The global reach of contemporary British literature

The British Council’s website www.contemporarywriters.com is a regularly updated searchable database of contemporary UK and Commonwealth author profiles with biographies, bibliographies, critical reviews, author photographs and personal statements.

More than 1.3m visitors now view a staggering 7.2m author entries each year. Author Joolz Denby now joins more than 500 writers in what represents one of the largest online educational resources of UK and Commonwealth poets, playwrights and writers on the web.

British Council Director of Literature, Susanna Nicklin, said: `By harnessing the power of the internet, Britain’s writers now reach audiences worldwide to create a space for reflection, contemplation and debate that transcends readers beyond geographical boundaries. For the past five years, we have been building up a comprehensive database of authors that is a testament to the diversity of contemporary British literature. However, this is just one excellent example of how we use the internet creatively to support the British Council’s pioneering work in building international audiences for British literature through publications, workshops, fellowships, seminars, conferences, bookfairs and festivals.’

Forthcoming highlights in the British Council’s literature calendar include:

• The Oxford Conference on the teaching of English Literature, 31st March – 5th April 2007
• The ‘Wicked Issues’ series of debates at the London Book Fair, 16-18 April 2007
• The joint publication with Granta of the New Writing 15 Anthology, June 2007
• 30th Cambridge Seminar on Contemporary Literature, 7-13 July 2007
• British Council & Trinity College Dublin International Writing Fellowship, Autumn 2007
• Singapore Reading Across Cultures seminar, February 2008
• Cultural collaboration with the London Book Fair’s market focus The Arabic World in 2008

Contemporary British author, Louise Doughty, who is featured on www.contemporarywriters.com added: ‘The French and the Italians may have their cultural institutes, but none have the worldwide reach of our Council. It makes you realise that even in the parts of the world where our politicians have singularly failed to make an impact - or made a negative one - British literature can sneak in, appreciate other cultures and show them what we have to offer.’

The British Council is celebrating the contribution British writing makes to international literature with a glittering industry-wide reception at London Studios on Tuesday 20 March, 2007, from 6.30 – 8.30pm. To book a place, please email rsvp.events@brtishcouncil.org

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For further information about any aspect of the British Council’s Literature department’s work and activities, please contact press officer, Antony Watson, on 020 7289 4872 or email antony.watson@brtisishcouncil.org

Notes to Editors:

• The policy areas we work on in the field of literature include creative writing, translation, debate and dialogue, exploitation of new media to increase access to British literature in secondary and tertiary education and as a tool for self development. For more information, please visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature.htm

• The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We operate in 233 towns and cities in 109 countries and territories worldwide. We build relationships and understanding between people in Britain and other countries to increase appreciation of the UK’s ideas and achievements overseas. The areas we focus on are creativity, education and civil society. The British Council is a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Income in 2005/06 is expected to be £501 million, of which grant-in-aid from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is £189 million