The under-representation of British working-class writers in UK publishing has been identified as a major challenge by publishers, Arts Council England and the British and Scottish governments.
The professional development project ran for 12 months from February 2018 into 2019. It aimed to create a strategic model of intervention to address the under-representation of working-class writers in publishing today and to offer bespoke creative mentoring and professional development to the writers to help them maximise the opportunity and to move their careers forward. The new writers that participated in the project were identified by the network of writing development agencies across England who worked together to identify and select new talent.