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Literature & poetry

Almost two-thirds of the British population regularly reads a book, and literature and poetry now have an elevated profile everywhere from the media to the living room. Literary prizes enjoy burgeoning publicity and attention, literature festivals attract ever-bigger audiences,and the once-endangered art of storytelling is regaining popularity. Nor is it just adults reading avidly babies from just a few months old are given their own free books, while the explosion of interest in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter adventures has reawakened the reading habits of children and adults alike. Fiction is in a golden age and there's fine writing out there all over the place” Lisa Jardine, chair of the Man Booker Prize judging panel 2002

In November 2002 the film version in the Black Mountains in Wales of Harry Potter’s second with a population of about 1,300, adventure, the Chamber of Secrets, but a total of 39 bookshops became the fastest-grossing UK (roughly one for every 33 film, beating its predecessor, Harry inhabitants!) For ten days each Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. May, ever-increasing audiences are In 2001 the Arts Council of England The Chamber of Secrets is the entertained and engaged at about announced a 77% budget increase only British film to have taken 150 events by novelists, poets, for literature between more than £30 million by its children's writers, historians, 2002/03 and 2003/04 second weekend on release. politicians, sportspeople, J.K.Rowling’s series of books have broadcasters, stand-up comics 11-12 year old girls spend an made publishing history, selling and musicians. average of 5 hours a week reading more than 130 million copies books for enjoyment, compared to between 1997 and 2001. ‘The The Man Booker Prize, the most 3.9 hours a week among 11-12 year Philosopher’s Stone’ reaped seven prestigious literary award in the old boys World Book Day UK awards between 1997 and 2001, UK, goes to the best full-length 2002 research starting with the Nestlé Smarties novel in English by a citizen of the Book Prize Gold Medal for the 9 to Commonwealth or the Republic of The number of titles published by 11 age group. Ireland. Yann Martel collected the the UK commercial sector has grown £50,000 prize for 2002’s winning every year from 1997 to 2001, when Education publisher Kumon’s novel, ‘Life Of Pi’, published by it stood at 119,001, a 19% rise over survey of the 100 best children’s Edinburgh-based publisher that five-year period books, published in September Canongate. Started in 1969 with 2002, had Rowling dominant, with almost no public recognition, the Women spend 25 minutes a day ‘The Philosopher's Stone’, ‘Goblet Booker is now certain to raise the reading fiction, rising to 70 minutes of Fire’ and ‘Chamber of Secrets’ profile of the winning author and a day while on holiday Report, Book holding the top three places. But increase sales of the shortlisted Marketing Ltd, May 2002 there was still room for plenty of novels. Previous winners include traditional favourites, with Enid Margaret Atwood, Pat Barker, A S Blyton’s ‘The Famous Five’, Byatt, Roddy Doyle, Kazuo A.A.Milne’s ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, V S Naipaul, Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Salman Rushdie and David Storey. in the next three places. The judges - themselves a prestigious mix of former Perhaps the most unusual of the government ministers, novelists, UK’s international literary festivals literary editors and academics - is the Guardian Hay Festival. It has choose a shortlist of six novels from taken place each year since 1988 in a total of over 100 entries. Hay-on-Wye, a small market town The Scottish Storytelling Centre in The independent charity Edinburgh was set up in 1996 to BookTrust promotes books and encourage and develop the reading to people of all ages. It traditional art of oral storytelling in manages a number of literary Scotland. It believes that prizes, including the Booker, and storytelling can link the runs reading projects such as generations, as it enables both the Bookstart. This project distributes very young and the elderly to share packs containing free books to and understand their own life parents and carers of babies aged The Guardian Hay Festival experiences. Regular activities seven to nine months, as well as include workshops (including some information on sharing books with for deaf audiences), local babies and library services. storytelling clubs for children and Meanwhile, a scheme to bring poets, dramatists, travel writers or adults, and storyteller visits to books to the breakfast table was writers in any other literary genre schools, libraries, conferences and launched late in 2002, as Puffin for consideration by the judges. arts venues. Books teamed up with breakfast food manufacturers to provide five The Poetry Society, an umbrella The Scottish International titles by best-selling children’s organisation that helps poets and Storytelling Festival is held every authors, adhered to cereal boxes in poetry thrive in Britain today, year in October/November and is plastic cases. organises the UK’s longest running a celebration of indigenous poetry contest, the National Poetry storytelling in an international The DCMS/Wolfson public Competition. Launched in 1978 context. It brings together the libraries challenge fund aims to and now an established hallmark of finest storytellers from home and enhance public libraries’ strength quality, its list of winners includes overseas to perform across in reader development activities, Tony Harrison, Carol Ann Duffy, Edinburgh in venues including the via awards to innovative library Medbh McGuckian, Jo Shapcott Royal Botanic Gardens, the projects around the UK. The fund and Ian Duhig. Awarding £5,000 in Scottish Mining Museum and the made 33 awards in 2000-2001, 2002, the competition not only University of Edinburgh, as well as totalling almost £2 million. reinforces the reputation of in surrounding towns and villages. recognised writers, but over the The David Cohen British Literature years has become renowned for Prize, initiated in 1993, is a lifetime pointing the spotlight on emerging achievement award in recognition new poets, such as 1998’s winner of a living British writer. Previous Caroline Carver. The Poetry winners include Harold Pinter, Society also runs National Poetry Muriel Spark, William Trevor, V.S. Day, a celebration of the art form Naipaul and Doris Lessing. in schools, the media and Members of the public are invited communities nationwide, which to submit names of novelists, short celebrates its 10th anniversary on story writers, essayists, biographers, 9 October 2003. The UK’s biggest annual poetry award is the £10,000 Forward Poetry prize, won late in 2002 by veteran poet Peter Porter (above) for his collection Max Is Missing, published by Picador. Porter had previously won both the Whitbread and Duff Cooper poetry prizes. The Forward prize was presented on the eve of National Poetry Day, which as usual encouraged an imaginative range of events nationwide. The city of Cardiff

‘collectively’ contributed a poem Apples and Snakes, which Researched and written by Paul Sexton described as ‘the world’s first specialises in poetry in communal poem written and performance and education, Designed by Andy Clarke Printed in the UK by Lithgo published by a city’. enjoyed a 525% rise in its Arts

Council grant for 2003/04. It runs Picture credits Poet Kevin McCann spent two days some 200 workshops in schools and Peter Dupont a week over six months at Wymott works with about 150 poets Scottish Storytelling Centre prison as part of a residency annually. The independent literary The Guardian Hay Festival, Justine Williams. organised and supported by the press Enitharmon, which Michael Nicholson Poetry Society and the specialises in contemporary poetry, Arts Council of England. Kevin received its first grant for 2003/04. © Crown Copyright discussed different types of It has been instrumental in Published by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office May 2003 poetry and encouraged the group promoting the work of younger of 26 male prisoners to write their poets emerging from the Poetry www.fco.gov.uk own poems. As a result, a poetry School and similar organisations. page was added to the prison Details of other FCO Publications are available from magazine and nearly two hundred www.informationfrombritain.com poems were entered for the Koestler Awards, a national Order number: 30190 competition for creative work among prison inmates.