Project summary
A Writing Chance was launched in 2021 as a UK-wide writing development programme for aspiring writers from working-class and under-represented backgrounds. Co-founded by New Writing North, Northumbria University, actor and philanthropist Michael Sheen, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It aims to open access to the writing industries by supporting the writers to develop their craft, make industry contacts, and gain insight into the writing industries.
The writer development programme ran in 2021 and 2024, supporting 27 talented writers working across a diverse range of forms and genres through a tailored programme of mentoring, industry insight days, publication opportunities, individualised writer support, and bursaries. Alumni of the programme have gone on to receive publishing deals, offers of agent representation, won literary awards and places on development programmes. Their lively, thoughtful and evocative writing demonstrates the vital importance of ensuring that the writing industries give voice to writers from all backgrounds.
The work of A Writing Chance is underpinned by research led by Professor Katy Shaw at Northumbria University, which highlights the barriers facing working-class writers and identifies ways to provide working-class writers with effective support. The research has been integral to the development of the programme, ensuring that it is responsive to the needs of the writers, whilst also advocating for change in the industry.
In 2025, New Writing North launched The Bee magazine, a new home for working-class writing that was born out of the work of A Writing Chance and built on the recommendations from Professor Shaw’s A Writing Chance Evaluation Report. The Bee aims to continue to platform, support, and celebrate working-class writers by creating a new channel for their work, growing a readership for working-class writing, and establishing an online space which provides working-class writers with support, community, and development opportunities.
Full project title
A Writing Chance: Supporting Working-Class Writers
Project team
Professor Katy Shaw – Principal investigator
Project highlights
- Find out more about A Writing Chance on the New Writing North website and how we are supporting working-class writers
- Meet the writers and read more about their work
- Our writers’ pieces in The New Statesman and the Daily Mirror
- Read about the writers on Substack
- One of our writers reflect on his time on A Writing Chance
- Read Professor Katy Shaw’s A Writing Chance evaluation report
- Our panel at London Book Fair
- Follow The Bee magazine
- Read about The Bee on The Guardian website
- Watch Professor Katy Shaw’s Ted Talk
- Read Professor Shaw’s journal article “A Writing Chance: adjusting the lens on social class and diversity in the UK publishing industry” in the Creative Industries Journal
- Professor Shaw and New Writing North CEO Claire Malcolm’s report “The Power of Partnership: Northumbria University x New Writing North”
- Read Professor Shaw’s report “Common People: Breaking the Class Ceiling in UK Publishing”
- Professor Shaw’s chapter “Common People: Breaking the Glass Ceiling in UK Publishing” is published in The Routledge Companion to Working-Class Literature
Project image gallery
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Project classification
Project title is an English and Social Sciences project. It belongs to the following research cluster:
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