Why Don’t We Pay Our Writers Like We Pay Our Sports Stars?

Across the world, the ecosystems and industries in which literature operates are relatively small.

As a result of this, writers and literature professionals often struggle to earn a living commensurate with their skill, expertise, and education. So how can we make literature pay better? At the heart of this is a simple question: how do we do business as well as we do art?

This event involved a provocation on the value of writing by Professor Katy Shaw, a chance for ILX participants to share their experiences and knowledge on this theme, and discussions on collaboration and business planning from literature industry experts Daniela Ini, Hilary Copeland and Ioannis Kalkounos.

 

Do We Still Need More Stories?

Every year, more and more work is written. More books are published, more people study creative writing at academic institutions.

More artists and organisations do more important work expanding access to those who have traditionally been excluded from the rarified halls of literature, who have not seen their experiences and identities represented in the books they read.

This is all incredibly positive – and long overdue. But more work is still needed to ensure that there are genuine opportunities for all through literature, as creatives and audiences. We need to talk about why good books struggle to find readers. How do we help work be read widely, inform our culture, and provide those who create them with viable incomes?

 

Fiddling While Rome Burns: What Can We Do About the Climate Emergency?

We are in the midst of an ever-unfolding crisis of climate change.

It is likely that in the next 50 years, parts of the world that are currently vibrant communities will become uninhabitable.

How do we respond to the climate crisis in a way that enables literature and the arts to make positive contributions to the benefit of all humanity?

Is there a problem with the notion that playing music is arrogant? What if the arts – the joy and comfort and beauty and challenge and horror and mirror they provide – are the only response we have? That far from disrespect, it is through artistic practice – improvisational, expressive, communicative – that the most effective responses to climate change may emerge. What if we lean into our art, rather than away from it?