We spoke with Kya Buller, proud Mancunian and Founder and Editor of Aurelia Magazine, about all things independent journalism, identity and being the change that you want to see in the world.
From retail and waitressing to freelancing amidst the current uncertain climate and launching her own publication, Kya’s path has been anything but linear.
“I went to university in Liverpool and studied English Literature. I owe so much of my thinking to there – the professors are incredible. After graduating, I volunteered across student publications and start-ups and I was still relying on grants to tide me over. And then I launched Aurelia!”
Aurelia was founded by Kya in 2018 when she was still a student. The publication exists as a celebration of first-person essays which aren’t changed to fit an editorial narrative; Aurelia publishes exclusively marginalised genders such as women, non-binary and trans men and women, focusing on stories of identity, such as faith, race, sexuality or any topic that people are passionate about.
In a digital landscape where controversy and clicks seem at the forefront, Kya wanted Aurelia to be a “fountain of authenticity and genuinity”, reflecting the content and amplifying the voices that she wants to see more of in the industry.
Kya explained: “We’re not fussy on the story, you just have to show why you want to tell it and be ready to tell it as well!”
Aurelia’s success is mostly due to the Founder’s commitment to the personal:
“We’re so lucky to have worked with galleries, brands, events and connected with amazing people and I’ll never forget any of that. But nothing beats meeting someone who says something like ‘I love what you’re doing’. That is everything and will always outweigh everything else, to be able to connect with people on a personal level and have them read and share the work. It makes me feel so happy and proud, like I’m doing something right.”
Despite the success of Aurelia, Kya tells us that starting her own publication business amidst the current climate of independent journalism has been no easy feat. The publication started off as volunteer-led and is now able to pay people a fee of £50 per article, which Kya originally paid out of her own funds.
“The challenges have been mainly financial and learning to run a business on my own. I wouldn’t have been able to sustain Aurelia for as long as I did without modelling and then we launched our membership model so people can either pay every month or give one-off donations to sustain our publication model. With the work that I do with writing and presenting, that also keeps me going – there’s more money in presenting and I love chatting and meeting new people.”
As much as it’s been a personal effort, the growth of Aurelia has been community-led, too:
“I just made it up as I went along – I had to Google, made some mistakes along in the way in terms of what the website looked like but launched it and relied heavily on word of mouth, that once again comes back to how amazing Manchester is because it became well-known in my own circle and then people follow you, talk about it and it started to gain more traction and then we published so many amazing writers at the early stages of their careers. We started to collaborate with brands and events and it started to get bigger and bigger and now we do online masterclasses on how to pitch, how to find your voice.”
She continued: “It is really hard! People are talking more and more about it and a lot of really great institutions are closing down, so that’s why it’s been harder financially to be a journalist.”
The closure of Galdem in 2023, which was hugely important to the publication’s formative years, as well as being such a pinnacle of necessary independent journalism for many, has been a devastating loss for Kya:
“The closure of Galdem especially is heart-breaking and it hasn’t sunk in for a lot of people what a loss it is, myself included. At Aurelia, we’ve had to take quite a long break because ultimately we ran out of money. The future isn’t looking great – we publish a lot more slowly now than we did when there was more momentum and that doesn’t fall on anybody. The responsibility lies on the government to help fund creative projects which just isn’t happening and where people can, supporting people’s membership models is invaluable, because it can make all the difference.”
Reflecting on the importance of Galdem and mentors such as Charlie Brinkhurt-Cuff, Kya said: “I owe so much to Galdem, they gave me so much help and guidance as I was sort of making it up as I went along, their guidance was invaluable.
As well as platforming marginalised voices and genders, Kya’s own identity as a proud Mancunian has been central to Aurelia. Once again, Kya wanted Aurelia to reflect the changes that she wants to see and bring more journalism projects outside of London to the forefront:
“Being from Manchester, I am so passionate about having something that exists outside of London – it’s everything to me and it’s a huge part of my identity. I’d hate to see it go and grants and things like that do exist but they’re not very well publicised so it’s more about community.”
Continuing on how her creativity is intertwined by the city around her, the Aurelia Founder told us:
“The Guardian started in Manchester and the passion for it is here but it seems to get driven out of the city. Manchester Mill are doing great work here and so many great freelancers here – it would be great if there were more offices and streams for people who want to be creative here so hopefully that will change and if there was more funding and support for creatives in Manchester. I know Andy Burnham is passionate about that too so hopefully that will come to fruition. So I am resisting the London move, because I want to be a voice for Mancunian people who want to be creative and stay in the city that they love. It’s the biggest part of my identity, being from here.”
Creative opportunities in Manchester are rising with the existence of institutions such as Media City, but it’s still “not enough”: “Any opportunities are great: TV, writing jobs and they can coexist with independent media, there just needs to be more funding available for independent companies as well. It attracts people to the city, but on the other hand rent here is out of control but I don’t necessarily blame media city for that.
“We should all be able to live in harmony, we’ve got some beautiful shops that sell print media, they try really hard, sadly Magma, an institution of ours, had to shut down. It’s finding the right ways to invest in independent media and let it survive. It’s sad to see things closing down around you, it feels apocalyptic. At Aurelia, we’ve resisted doing print even though we’d like to because it just seems like such an impossible thing. Even if it’s not me who gets to reap the benefits, I hope that the next generation gets to enjoy that again and it does not cost people out of being creative.”
Beaming, the Aurelia Founder told us of her personal inspirations:
“I was inspired by a colleague of mine for a very long time, Shahed Ezaydi. She’s currently writing a book on Islamophobia, she always was and always will be incredible. I was inspired by Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff and everyone working at Galdem, like Amelia Ellis who is a documentary maker and journalist, she writes a lot about mental health and identity. I grew up attempting to read beyond paywalls – such as the New York Times.
“My lecturers at university really changed the way that I think about things. I’m lucky that a lot of my friends have been colleagues or vice versa but Manchester is also a very inspiring city – you only need to give someone 10 minutes of your time and you’ll learn something new and invaluable. If we had more creative hubs where we could gather and talk about specific things then it would be amazing, but I’m lucky to have friends who are doing amazing work.”
