Summary of findings

Succession: There is a lack of visible leadership for the literature sector and, post-Covid, less interaction and engagement between groups than existed before. There is a lack of role models and of ‘elder states people’ to give advice to younger and new projects and a perception of no ‘next generation’ coming up from the grassroots to take over.  

Inequality: Writers from underrepresented communities are especially disadvantaged in the sector and face inequality of opportunity to develop professionally and creatively.  

Workforce Development: Related to succession, there is an opportunity to address building a skilled literature workforce in the city to meet the needs of existing companies and new developments. The network of higher education establishments could develop a more focused role in workforce development whilst improving employability prospects for their graduates. Addressing skills and the inclusive economy should be a priority.  

Access to Industry: There is a significant detachment from the commercial writing industries, with very few writers reporting engagement with literary agents, publishers, and producers within the broadcast industries.  

Literature Hub: There is no central point of support, funding, and information for emerging writers or for grassroots organisations to grow and reach their full potential in real life or online. This impacts in terms of ambition, collaboration, access to finance and workforce development.  

Big and Small: The foundations that bring together grassroots and small organisations and the larger, more established, and well-resourced cultural organisations are weak. Writing or literature development is not the main priority for the larger organisations, and the smaller organisations are too resource-strapped to be able to step up strategically. Several smaller groups and activities are struggling to access venue space for performance and meetings in the city – a situation that could be easily addressed through better collaboration.  

Flexible Space: Related to the above, there is a lack of suitable, affordable, and flexible space for literature activity and creative industries development, whether for writer’s groups to meet, individuals to work, or organisations to establish and grow.  

Festivals: Both Leeds Lit Festival and Leeds Poetry Festival are worthy of support and development. Both need serious investment in terms of capacity, business development and fundraising to become sustainable and resilient. Both festivals have talented programmers and promoters within their ranks who could be invested in.  

Libraries: The growing diversity of the city’s network of libraries is a major strength and their role in the creative economy and as hosts and deliverer of creative activity could be more widely acknowledged and strengthened.  

Resources: Literature projects and smaller organisations in Leeds appear to demonstrate a lack of fundraising skills and access to finance and investment. This needs to be addressed through capacity building, training, business modelling and awareness of potential funding from both local and national funds.  

Audiences: Data on audiences for literature events is weak and as new developments enter the sector it will be important to collaborate around building audiences for literature in the city.