The under-representation of British working-class writers in UK publishing has been identified as a major challenge by publishers, Arts Council England and the British and Scottish governments.

Launched in 2018, Common People aimed to identify brilliant new unpublished working-class writers; to publish their work in a new anthology, Common People, alongside other established writers, edited by Kit de Waal; and to offer them a 12-month professional writing and career development programme to support their entry into the industry.

The Common People project arose out of an ongoing commitment and programme of work that New Writing North has undertaken in recent years within the publishing industry to highlight issues of regional and class diversity and representation. The project brought together all seven of England’s regional writing development agencies working collaboratively on the programme, supported by a grant from Arts Council England.

New Writing North has published Common People: Breaking the Class Ceiling in UK Publishing, a report by Professor Katy Shaw from Northumbria University, which evaluated the Common People project within the context of research around the wider issues of class in UK publishing. The Common People report identifies the pervasive barriers in the way of working-class writers; makes a clarion call for changes in the publishing industry and strongly recommends more effective and better-funded collaborative working across the commercial and subsidised sectors.

You can read the report here