Literature and creative writing

The sixth edition of the Shubbak Festival: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture runs from 20^th June – 17^th July, 2021. Born out of the rupture across Arab countries ten years ago, Shubbak 2021 returns with an ambitious programme that connects audiences and communities with the best of contemporary Arab visual arts, film, music, theatre, dance, literature and debate.

Jerwood Arts and three other independent funders have launched the Live Work Fund, £660,000 intended to support at least 33 UK artists, creatives and producers over 12 months with awards of £20,000 to adapt their approach to making and sharing live work.

Literature Wales and Firefly Press has launched the Rising Stars Wales Award 2021, the second round of an initiative to identify and nurture talented children’s poets from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds based in Wales, with the view to publish an anthology of their work.

Coventry City of Culture Trust has announced the first events that will form part of the 365-day programme for UK City of Culture 2021, beginning in May 2021. 

Rooted in the rich history of the city and celebrating the stories of the people who have made it their home, the programme also addresses the issues that communities are faced with today while imagining what the future holds.

HOME’s Resident Artists, Young Identity, will be the first live performance in the venue’s theatre on October 13, following closure caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Young Identity have a long history of delivering dynamic poetry and spoken word workshops and performances for young people at HOME, Contact and at events across Manchester and across the globe.

At this one-off special event they will launch their new book of poetry, Working from HOME, with performances from members of the group.

Updated 9/12/2020: This story originally announced the reopening of the Royal Court in November with the Living Newspaper. The story has been updated with new information for December 2020.

The Royal Court Theatre is launching a 'Living Newspaper' based on a historical US theatre project, with online streamed variety performances - two in December and four more in the new year. These performances will be led by writers, and working with freelance artists – actors, designers, stage managers, technicians and choreographers.

BBC Arts is extending Culture In Quarantine once again during the autumn to work with parts of the UK arts scene that have been particularly hard hit by the global pandemic.

Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore says: "The BBC is the biggest creator of arts content in Britain and our contribution to the cultural economy in the UK is something that I’m passionate about.

Poet Yomi Sode interviews Hafsah Aneela Bashir and Anthony Joseph about first albums and guilty pleasures in his popular and insightful series that has reached tens of thousands via Instagram Live in recent months. 

For September and October 2020 we’ve invited the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellows to take over the Jerwood Arts channels.

Southbank Centre is running a three-month series of multi-arts events entitled Inside Out, all broadcast from Royal Festival Hall and other venues from 17 September to 30 December.

The autumn season of over 40 multi-arts events bringing music, literature, and comedy back to the Royal Festival Hall for the first time since closure on 17 March, including:

Silent Uproar, based in Hull, has launched a new programme which will give £20,000 to support early career writers in the North of England.

Previous artists supported by Silent Uproar at just the right time have gone on to work for major BBC television shows, Netflix, and the National Theatre.

Writers will need to have had at least one of their plays staged as a full-length production (60+ mins in front of a paying audience).