Open letter from Scotland’s writers to protect literature budget
Dear Editor,
The Scottish Government is preparing a budget which will have major consequences for the future health of the nation. All the signs suggest that culture in general could face devastating cuts. We are calling for the government to increase funding for the arts and literature, for the good of everyone in Scotland.
As writers who have built our careers while living here, or who have retained a close connection with the country even though we live elsewhere, we have benefited from Scotland’s long-standing commitment to making culture and the arts accessible for all – both in building readership for our work, but also in supporting the creation of our books. Some of us have received grants to help us write our books, while others have benefited from training and mentoring schemes for emerging writers. Our entrepreneurial publishers and our much-loved libraries have received vital support to publish and distribute books as widely as possible, while Scotland’s internationally-respected book festivals have achieved great things with small amounts of funding and have brought our work to worldwide attention.
Supporting literature is not a drain on the country’s resources: books make an enormous contribution to the country, financially and reputationally. Our writers tour the world, talking about Scotland and its culture at book festivals from Guadalajara to Jaipur and from Reykjavik to Auckland. Our books are an advertisement for Scotland, attracting tourists to visit the landmarks they’ve read about, and foreign students to come on summer schools here – not to mention the visitors who come especially for our festivals.
Harry Potter; The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency; The Gruffalo – these are just some of the many international success stories that have been helped by Scotland’s literary support system. At the same time, key works of non-fiction such as Tom Devine’s The Scottish Nation and poetry from authors including Liz Lochhead and Jackie Kay have helped us better understand Scotland and its place in the world today. With more public support, writers can encourage diversity, inclusion and literacy, not to mention boosting Scotland’s economy.
Of course there are difficult budget decisions to make in times of austerity, but the cost of supporting literature only amounts to a tiny fraction of the overall money the government will spend. When it comes to the arts and literature, for a modest investment from the government our work generates enormous financial and cultural dividends.
Will future generations look back on the early 21st century and lament the absence of the next Muriel Spark, the next Robert Louis Stevenson, the next Edwin Morgan? We can’t be certain. But without support from the government, Scotland will surely damage one of its prize assets: its world-renowned literary heritage. What an irony we could be facing: a country which trumpets its First Minister’s Reading Challenge on the one hand, but which cuts funding to new writers on the other.
Yours,
Leila Aboulela
Lin Anderson
Kate Atkinson
Sian Bevan
Alan Bissett
Chris Brookmyre
John Burnside
Ron Butlin
Aonghas Padraig Caimbeul/Angus Peter Campbell
Karen Campbell
Nora Chassler
Regi Claire
Jo Clifford
Jenny Colgan
Stewart Conn
Stuart Cosgrove
Linda Cracknell
Jim Crumley
Christine De Luca
Meaghan Delahunt
Professor Sir Tom Devine
Imtiaz Dharker
Anne Donovan
Ever Dundas
Michel Faber
Jenni Fagan
James Fergusson
Laura Fernandes
Charlie Fletcher
Aminatta Forna
Ronald Frame
Gavin Francis
Viv French
Janice Galloway
Magi Gibson
Harry Giles
Debi Gliori
Alasdair Gray
Alex Gray
Keith Gray
Andrew Greig
Kirsty Gunn
Robin Harper
Bill Herbert
Laura Hird
Richard Holloway
Kerry Hudson
Sandra Ireland
Kathleen Jamie
Jamie Jauncey
Tiffany Jenkins
Brian Johnstone
Doug Johnstone
Pat Kane
Kapka Kassabova
Jackie Kay
AL Kennedy
David Kinloch
Elizabeth Laird
Sue Lawrence
William Letford
Jenny Lindsay
Liz Lochhead
Kirsty Logan
Colin MacIntyre
Ken MacLeod
Aonghas MacNeacail
Kevin MacNeil
Iain Macpherson
Graeme Macrae Burnet
Sara Maitland
Willie Maley
Allan Massie
Peter May
Alexander McCall Smith
Helen McClory
Rachel McCrum
Val McDermid
Lesley McDowell
Denise Mina
Aidan Moffat
Donald S Murray
Liz Niven
Maggie O’Farrell
Andrew O’Hagan
Don Paterson
Mary Paulson-Ellis
Tom Pow
Chitra Ramaswamy
Ian Rankin
Alan Riach
Lucy Ribchester
James Robertson
David Robinson
Dilys Rose
Peter Ross
James Runcie
Helen Sedgwick
Sara Sheridan
John Gordon Sinclair
Ali Smith
Donald Smith
Alan Spence
Gerda Stevenson
Linda Strachan
Charlie Stross
William Sutcliffe
Malachy Tallack
Alan Taylor
Suria Tei
Alice Thompson
Ryan Van Winkle
Irvine Welsh
Louise Welsh
JL Williams
Kevin Williamson
James Yorkston
Davy Zyw
The letter has been featured in the following publications and has been sent to the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries for their views.
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