Shelley and Milton join Sheen to make case in Parliament for underrepresented writers

Industry leaders including Hachette c.e.o. David Shelley and Lisa Milton, HQ and Mills and Boon executive publisher, joined an All Party Writers Group roundtable at the House of Lords on 30th March and agreed more needs to be done to build networks for underrepresented writers.

In attendance was actor Michael Sheen, who co-founded and part-funded A Writing Chance, a development programme for new and aspiring writers from underrepresented backgrounds launched in February 2021, alongside two participating writers, Tammie Ash and Mayo Agard-Olubo.

Sheen said: “A conversation that only has the same voices being heard over and over again is a dead conversation. Nothing truly new or vital can ever come from it. There is a mighty energy waiting among the unheard and on the margins and this is where the hope of renewal and the dynamic of possibility should be sought. 

“The tools are here so let’s now do all we can to make sure they get used to build something of real lasting value, something that will truly benefit us all.” 

Sarah Crown, director of literature at Arts Council England, c.e.o. of New Writing North Claire Malcolm, Jessica Loveland, head of new writing at the BBC, and Lord Neil Mendoza were also among the panellists. 

Sheen and Professor of Contemporary Literature at Northumbria University Katy Shaw conceived of A Writing Chance, which has been designed and led by New Writing North, to discover new talent and support writers to break into the creative industries, while empowering publishers and editors to make space for a broader range of perspectives.

The discussion centred on the project and what publishers, the third sector, arts and government could do to improve participation, for example by joining up resources and collaborating to ensure more streamlined, accessible talent pipelines and positive interventions. 

Milton said: “There are countless resources that are impossible to find unless you know where to look for them.”

Malcolm agreed, calling on funders, industry and media partners to “play their part and help us launch a new generation of writers from across the UK”.

“The talent is out there, the networks to enable it aren’t yet,” she said. Agard-Olubo agreed, adding: "It’s about knowing that our stories matter to publishers when they haven’t in the past. You can’t grow the readership if the books aren’t there for people who have been underrepresented."

Hachette c.e.o. Shelley added that it was vital that publishers were “embedded” in their communities if they wanted to reach as many readers from as wide a variety of backgrounds as possible. He noted the company’s recent expansion outside London and its imprint Dialogue. He said publishing “relies on official and unofficial networks and all sorts of strange kinds of ways we reach people”. 

“We want to hear readers everywhere and serve readers everywhere. There’s a sort of moral and business imperative wrapped up into one,” he said. “As businesses, if we don’t embrace the opportunity to reach more people around the country then we’ll fail, but morally as well we’ll fail. There’s a lot more that we could and should be doing.” 

The roundtable was followed by an evening event which saw participating writers of the programme read excerpts from their work, which was published in the latest edition of the New Statesman, "A Dream of Britain", guest-edited by Sheen.