Aki Schilz Hon.FRSL | |
|---|---|
| Born | Osaka, Japan |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford; Bath Spa University |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, poet and editor |
| Employer | The Literary Consultancy (TLC) |
Aki Schilz, Hon.FRSL, is a British writer, poet and editor, who is director ofThe Literary Consultancy. She is also the current vice-chair ofEnglish PEN.
Born inOsaka, Japan, Schilz moved to the United Kingdom in 1987 and is now resident inLondon.[1] She holds a BA degree in English and French Literature from theUniversity of Oxford and an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction fromBath Spa University.[2]
Following further studies, she worked in a variety administrative roles—including for theNational Health Service, as an advertising copywriter, for a games production company and on a travel website—and then undertook publishing internships with such companies asGranta Books and theLiterary Review, as well as being employed as Acquisitions Assistant atJessica Kingsley Publishers.[2]
As a writer, her poems and short stories have appeared online and in print in many outlets, among themMslexia,Popshot Magazine,Synaesthesia,Ink,Sweat & Tears,And Other Poems,Mnemoscape,Birdbook: Saltwater and Shore,CHEAP POP,[3] and the 2016 anthologyAn Unreliable Guide to London.[4][5]
She co-founded, withInflux Press publisher Kit Caless, the LossLit digital literature project, and she has also been a judge for various literary awards including theBridport Prize and the Creative Future Writing Awards,[6][7] as well as a regular participant and speaker at conferences and events, particularly about promoting diversity and inclusivity in the publishing industry.[2][8]
In 2012, she joinedThe Literary Consultancy (TLC), the UK's first editorial assessment service, being appointed Editorial Services Manager the following year, and she has been director of the company since the death of its founding directorRebecca Swift in 2017.[9][10]
In 2018, Schilz set up the Rebecca Swift Foundation, a charity that advances the craft, creativity and wellbeing of women poets.[10][11]
She is a trustee ofPoetry London and is on the advisory board of independent publishing company Penned in the Margins.[1][12] Since 2021, Schilz has served on the board ofEnglish PEN,[13] taking over the role of vice-chair fromClaire Armitstead, withRuth Borthwick as chair.[14][15]
Schilz won the inaugural Visual Verse Prize (2013), supported byAndrew Motion, and the inaugural Bare Fiction Prize for Flash Fiction (2014), judged byAngela Readman. She was a Queen's Ferry Press Finalist (Best Small Fictions), and in 2015 was chosen byRoxane Gay to feature in the Wigleaf Top 50.[3][10] Schilz has twice featured on theBookseller 150 list of the most influential people in UK publishing (in 2020 and 2021),[7] for her work campaigning for more equitable cultures within the publishing and creative industries.[11]
In 2023, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[16][17][18]