egg box publishing grew out of an undergraduate magazine founded by gordon while still at university in 2001. our first full collection was richard evan's acclaimed the zoo keeper, published in 2002 and highly commended in the forward prize. in june the following year, this success was repeated with ramona herdman's first collection come what you wished for, also highly commended in the forward prize for best first collection.

with gordon working part-time and funding himself with freelance writing, egg box followed up on this early success with popular titles such as aisle16's hellfire anthology and two further first full collections: ahem by martin figura and mixer by andre mangeot.

after helping out and advising here and there for a year, nathan joined in more regularly as another part-time volunteer while at university on his ba in 2004, getting involved through work at concrete and other poetry-related doings in norwich. then, in his spare time during his ma at uea in 2005, nathan led and joint-edited, with zoe green and gordon, another egg box title: wake, a literary anthology published to help raise money for the third world. it included word donations from, among others, sir arthur c. clarke, hugo williams, george szirtes, rose tremain, toby litt, john boyne, andrew cowan, michelle roberts, rattawut lapcharoensap, and patricia duncker.

over the last year, egg box has made the lengthy, frustrating, red-tape riddled and at times just plain daft transition from a sole trader to a incorporated company, limited by guarantee. for the next year, nathan has brought in an arts council grant to develop the publisher further and employ himself (it's great being your own boss) as a managing editor. gordon will sit on the board of directors, along with chris gribble at the new writing partnership and others we are currently approaching.

with its first half dozen behind it, egg box is now looking to increase its list to a full dozen, or perhaps even a baker's, over the next eighteen months, starting with the hardback release of ben borek's donjong heights. a paperback reissue of this title, along with the rest of the new batch, will be launched next year in london and norwich, as will a new website and a number of exciting new plans and partnerships for the future. there's something hatching, slowly but surely, in the egg box ... stay tuned for more!