Celebrating diverse voices to explore landscape, wildlife and heritage
March 11, 2021
A new creative writing bursary is being launched for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse writers whose work aims to explore the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the National Park.
‘Shifting the Gaze’ will offer 15 bursaries of £500 to writers to fund time researching and developing new writing projects that focus on the beautiful South Downs landscape.
The bursary programme is a Writing Our Legacy project, in partnership with the South Downs National Park Authority and in association with New Writing South.
This project follows a bumper 18 months of activity for Writing Our Legacy. The Sussex-based arts organisation delivered ‘New Narratives’, a programme of workshops, socials and retreats for writers of colour in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Shifting the Gaze’ comes as the National Park Authority is celebrating a “Year of Creative Writing” with a number of projects that use the region’s stunning landscape and history as inspiration for wordsmithery.
Amy Zamarripa Solis, Chair and Programme Manager of Writing Our Legacy, said: “Writing Our Legacy is delighted to be working in partnership with South Downs National Park and in association with New Writing South to present an opportunity to hear from new voices from the South East’s diverse creative talent. The Park’s rich heritage and inspiring landscapes provide a place for writers to explore and connect with an incredibly important place of natural beauty in the region. We can’t wait to see the applications from writers and we urge writers of all levels of experience and backgrounds to apply.”
Anooshka Rawden, Cultural Heritage Lead for the National Park, said: “This is a really exciting initiative for the National Park to be involved with. We hope this project supports established and emerging talent, providing opportunities to explore the landscape through new stories, woven from the perspective of diversity.”
Applications will open on 5 April and close on 5 May. Apply via www.writingourlegacy.org.uk