At TLC, we have spent many years advocating for writers. In order to do this, we have been examining what ‘literary culture’ means through a series of programmes and partnerships. Because in order to champion writers, it’s important we understand the ecology of the industry into which writers are being sent: how their work is received, how literary initiatives are funded, what author care looks like, what changes have been happening in the publishing industry, etc. We are very proud to have been able to work on a number of initiatives and projects that have allowed us to think deeply about these questions, to better serve our community.

Literature currently receives the smallest percentage of arts funding, author earnings are in freefall, and reading for pleasure is at an all-time low. And yet, we know that our community continues to love and value literature.

So, we are programming this free Symposium for all writers, readers, thinkers, storytellers, whose passion for writing and literature is not fully represented in the conversations happening within the industry.

‘Literature’ isn’t just the 1% of books that end up on bookshelves. We know that because we’ve had the immense privilege of working for 30 years with the 99%. It’s where so much of the magic really happens.

At our Symposium, we will be presenting our findings from some of the work we have been doing over the last three years. We will be presenting exciting micro commissions interpreting the work we have done creatively, offering a session on restorative care, and representing real writers’ voices to the wider industry. We will also be launching our Culture of Care, and our Climate Action Toolkit for Writers.

We very much hope you enjoy this celebration of literary culture.

Symposium timings (online, captioned)

Intro & welcome 2-2.15pm
Literary Culture creative presentations 2.15-2.45
Why Do We Write? Monique Jackson
On Creative Wellbeing, Anne Teahan 
Manifesto for the Future, Degna Stone
3-4.00 Building a Restorative Care Practice mini workshop with Gaylene Gould
4.00-4.15 Launching our Culture of Care for Writers and Climate Action Toolkit for Writers
4.15-4.45 Literary Culture Survey presentation and discussion with audience
END

About the Sessions and Speakers

Why Do We Write? Monique Jackson
Monique Jackson is a multidisciplinary artist, long covid advocate and creative facilitator. Monique will be presenting an animation created in response to TLC’s ‘Why I Write’ project, which explored with writers the motivations and barriers to writing through a series of fora and workshops. As part of the ‘Why I Write’ project TLC also commissioned original films featuring Hanif Kureishi, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Kit de Waal, and Elle McNicoll. You can find the films on our website.

On Creative Wellbeing, Anne Teahan 
Anne Teahan is an artist who has worked on a wide range of projects over many years, using drawing, painting and paper construction. Her artwork often has a narrative quality, with fragments of personal stories embedded in her imagery. The trigger to commit to a regular writing practice came with the collapse of her voice in mid-life, with the onset of laryngeal dystonia (a spasmodic disruption of vocal cord functioning). The written word became a vital channel to replace her lost vocal fluency. ‘Throwing Out a Piece of my Heart’ is a reflection on the struggle to write a novel and brings together animation, paper art, and writing. The piece is informed by three interactive fora on wellbeing and writing hosted by TLC and led by Andrew Kaye Kauffman.

Manifesto for the Future, Degna Stone
Degna Stone is a poet based in northeast England. They are a contributing editor at the Rialto and a co-founder of Butcher’s Dog poetry magazine. They’ve performed their poetry internationally, and festival appearances include Glastonbury, Durham Book Festival, and StAnza International Poetry Festival. At the Literary Culture Symposium, Degna will be creating a brand new poetic exploration of the idea of manifesto for writers – what the future holds for the industry, for writers, and what it means to have hope when horizon-scanning in a sometimes bleak environment.

Building a Restorative Care Practice, Gaylene Gould
Gaylene Gould is a socially-engaged artist, researcher, and cultural leader who centres care in her practice. Based on her research Restorative Care Practice as Leadership Development, produced for Clore Leadership, Gaylene has been running Re-UP! a Restorative Care Practice workshop programme for 5 years. She is also the co-editor of the forthcoming Framework of Care for Liverpool Museums. Building a Restorative Care Practice is a workshop that helps participants build a personal Restorative Care Practice (RCP) to help navigate a complex world. The workshop will take participants through the underpinning ideas exploring the physiological and relational effects of stress and how RCP can help to alleviate some of those effects.