“As a writer you have found a voice. Our purpose is to find you an audience”. On this promising premise, Monisha Saldanha and Maya Cointreau have launched Momaya, a publishing house which they hope will contribute to the community of writers around the world, and to have others take part in their own dream.

Monisha Saldanha, is a Harvard Business Graduate and works in publishing and internet commerce. Maya Cointreau received a degree in Russian Literature from Smith College and has experience in the publishing business. As part of their ambitious project, Momaya has already offered writers workshops for aspiring writers, a website that offers resources for writers, a critique forum, a Momaya newsletter and most recently, a short story contest for writers all around the world. This collective effort will culminate in ‘The Momaya Annual Review 2004’ which will be ready for shipping in December 2004. An exciting part of this contest is that the winner’s stories will be enacted by the American repertory Theatre in London.

Lokvani talked in length about their venture.

Your website refers to the two of you as two literary-minded girls up late in a boarding school dormitory, dreaming big. We would love to know more about it? Could you elaborate?

Maya and I were roommates at Philips Academy Andover for two years – we shared the same bedroom even, so we became very good friends. We used to plan adventures and ventures, including the possibility of opening up a private school or starting a literary press or magazine. We enjoyed sounding out ideas with each other, and of course, staying involved in each others lives after boarding school. Maya and I are both serving as bridesmaids in each others weddings this year, so we’ve ended up being very involved indeed in each others adult lives.

The publishing world is full of challenge? What kind of support is needed for a venture of this kind?

The publishing world is very competitive and dominated by major publishing houses with deep pockets. The financial support we require is supplied via our own savings (we are putting our money where our hearts are!) and we are seeking public grant money. We expect that after this, our first year of operation, Momaya will be self-funded through competition entry fees and sales of the Momaya Annual Review. The publicity support we require is word of mouth, mentions in newsletters and magazines like Lokvani, and advertising support from media partners. The most important support is that from aspiring writers, as we need to generate quality content to please our excellent judges and to produce a quality Annual Review.

How did you arrive at the name Momaya ? Can you share all the plans that you have for this Press?

Momaya is a combination of our names - Monisha and Maya. We choose it because it is memorable, beautiful, simple, and has personal meaning for ourselves. In addition to the Momaya Short Story Competition and the Momaya Annual Review in this, our first year of operation, we have hosted talks on the ‘Future of the Short Story Market’ and ‘Momaya Writing Workshops’ geared towards educating and inspiring new writers. We will build on this in the coming years, with more frequent publications (quarterly rather than annual) with focuses on specific topics, and also expand our series of lectures, talks, workshops, and events around the theme of the Short Story and the encouragement of new writers.

Your main focus is on the short story? Do you accept contributions in other genres of writing?

For the purposes of the Competition, only short stories are accepted, and they can be on any topic with any focus. We encourage other writing (poems, memoir, biography) on the topic of Food, which is our theme for the first Annual Review.

Do you also help writers find agents or consultants etc for their work?

Good news on this front – we have just had a third judge join our competition, who is an agent and looking out for new talent. Her bio: Anna Von Pezold works at Andrew Nurnberg Associates as a literary agent. Previously she had worked in publishing at Harpers Collins. Anna splits her time between selling translation rights of US and UK authors to France and finding new young European authors for international representation.

How has the response been for this competition? Have you received entries from other places?

The response has been great so far, with entries the US and UK, and from as far abroad as Singapore.

In your collective vision what is the future of Presses like Momaya and for Momaya itself?

Small presses can serve an important purpose in giving a forum to new writers, which is a risky proposition for major publishing houses, that like to promote and publish a “sure bet” which leads to them favoring established authors over new ones. An example of a successful press is Tinsdel Press, founded by a creative writing group to promote new writers, which in 2002/3 published the best-seller Booker Prize-nominated Astonishing Splashes of Color by Clare Morrall. This was Ms. Morrall’s first book, and shows that small presses, even without the budget and profile of large publishing houses, is capable of uncovering and promoting fresh writing.

We believe that Momaya Press can serve such a function, especially in promoting the Short Story, which is often overlooked by large publishing houses as being difficult to market. Yet, some of our best writing can be done in short stories, especially for busy people who don’t have a year or four take off to write a novel. You can write a short story in the evenings or on a weekend. Short stories can be read during a subway journey or in an evening, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a couple of days or months before you pick up the Annual Review to read the next story. If you were interrupted while reading a novel, it would be difficult to pick up the plot again. The Short Story fits well for readers and writers with extremely busy schedules, and so should be ever more popular as our lives become ever more hectic.

For more information go to www.momayapress.com

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