studying, until, in my 60s, I moved to Wales and started writing full-time.
I realise that as a middle-class, white, heterosexual woman, I’m privileged. My well-lived, freewheeling, often wild life has been largely due to a safety net of strong, loving family and friends. And despite seeing myself as fair, open-minded and free-thinking, I have blind spots when it comes to the diverse experiences of others.
My greatest desire for Fingerprint Editions is that we offer a means for as broad a spectrum of voices as possible to be heard. We cannot truly understand life’s complexities if we don't create space for all perspectives.