Meet Rebecca Kenny

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rebecca Kenny a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rebecca, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

In October 2021, I was driving to my job as a high school English teacher when I was involved in a collision with another vehicle. I broke my neck, back, sternum, pelvis and sacrum, and was taken to Aintree Major Trauma Centre in Liverpool where I had to learn how to walk again. I was in hospital for 10 days at a time when COVID meant I was not allowed visitors.

Prior to the accident, I had started to write and perform poetry. I wasn’t the greatest performer, but I enjoyed being creative and it was a good outlet for me. Whilst I was in the hospital recovering, I interacted with lots of poets online, and they would sit with me, virtually, to write poetry together. Writing helped me forget the pain, the struggle of learning how to walk, the terrible hospital food, and the fact that I couldn’t have visitors. We wrote and wrote and wrote – and once I left the hospital, and whilst in recovery at home, I decided to publish the poems we collaborated on to raise money for the hospital that saved me.

I knew that my life wasn’t going to be the same after the crash. My career was disrupted; I did not know what the future held. What I did know was that poetry and the artists I had around me made me feel real, corporeal – normal, even. I decided to write my own collection of poetry, drawing on my experiences, and in early 2022, Crash & Learn was released. Instead of succumbing to the temptation of instant gratification from KDP and self-publishing, I spent my recovery time learning at home the intricacies of publishing. I learned about ISBN allocation, distribution, barcodes, formatting, typesetting, cover art, bookselling – it was a welcome distraction from the process of recovery. I called my company Bent Key, after the front-door key that was found in my pocket after they cut my trousers off in hospital. That key had been rendered useless; I was adamant I would not be.

Bent Key Publishing was initially a press for Northern English writers. I worked with the poets that had helped me during my recovery, publishing their spoken word in written form. I also worked on an anthology of Northern poetry, which I called Ey Up. This won a Saboteur Award (like the Poetry Oscars!) for Best Anthology in 2023. I was honoured to have my work seen in such a way!

Over the three years we’ve been in operation, my company has moved, shifted and altered. Following the crash, I have found myself more involved in advocacy and local politics, in addition to the national political landscape and how marginalised people are often ostracised from the arts. In 2023, a move from none other than Ben Shapiro to sue us for our name (he set up a television channel using the same moniker) saw us needing to rebrand, and quickly. Bent Key had rapidly become a safe haven for young, marginalised people, including LGBTQIA+, disabled, Black and brown, and mentally unwell artists. We decided to embrace this fully, and shift our focus to working exclusively with marginalised writers with a view to telling celebratory stories rather than centring trauma. I can honestly say that I have found myself through this work, and am so proud of where the business has got to from where it began.

Written Off Publishing was born in early 2024. Our new name encompasses all that we are – artists who have been at some point in their lives ‘written off’ by society, or have felt ‘written off’ throughout their lives. I myself felt written off after my crash – nearly 40, unable to move the way I used to, all avenues of pleasure closed off to me, in poverty – and I knew the importance of community to me at that time. Therefore, I decided to pursue a community-based endeavour, where the publishing house acts not only as a conduit to create books but also to bring together a community focused on skill-sharing, mutual aid, community support, and radical empathy.

Written Off Publishing is soon to become a CIC (Community Interest Company) – a non-profit – and we are dedicated to amplifying voices through publishing and creating performance opportunities alongside offering chances for retreats, time out and community togetherness. We have overcome so many obstacles, and I am so proud of where we are headed. In June this year, I appointed an awesome Co-Director in Caitlin McKenna, and we have a team of incredible volunteers who use their time and privilege to assist me in creating beautiful pieces of art.

Written Off is my purpose. I feel honoured to blaze the trail.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a poet and educator from the North West of England. I founded Written Off Publishing (formerly Bent Key Publishing) in January 2022, and dedicate my time to creating opportunities for marginalised artists across the UK and further afield.

Written Off publishes poetry collections and short stories from incredibly talented writers with authentic, beautiful stories. We don’t centre trauma, and instead invite readers to share in the joy of our existence. Our collections are experimental, daring, radical and push the boundaries of poetry, whilst also being accessible, fully eco-friendly, and suitable for use in an educational setting. Many of our collections are used in workshops, at universities, and as part of creative writing courses.

In 2023, our flagship collection of Northern writing, Ey Up, won a Saboteur Award for Best Anthology. Our first published collection, my book Crash & Learn, was shortlisted for a Poetry Book Award and our first Scottish collection, Too Hot to Sleep by Elspeth Wilson, was shortlisted for a Scottish Book Award. We are one of the only small presses in the UK with our collections to be held in multiple bookshops across the UK and further afield, and we dedicate ourselves to giving our writers the biggest possible audience despite lack of funding and financial backing.

We hold a monthly virtual open mic and invite all to come, wherever you are based – one of our writers headlines each, and there are limited performance slots available. You can also book our writers for workshops, motivational talks and more – and we encourage you to do so!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The biggest lesson I had to learn was to distinguish between the people who are nice to you in order to gain something, and the people who are truly dedicated to joining you on your journey to wherever it is you’ve pitched as your destination. I started this journey a naive, emerging artist who wanted to make everybody happy, and it was only through some tough life lessons that I learned that the nice thing to do isn’t always the right thing to do. Finding boundaries and recognising who to say no to has been imperative, in addition to not taking it personally when the response to this is angry or negative.

Secondly, I have had to learn to accept mistakes with grace. Running a business is tough! I had grown up a perfectionist, with no room for error. I have learned that mistakes are human, and it is not the end of the world when one occurs. I have learned to swallow my self-loathing, learn from the experience and to always be open and honest.

Finally, I have learned the importance of self-celebration. Well, I say ‘learned’; I guess I’m still learning! I know that my past traumas have led me to hold a belief that I am not good enough – the imposter syndrome is real – but I am learning that celebrating myself and my achievements isn’t conceited, or rude, or stuck-up. It’s actually really important to celebrate your wins, to big yourself up and to show others that it’s actually fine to do so!

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Running a press with no money and huge deadlines is incredibly stressful, and in late 2023 I did burn out for a while.

What I’ve learned from that is that you need to take more time than you think you need – we move through life thinking that a day or so off-grid will help us to recuperate, and we sleep, and we wake, and we think we are better. However, it isn’t always enough! Sometimes you need to take longer, to get past the sleeping and the rest and into the deconstruction of the root causes of the stress. When I burned out, I took two solid weeks, and after three days of sleeping, I went through a week of crying, chronic pain flares, suicidal ideation and, ultimately, discussions with medical professionals. I realised afterwards that I’d spent too long ignoring my body, and now my body was reminding me it was there, and pissed off.

I now take time out every week, have turned off my notifications to my phone, and plan in team time every quarter with my Co-Director and our volunteer team. We use the time to get off-grid and to plan the next quarter, so that we have a full plan of action and our evenings and weekends more free. This is non-negotiable – we need that time for rest, recuperation and communication.

The moment I feel my shoulders tighten, I switch off and do nothing. Nothing! Except maybe watching Gilmore Girls and drinking coffee. It really is super-important, so please don’t ever feel guilty for doing the same.

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Image Credits

Rebecca performing – Courtesy of Spoken Word Paris

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