This episode features an hour of new writing read by the writers on this year’s National Centre for Writing Escalator programme – recorded earlier this year at the showcase event, here at Dragon Hall.

Escalator is our talent development programme. And each year, we look for ambitious, challenging, unconventional and affecting new voices in fiction writing from the East of England. The region is made up of a diverse society of people, and supporting writers who are under-represented on UK bookshelves has become a core objective of the project.

The programme has been running since 2004 and includes eight months of mentoring, training, guidance and networking for participants. To date we’ve supported more than 130 writers, many of whom have gone on to sign with agents, publish and win awards and critical recognition for their novels and short stories.

We had a fantastic group of writers in 2022 and we hosted them here for the annual Escalator Showcase event where they all read from their work.

• Melody Bowles
• Bang Wang
• Ben Cartwright
• Shirley Day
• Isabelle Higgins
• Adam Leeder
• Joanna Miller
• Carrie Patten
• Rick Roydes
• Mark Stocker

You can also watch the readings here.

Escalator is also generously supported by Arts Council England, the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS), Amazon Literary Partnership, Garrick Charitable Trust, Golsoncott Foundation, the Laura Kinsella Foundation, the Reeves Award, and donors of NCW’s Escalator fundraising campaign.