Literature and creative writing

The 2019 Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival will have an international theme that will celebrate Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon as a meeting place for all poets.

Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy has just launched a new round of Networks Funding for 2019. 

Applications are now open for groups or networks across England to receive support for the development of a fundraising training event, conference, seminar or introductory meeting. Organisations and groups can apply up for grants of up to £1,000 and £2,000 depending on the size of the event. 

British Council is looking to build connections between the UK creative sector and young artists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

British Council is actively seeking expressions of interest for Art Connects Us from UK-based organisations, curators and programmers in these fields:

• architecture
• dance
• design
• fashion
• film
• literature
• theatre
• visual arts

Expressions of interest will be accepted until 10 March 2019.

The Creative Land Trust has been launched, supported by the Mayor of London, Arts Council England, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. It aims to secure long-term and affordable space for artists and creative people in London.

This innovative new organisation seeks to secure land and building space while keepong affordable rent rates by:

1. Purchase of freehold properties or long leases

2. Receipt of properties gifted or transferred by public or private partners

3. Purchase of buildings with a studio provider

The City of Culture Trust's first campaign since winning its bid for UK City of Culture 2021 celebrates human rights 70 years since the signing of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, including a 14ft mobile illuminated poem which tours the city.

When Oscar Wilde died in 1900, the few obituaries that appeared were miserable: The Times concluded that death had brought an end to ‘what must have been a life of wretchedness and unavailing regret’, while The Sunday Times thought ‘no sadder record of a life wilfully blighted can be found… ’ And yet—more than a century later—Wilde’s star burns brighter than ever, and as Matthew Sturgis writes in his new biography (Oscar: A Life) ‘the position he holds is an extrao

Two of Shakespeare’s homes will be recreated in China, as part of a new international heritage and cultural centre called San Weng, celebrating 3 literary figures from the East and West.

Construction has commenced on the centre near Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, South China, which will include a Stratford on Avon quarter, modelled on the English town, featuring Shakespeare’s Birthplace and his adult home - New Place.

The UK government has awarded £10 million funding to set up a national centre for immersive storytelling.

The StoryFutures Academy will pioneer next-generation storytelling, looking to harness technologies such as augmented, virtual and mixed reality as well as smart devices and artificial intelligence.

Five of New Zealand’s leading Māori and Pasifika writers will showcase their work in the UK next month (November) alongside the high profile Oceania exhibition at the Royal Academy.  Their programme will include a public panel discussion with Senior Curator, Adrian Locke, at the Royal Academy, a Commonwealth Writers Conversation in front of an invited audience at the Commonwealth Foundation and a literary salon at New Zealand House with much-loved salonnière, writer and journalist Damian Barr.