Season 3
We are now in our third and final season of our 2019-21 Writing for All programme. This season of work focuses on celebrating the work of our community, and drawing together our activities to make writing more accessible for more people. Our key events and outputs are:
May: The Stay at Home Festival:
The Stay-at-Home! Literary Festival returned on 26th April – 9th May with a packed programme of fantastic free activities. The line-up includes: Aminatta Forna, Helen Lederer, Anthony Anaxagorou, and Greg Buchanan. The festival is a celebration of writing, responding to calls to ‘stay at home’ with two weeks of free events and workshops to ensure readers and writers of all kinds can connect with their community and explore writing.
The Stay-at-Home! Literary Festival was founded by bestselling author CJ Cooke with lead partner, Paper Nations, in March 2020. The festival was attended by over 15,000 people and was Highly Commended in The Bookseller’s FutureBook Awards.
“We are proud to be the Lead Partner on this inspiring event. Paper Nations believes that everyone can and should be able to access writing either as a career or as a pleasurable activity. Our research has demonstrated that an important part of facilitating that is ensuring writers – no matter where they are or the challenges they face – can feel connected to the writing community.
July: Writer’s Summit @ Mix
MIX is a four-day conference that explores the intersection of writing and technology, bringing together people from around the world to make, think and talk. We are looking for writers, artists, practitioners, researchers and creative technologists to share their projects, research and practice through papers or presentations.
This May, Paper Nations collaborated with the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries, and Bristol+Bath Creative R+D’s project, Amplified Publishing, to explore future models of content creation, discovery and distribution, alongside our industry partners Epic and Future
The event included two days of making and writing on Saturday 3rd July and Sunday 4th July followed by two days of papers, presentations and discussions on Monday 5th July and Tues 6th July. This includes a poetry film screening on the theme of Amplified Voices.
August: Follow the Sun:
Travel the world without leaving your home in a special edition of Transnational Literature under the theme of 'Follow the Sun’ co-produced by Paper Nations in collaboration with TRACE.
In August, we will celebrate the launch of the special edition. The event and journal will:
- Celebrate writing that migrates across the equator, between the Global North and South, aware of concomitant inter-cultural or cross-cultural encounters.
- Champion new writers and writing initiatives from the South West of England.
- Be inspired by the sun itself: light and shadow as symbols across cultures; the physical experience of migration from warmth to cold.
October: The Writing for All Greenbook
The Writing For All Greenbook is a comprehensive guide to writing in the South West, packed with expert advice, practical information, and inspiration. It will be a resource for writers, writing facilitators, and organisers, signposting writers to skills and support, opportunities, and career development.
It takes its name from the original Greenbook, which provided a list of safe places for African American travellers to stay before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and enabled them to travel. In the same way, The Writing For All Greenbook puts diversity and inclusivity at the heart of writing in the South West and aims to provide a wealth of knowledge to guide all writers on their journeys. The Greenbook is an original concept by Paper Nations founder Bambo Soyinka.
The Greenbook is not a listings directory, advertising writing facilitators and organisations; it is organised to bring all aspects of a writer’s practice together in a comprehensive travel guide. It contextualises information within a creative pedagogy, responding to issues raised in our research findings, (such as the need for community and barriers to taking part), and provides more in-depth coverage and broader coverage than traditional listings (such as career pathways and staying safe online).
In addition to publishing accurate up-to-date information about opportunities on offer, and how people can access them, it will also empower people to understand the relevance of different activities – how closely they match their needs, interests and experience, which will enable them to make informed choices.
The Greenbook will be launched in Autumn 2021.