About us

Good things come from the edges.

We love edges. Edges are liminal spaces where one thing ends and another begins. It takes courage to walk a fine line and to stay at the edge. It isn’t safe but risky. It is a place of messiness and transformation. But it is when we are playing at the edges that we experience innovation, creativity and impact. The edge entices us to go deeper.

We believe that, as we hear voices from the edges and as we think about issues from the margins, our society flourishes. ‘Centre’ or core thinking is prevalent in our society, which is fair enough, but At the Edges exists to highlight the voices and issues that our world might be pushing to the side, to the detriment of our learning and growth.

We call ourselves a ‘publishing community’ because we believe in supporting emerging writers who might not get a chance to publish elsewhere. We think these writers need to be heard and that the world is waiting to hear their truth.

Meet the team

Currently the team is Karina Kreminski and Armen Gakavian. We are based in Sydney and the Blue Mountains.

Karina has always loved writing. She used to journal every day as a ten-year-old. This led to writing stories, which led to blogging, which led to contributing to various book chapters, publishing in magazines, freelancing for The Australian and The Buenos Aires Herald when living in Argentina, writing a doctorate and publishing a book in 2019. She loves writing about spirituality, theology, meaning-making, climate and her ancestry.

Armen has always been fascinated by words, language and ideas. From creative writing in high school to a PhD in politics, from opinion pieces to academic articles, he has explored social inclusion and social policy, community development, everyday multiculturalism, genocide studies, longing for place and his Armenian cultural identity. He has been a freelance editor and for the past nine years has edited an award-winning print and online magazine.

Our story

The dream of starting a publishing community has been sitting within us, fermenting for decades. It was just a matter of time. Isn’t that the thing with all good ideas? They sit, percolate then manifest at just the right kairos moment – kairos is an ancient Greek word that means ‘just the right time’. It is quite independent of regular old chronos – tick-tock time.

We love writing and we love what happens when writers come together to share their work and grow in their skills. We were concerned when we began to see more and more good writers finding it hard to get support and to get published simply because they were unknown or did not have a platform. If someone writes well and has a story to tell we believe the world should hear their voice. This is why At the Edges exists.

At the Edges is about community and relationship. We value and respect our environment and First Nations people. We like to give voice to those who are sidelined by society for whatever reason – those who live and work at the edges. We believe in living to flourish our world and in generativity. This is why we nurture emerging writers within a community. We advocate for peace, justice and mercy in our world. We also feel that this happens best locally. So we love our neighbourhood and try to be as involved as we can in our local place. We love asking the big questions about life – so we are interested in matters of philosophy and faith and we love to hear different viewpoints on spirituality. We publish faith-based and non-faith-based writers. We are affirming of our LGBTQI+ community.

This is just to start…

We have many dreams for the future of At the Edges - we’d love you to join us in that dreaming.

How do I get published?

What you do

Step 1. Dream it

What is the story sitting within you that you want to tell the world?

Step 2. Write it

Set aside time to write that story – go to a peaceful place to write, do research, get suggestions from friends, family and colleagues.

Step 3. Edit it

Take it to an editor who can do a ‘touch up’ for you. It’s always helpful to present a manuscript that is readable.

Step 4. Pitch it

Submit expression of interest via our online form. Answer these three questions and tell us more about you and your proposed work:

How are you a writer at the edges?
Why does this story need to be told?
Are you willing to work collaboratively with the At the Edges team and other writers?

(Note: We are looking for Australian-based authors)

What we do

Step 1. Review

We will take a look at your manuscript and see if it fits our values, community and rationale. We retain the right to choose the works we publish. We may not be the right publishing space for you.

Step 2. Collaborate

If we think your piece looks promising, we can start collaborating about timeline, style and expectations, and talk contract.

Step 3. Edit and design

We will edit your work and design your book details.

At the Edges is a hybrid publishing community, which means we charge fees for editing and designing your book and then work hard to promote it.

Step 4. Publish

We will publish your work in hard copy and e-book versions as desired.

Step 5. Celebrate

We join with you in celebrating your achievement!

Step 6. Spread the word

We promote your book through social media, direct mailout to our lists and networks, and on Amazon, The Nile, Booktopia etc. We can also arrange a book launch.

News and events

Writers Pop-up Studio - February 2025

A space to meet other local writers and connect.

It will also be a chance to share about your work and perhaps get feedback from others. Depending on the group, we might listen to a podcast on writing if we think that is helpful. This will also be a quiet space to write.

This is a pop-up and so is a casual yet intentional place to connect and nurture your writing skills through talking with other creatives.

We are excited to be hosted by Collage Atelier, a beautiful new art hub in Surry Hills! Read more here.

Support our work

The best way you can support us is by joining our Patreon community. But we also want to give others a chance to support us through donations.

You may not be a writer but perhaps you love reading and love books! Maybe you too are frustrated by Australia’s publishing industry. Perhaps, like us, you want to see the nurturing of talented emerging Australian writers. When you donate to us this is what you are sowing into – the future of writing and writers in Australia.

We envision a nation of writers that are creative, exploratory and unique. We need funds to make that happen. Be a part of that vision with us.

You can support our work here. Otherwise, please email us and we’d be happy to chat further with you about how you can support us.

Join our community

Are you a writer ‘at the edge’? If this is you, we’d love for you to join our community! By becoming a Patreon member, you will build deep connections with others who are on a similar journey to you. You will become part of a community rather than be a product – you will grow. And you will be investing in emerging, ‘on the edge’ Australian writers.

We’re offering two types of paid membership.

With our ‘Writers’ membership, you will receive:

- Our bi-monthly newsletter.

- 10% discount off first three books you buy from At the Edges.

- Free access to our online writers’ community gatherings - book reading / poetry night (twice a year).

- Access to our resources about writing and publishing.

- Priority for your manuscript appraisal, if you decide to publish with us.

- Free entry to our writers’ studio in Surry Hills.

- Invitation to a face-to-face writers’ workshop in the second half of 2025.

If you’re not yet ready to write, you can become a ‘Reader’ and receive: