Literary London

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Greetings from England! While I normally would be updating with some amazing summer news regarding contests in America, I’m on a study abroad programme here in the UK living in Islington, London at King’s Cross and don’t have as much access to that information as I would have liked. So, instead, I’ve decided to give you all some interesting news from the publishing and literature world here in London. After all, if we want to be part of the publishing industry one day (whether it be authors, editors, marketers, etc.), it’s good to get an idea of what’s going on around the world both historically and presently. So, here’s your limited time dish of literature news from London!

The first bit of news I would like to comment on, however, has to do with our home in the USA. For those of you who didn’t know, Natasha Tretheway was recently named the Poet Laureate of the United States. Congratulations, Tretheway! Be sure to pick up some of her work this summer for some light reading.

Anyway, on to UK literary news. One of the most interesting things I think that I’ve discovered here in London is how literature is perceived. The world of fiction here seems to be embraced in a way that I haven’t quite noticed in America. Sure, we have all probably heard of the Sherlock Hotel on Baker Street and how the tube stop there has the tiles in the shape of good old Holmes himself, but there are so many more nods towards fiction than I first realised. The Sherlock Holmes get up on Baker Street is definitely an interesting one, but so is Platform 9 ¾ here at King’s Cross Station (which I’m sure everyone has also heard of). But, what about some of these other fantastic literary acknowledgements? Let’s see how many you have heard of before:

• Sherlock Hotel, tube stop, and Holmes statue at Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes)
• Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station (Harry Potter)
• Wardrobe to Narnia statue at Belfast (The Chronicles of Narnia)
• Peter Pan statue at Kensington Park (Peter Pan)
• Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, King Lear, etc. statues at Stratford (Shakespeare’s works)
• Oliver’s Wharf near Greenwich (Oliver Twist— on location where Fagan and his gang lived)
• The Tardis at Liverpool Street Station (Dr. Who)
• And many, many more!

If you ever get the chance to travel to jolly old England, looking for some of these fictional characters is quite an adventure. My personal favourite was on Fleet Street, looking for the number of the building that Sweeney Todd (String of Pearls or the play adaptation Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) had his barber shop. Sure enough, to the right of the building, there was a barber shop… and the building to the left? It was a meat pie shop. Certainly, literature has touched England in many ways!

But, that’s not all. Like billboards that we have around for upcoming movies or just ads altogether for car insurance, etc., London has them for novels! Right outside my flat window is a giant billboard promoting the new novel Thirty One. Even all around the city, when tours are given, it’s the authors and poets and playwrights that are the ones that seem to get the most praise and attention. England truly is a country of fictional influence and literature. They’re very proud of their writers, and it certainly is an uplifting experience as a writer myself to see such interest in the world of literature. Even the university that I’m studying at has a major in Novel Writing. We only go as far as “Creative Writing”. And our MFA in Creative Writing? Turns out City University has a P.HD in Novel Writing. Perhaps I should start rethinking my choices for grad. school. 

And, just to stay in tune with the literary world outside of the statues and past, I picked up the Literary Review magazine put out by Oxford University Press at a local Waterstone’s (England’s version of Barnes and Noble). It’s full of excerpts from longer works, tips for writers, and reviews of authors/books. There are ads for writers, as well, such as for the Royal Literary Fund which provides financial assistance to writers who are struggling with money. Come on, America! Can’t you lend your authors a helping hand? (Just again showing how dearly respected writers are here in England). And, of course, there are some fun facts about writers in history sprinkled throughout. I think my favourite was about writers during the Victorian era in England. Back then, a writer’s journal was considered part of his attire, and therefore he had to carry with him a journal matching the colour of his waistcoat. How interesting is that?

So, overall, as I mentioned before, England is most definitely a country full of literature lovers and people who are devoted to their authors, both historic and contemporary. They take pride in the literary merits that they have carried for hundreds of years and continue to embrace it in their up and coming writers. Who knows? Maybe if we’re all lucky, one day, one of our works will have a statue built, honouring our literary success. If not, I suppose we can ask America for just a plaque.

Written by Erin Sinnott