Writing East Midlands is the literature development agency for the region. We support writers at various stages in their careers, connecting them with opportunity, and helping them to help themselves. We do this by running workshops and writing courses, arranging mentoring relationships and manuscript appraisals, offering one-to-one career development sessions, organizing conferences and helping with festivals and events around the region. In partnership with a broad range of cultural organisations, we encourage new relationships between writers and communities by running residencies in all sorts of settings – schools, community groups, museums, libraries, theatres, prisons, care homes – in city, rural, and in-between, locations. We also believe, passionately, that engaging with literature, innovatively, can bring people from different backgrounds closer together. We all have an innate need to tell our stories and have them be heard. Our activities create safe spaces where professional and emerging writers work with participants to explore these stories, inspiring people to traverse memories and culture and find new ways to share their hopes, fears and aspirations. We have worked to increase access to creative activities amongst Roma communities, refugee and migrant communities, women escaping domestic abuse, offenders, and will now be working to reduce feelings of disengagement amongst Older People. And we run writers groups, dens, and projects to inspire the next generation of children and young people.