Writing on the Wall (WoW) is dedicated to fostering creativity and community engagement through a diverse array of projects.
Creative Heritage
Creative Heritage is a unique programme, working with archives and communities to recover lost voices and neglected histories. We have since applied the Creative Heritage formula to the George Garrett Archive, L8 Law Centre, Liverpool Anti Racist Community Arts Association and, most recently, the Dorothy Kuya archive, and have published books, created theatre performances, visual art, podcasts, blogs, social media campaigns, poetry, walking tours, workshops and more. Our Creative Heritage projects have been featured in local and national news and on television, including being selected to feature as just one of ten projects across the country in the National Archives Annual Review publication for 2023.
WoW’s unique annual novel writing competition, Pulp Idol, is open to unpublished novelists across the Liverpool City Region. These new authors submit the first chapter of their novel and compete for the chance to have their work published and looked at by the UK’s top publishers and literary agents. With sixteen years of remarkable success from previous finalists, Pulp Idol is an inspiring opportunity for writers. Its aim is to support new, original voices to be heard. As a result of Pulp Idol, approx. sixteen unpublished writers have had their work published or commissioned, with many signing deals and having their debut novels published.
ReCITE is a project lead by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, with Writing on the Wall as the lead Creative Partner, which explores how health inequities can be tackled by using creativity and storytelling to address local health priorities in some of the most deprived areas of Merseyside, linking people with lived experience with health providers, community champions and storytellers to develop immersive, multi-media stories designed to build confidence in preventative public health interventions. The ReCITE project will blend creativity with healthcare: focusing on building storytelling into community and health systems to address mistrust and promote wellbeing. The project has a wide range of academic and creative partners who will work in collaboration to engage people living in Liverpool, Knowsley and South Sefton, and will use the power of stories to promote health prevention and mental wellbeing in some of the region’s poorest area.
“What’s Your Walton Story?” is a 12-week creative writing course organized by Writing on the Wall for residents of Walton, Liverpool. Running every Wednesday from 10 am to 12 pm at Spellow Library, the course provides a space for participants to connect with their community, share personal stories, and develop their writing skills under the guidance of professional writers.
Write to Work is a free, award-winning course for economically inactive residents from the Liverpool City Region, looking to gain confidence in their writing skills and meet a creative community. The course, now in its fifth year, has supported hundreds of people to build their confidence, meet new people, develop their writing skills, and find their way into education, training and/or employment. We run a series of one day boot camps around the region led by established writers and artists. Participants are also invited to attend our free Writer’s Bloc, writing centre sessions for further support and guidance.
The Writer’s Bloc is a dedicated fortnightly writing space in Toxteth Library, accessible to all ages and communities, providing inspiration and a welcoming and accessible environment for people to come together to work, individually and collectively, enjoying professional support from writers, artists, and, where appropriate, professionals in other fields, to provide inspiration, guidance and engagement to a diverse community of writers. The Bloc plays a key role in engaging local communities through creative and artistic activities benefiting all areas of the local community, building on WoW’s twenty-year experience of delivering ground-breaking, successful projects. The Writer’s Bloc professional writer sessions launched on 7th June 2024 with acclaimed Liverpool screenwriter Tony Schumacher, creator and writer of the award-winning BBC drama series, The Responder.
Through these diverse projects, Writing on the Wall continues to empower individuals and communities to share their stories, celebrate their heritage, and effect positive change through the written and spoken word.