CS Literature Sector Review

Creative Scotland is to carry out a review of the Literature Sector. Responses to the tender brief are invited from today, Wednesday 28 May, until Friday 13 June. For further information and the full brief please register on Public Contracts Scotland, the Scottish Government's official national portal for public sector contract opportunities.

Carried out for, and on behalf of the literature sector in Scotland, the study is intended to provide an overview of contemporary literature and publishing provision in Scotland; identify areas of strength and gaps in provision, and to make recommendations to help inform Creative Scotland’s future funding policy and strategic approach to literature, languages and publishing.

The review will pay particular attention to three interconnected areas: writers and talent development; the publishing industry and the market for Scottish work; the broader literary ecology.

Jenny Niven, Portfolio Manager for Literature, Publishing and Languages at Creative Scotland, said:

“Through this piece of research we will embark on a period of extensive consultation, working closely with writers and with literature and publishing professionals across Scotland, to build a comprehensive contemporary picture of the sector.

“We want to look at the conditions for Scottish writers working today and what support, both financial and developmental, is available to them and their work at every stage in their career.

“The landscape of writing and publishing is changing rapidly, worldwide. We are looking to analyse in detail how the sector is navigating this type of change, and the market for Scottish books in general. Since 2004, the date of the SAC’s Review of Publishing the fragmentation of the market, the explosion of creative writing courses, the growth of literature as performance, and the digitisation of publishing have changed the environment for writers and their work enormously. Numerous other factors from the proliferation of book festivals, to the introduction of Amazon into the market have impacted at the promotion and retail end of the supply chain for books; little research has been conducted on the impact, for writers and readers, of these factors for Scotland.

“Exploring further international opportunity for Scottish writing is also critical and will be a major area of interest for this piece of research. It is for these reasons that we have commissioned this review.  We look forward to working closely with the sector on the project in the months ahead.”