TLC launches film series to celebrate 25 years

The Literary Consultancy (TLC) will launch a series of specially commissioned films to kickstart its 25-year anniversary celebrations.

Titled "Why I Write: Tales of Creativity and Resilience", the films will draw on creative pieces with four authors — Hanif Kureishi, Elle McNicoll, Kit de Waal (pictured) and Ashley Hickson-Lovence — exploring the personal and wider importance of nurturing literary creativity.

The films have been produced in partnership with immersive publisher Story Machine and will be premiered at a ticketed digital event on 15th July. All ticket proceeds will go towards a stipend for a new writer writing with creativity and imagination about the future — the first TLC Associate Artist.

The film series will also feature a fifth film produced from a recent open submission call, with new and established writers sending in 10-second video clips of themselves speaking about why they write.

All five films will be made freely available on the TLC website one month after the premiere on 15th July.

The premiere will mark the beginning of “a year of creative content” to celebrate the 25 years of the work of TLC, which was founded as an editorial consultancy by editors Rebecca Swift and Hannah Griffiths in 1996. The anniversary celebrations will include an in-person event on 25th November, as well as the production of a “digital kitchen table” inviting short notes, videos and other creative pieces which will draw on 25 years’ worth of experiences from those who have worked with the consultancy, as well as from the wider writing community.

TLC director Aki Schilz said: “It is astonishing to think that 25 years after The Literary Consultancy was set up at the kitchen table of its founder, we are still here today, still going strong. We estimate that we’ve helped over 12,500 writers develop their writing over a quarter century, and we look forward to celebrating this landmark year with some of our most ambitious programming to date.

"The 'Why I Write' films are the jewel in the crown, and celebrate everything we stand for. It has been an honour to hear these four incredible writers talk so generously and expansively about what inspires them, what first made them pick up a pen, and what keeps them going. We hope the films might inspire anyone who has a story to tell, to go ahead and tell it. Because your story is worth hearing.”

Tickets for the premiere are available on the TLC website.