Portsmouth City Council has been awarded a grant by Arts Council England to deliver the project City of Stories. A two year programme of activities consisting of a festival of stories, creative writing, storytelling and narratives via a range of media. This work will be inspired by the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, that of other local writers and the City Archive.
Writers, poets, storytellers and artists inspires a creative programme and stories will be celebrated through:
- Four story centres based within four of the libraries
- Summer of Sherlock, 2018 & 2019
- Portsmouth Short Story Competitions, children and adults
- Book Fest
- City Read - Stardust by Neil Gaiman 2018, TBC 2019
- Poet in Residence, Portsmouth History Centre
- Conan Doyle group workshops in History Centre
- Story Cubes - tactile cubes based upon Sherlock Holmes' stories
The programme will provide networking and support to enhance a robust literary community.to deliver beyond the life of the project.
Our key aims are:
- Celebrate Portsmouth stories from the archives
- Provide inspirational opportunities for people to learn from the archives
- To increase participation with archives by transforming means of access
- To raise awareness of archives and enhance the sense of ownership and community cohesion
- Increase the number and breadth of residents engaging with great writers and storytellers
- Embed partnerships between cultural partners and creative providers
- To build skills and resilience in staff and volunteers
to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
Our aim is to publicise the Conan Doyle Collection locally and internationally. To do this, we attend and create local events and work with other partners on projects to promote access and to the Collection.
