Magazine launched to promote working class writers
Angharad HampshireA new writing platform has been launched to promote working class writers and tackle the publishing industry's "class crisis".
The Bee will consist of a website, literary magazine, podcast and outreach programme to support the development of working class writers.
It has been produced by Newcastle-based charity New Writing North and is part of the A Writing Chance programme, which is co-founded by Northumbria University, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and actor Michael Sheen.
New Writing North CEO Claire Malcolm said: "Talent is classless. Opportunity, however, is class-bound. The Bee is an urgent response to that."
She said: "Our research shows that despite incredible success stories from these initiatives the class crisis continues to grow.
"There's never been so much debate about class in the creative industries but nothing has changed and things are actually getting worse and inequality more entrenched, hence the need to make our own reality."
'Ordinary working people'
Ms Malcolm said just 10% of authors and writers were from those backgrounds.
It is hoped the Bee - which has a podcast the Working Class Library - will give writers the chance to publish fiction and non-fiction work.
The magazine's editor, Richard Benson, said people from "less well-off sections of society" deserve the chance to tell their stories.
"Much of the important writing being done today and so many of the best-loved stories come from ordinary, working people," he said.
"So often, it's stories from the working classes that express what's really happening in the world."
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