Literature and Publishing

The Literature Team work across three main areas.

• Project Funding Support
  We give advice on applying for our two open funds, assess applications, give feedback on unsuccessful applications, monitor funded projects, and review end of project reports. We also work with other teams to help assess digital, Creative Industries and equalities funds.

• Multi-year Funding Support
  We monitor Regularly Funded Organisations and work with them on development areas such as their Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion plans.

• Targeted Activities
  We work with a wide group of partner organisations to deliver funds and projects with specific development goals in the literature sector. We aim to create new opportunities and positive changes like stronger international links and increased representation of minority groups.

Who is in the Literature and Publishing team?

• Alan Bett - Head of Literature and Publishing
• Viccy Adams - Literature Officer
• Harriet MacMillan - Literature Officer
• Katalina Watt - Literature Officer

Organisations working in Literature and Publishing

Some of the organisations working with us on targeted funds and projects include:

• Scottish Book Trust
• Publishing Scotland
• Gaelic Books Council
• Glasgow Women's Library
• Moniack Mhor
• Scottish Poetry Library
• Edinburgh International Book Festival

Relevant funds

Our main sources of funding for Literature projects is the Open Fund:

• Open Fund for Individuals - this fund can support individual writers, as well as those collaborating. Projects eligible for this funding include writing and developing new work, professional development, preparation for submissions, developing collaborations, testing new ways of reaching audiences and developing new partnerships.

• National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations - this fund can support organisations such as festivals, venues and charities to help them sustain their work in changing circumstances and develop new opportunities.

• National Lottery Extended Programme Fund - a new time-limited funding opportunity for arts and cultural organisations launched in February 2023. The fund aims to create the opportunity for non-profit organisations to get longer term support than is currently available through the National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations.

We also run targeted funds for projects or areas of work which have more specific criteria:

• Create:Inclusion Fund - this fund seeks to increase the diversity of people in the arts and creative industries.
• Four Nations International Fund - for projects developing international partnerships.
• Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship - To support an organisation based in Scotland to host the year-long Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship which provides one writer with time to develop their work over the course of a year, and the opportunity to work creatively with the host organisation.

Some of our recent targeted projects include:

• Our Voices: a development programme for emerging prose writers – a programme to support unpublished writers facing additional barriers to develop their work through agent feedback.
• Doric creative sought for Scots Scriever role – a professional development programme for writers working in Scots and Scottish dialects.
• Debut Lab to support Scottish authors – a programme to support authors whose first professionally published work debuted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In the Frame – a conference and ongoing programme of work to support emerging comics creators and graphic novelists in Scotland.
• Scottish Spoken Word Showcase – a co-programmed event with the EIBF, showcasing some of Scotland’s most impressive spoken-word talent to an industry audience.
• Momentum International Delegate Programme – a programme supporting international literature delegations to connect with the Scottish literary industry.

Resources

You can find out more about Literature projects we’ve funded over on our Medium blog:

Creative Scotland Literature – Medium

Get in touch

We’re very happy to talk to you about projects that might be eligible for our support.

If you’ve never applied before, get in touch to talk about your ideas and ask any questions. We might be able to give examples that make the criteria clearer or tell you more about how our funds work.

You can get in touch with us via enquiries@creativescotland.com to connect with the Literature team. Explore the team member list  to find out who’s who.