The Future of Psychoanalytical Publishing
Part of the Series of Freud’s 4pm Sessions.
This special event, offered as both in-person and as live-streaming, will explore the field of psychoanalytical book publishing, examining the history, the current status, and the future of this important component of the field of mental health. Introduced by Professor Brett Kahr, the Honorary Director of Research at the Freud Museum London, and chaired by Professor Candida Yates, a psychoanalytical scholar, book and journal editor, and founder of The Psychoanalytic Agency, devoted to the advancement of psychoanalytical writing, this event will offer attendees a unique opportunity to meet two of the United Kingdom’s leading publishers of psychoanalytical books: Susannah Frearson from Routledge and Kate Pearce from Karnac Books. Additionally, we will be joined by two noted special guests, the psychoanalytical scholar and journal editor, Professor Jacob Johanssen, and by Ann Scott, a former editor of Free Association Books who subsequently became an experienced clinician in her own right and who served for many years as the Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Psychotherapy. This panel discussion will help us to learn more about the art of psychoanalytically orientated book-publishing and discover what contributions each of us might make in the future.
This event will be hosted by the Freud Museum London in conjunction with the Academic Associates of the museum and, in association with The Psychoanalytic Agency.
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Host and Chair.
Professor Brett Kahr (Host and Introduction Speaker).
Professor Candida Yates (Chairperson and Interviewer).
Panellists.
Susannah Frearson.
Professor Jacob Johanssen.
Kate Pearce.
Ann Scott.
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Speakers
Susannah Frearson is a Publisher at Routledge, working within the mental health commissioning team. She has worked in mental health publishing for twelve years and specialises in professional and academic books in all areas of psychoanalysis. She manages several leading book series and enjoys working with both emerging and established authors.
Jacob Johanssen is Associate Professor in Communications at St. Mary’s University, London. He is the author of several books, including Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture: Audiences, Social Media, and Big Data; Fantasy, Online Misogyny and the Manosphere, which appeared in the Routledge series on “Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture” and, with Dr. Steffen Krüger, co-authored Media and Psychoanalysis: A Critical Introduction, published by Karnac Books. Professor Johanssen is editor of the “Counterspace” section of the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, sits on the executive committee of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council and a member of the Scholar’s Committee.
Brett Kahr is Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology and, also, Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at Regent’s University London. Professor Kahr has worked with the Freud Museum London in various roles since its foundation in 1986 and currently serves as Honorary Fellow and as Honorary Director of Research and as Series Editor of the “Freud Museum London Series”. He is also the Chair of the Scholars Committee of the British Psychoanalytic Council and the recipient of the B.P.C.’s “Outstanding Professional Leadership Award”. The author of twenty-three books and series editor of over eighty-five further titles, he works closely with both Routledge and with Karnac Books, and he has recently completed a history of Karnac Books in celebration of the organisation’s seventy-fifth birthday. His next book will be published by Routledge, entitled Curing Madness: Selected Writings of Brett Kahr, part of the World Library of Mental Health.
Kate Pearce has worked in academic publishing for over two decades. She began her career at Karnac Books before joining Routledge / Taylor and Francis, first in production and then in international sales. She eventually returned to Karnac Books some years later to run the production department. In 2018, following the sale of Karnac Books to Taylor and Francis, she co-founded Phoenix Publishing House, an independent mental health specialist publisher. In 2023, Phoenix Publishing House acquired the Karnac assets from Confer Limited, and became relaunched as the new Karnac Books Limited, creating a new era for the iconic publisher and bookseller.
Ann Scott is a Senior Member of the British Psychotherapy Foundation (Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association) and, also, a Training Therapist and Training Supervisor, and works in private practice. She has had a long-standing involvement in psychoanalytical publishing, working initially as an editor and then as a managing editor at Free Association Books, and then as Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Psychotherapy from 2009 until 2022. She is the author, with the late Ruth First, of Olive Schreiner: A Biography, and with the late Mary Barnes, of Something Sacred: Conversations, Paintings, Writings. She has also published a collection of papers, Real Events Revisited: Fantasy, Memory, Psychoanalysis, and is the literary executor of the work of Isabel Menzies Lyth.
Candida Yates is Professor Emerita at Bournemouth University and a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and applies a psychosocial approach to culture, politics, and society, and has published extensively in that field. She works with academics, clinicians, and cultural organisations to create new understandings of emotion and affect in the public sphere. Professor Yates is the Director of the Psychoanalytic Agency and sits on the Executive Board of the Association for Psychosocial Studies. She is a Founding Scholar of the Scholars Network of the British Psychoanalytic Council and an Inaugural Academic Associate at the Freud Museum London. She is joint Editor of the Routledge book series on “Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture” and a Contributing Editor to the journals Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, and, also, The Journal of Psychosocial Studies.
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Tickets: £25
The ticket includes the opportunity to visit the museum.
For online tickets, please book here.
Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular Government income. We are grateful to you for supporting our independent museum as generously as possible.
