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Consideration of the connections between diasporic literature and the migrant experience have been largely confined to professional critics and have focused on metropolitan centres. This project took this literature, and these debates, outside the academy, and away from London. Working with lay readers from across the UK, and over four continents, the project fostered a `devolved' debate on diaspora literature, moving it well beyond the conventional centres of migrant writing and reading. Involving school-children and adults, public libraries and book groups, migrant and `local' readers, literary festivals and agencies such as the British Council, the project staged an encounter between migrant literary production and the public sphere on an unprecedented scale.
The research had several specific impacts:
(i) It enriched and expanded the cultural lives, imaginations and sensibilities of the 250 individuals, gathered in reading groups across four continents.
(ii)It expanded public discourse on migration and identity, encouraging a wide range of people outside academia to engage with questions of multiculturalism and diasporic identity. In particular it reached young people and schools, running a poetry competition for children, establishing a youth theatre company, and developing resources for schools.
(iii) It produced print and online outputs to transmit, expand and entrench public discussion of migration and identity, including a database and a major anthology of diasporic poetry.
(iv) It helped to establish best practice for mass reading events and literary festivals, particularly those concerned with reflecting the multiculturalism of modern British literature.
Durrant's research on the therapeutic potential of literature as a way of working through trauma led to the creation of a unique model of bibliotherapy. The application of this model within three Leeds and Bradford organisations had significant impact on the mental well-being of asylum seekers and refugees and increased the capacity for organisations to provide effective and sustainable therapeutic services. The success of these initiatives led to further public and third-sector collaborations and the model being adopted by a range of health, education, public and charitable organisations both nationally and internationally.
The Beyond the Book project has had impact upon the personal and professional development of practitioners, especially public librarians, but also book event organizers, and publishing professionals. The project has achieved this impact by identifying the pleasures that readers derive from shared reading, the limitations of large-scale reading events for producing social change, and by situating the organization of such events within an international context. The project has also had an impact on graduate students in several nation-states through the generation of new methods for studying contemporary readers and reading practices.
Research on the history of literary readership from the late 19th century to the present has proposed that all reading is necessarily `critical', and promoted the value of serious reflection on contemporary writing of many forms, from genre fiction to poetry, and on the historical formation of literary taste. Through work with the Durham Book Festival, school teachers and an exhibition gallery, the research has helped to inform and to engage their audiences, to bring reading communities together, and to encourage wider critical interpretation. It has influenced the strategic development of the Durham Book Festival, contributing to a marked increase in attendance.
The impacts of Professor Eaglestone's research fall into two main areas:
This ICS exemplifies wide-reaching impact emanating from Morrison's creative outputs and his subsequent exploration of public reactions to it. Thus he has used different genres of writing to articulate the complexity of human relationships and emotions — for example via two critically acclaimed memoirs, an account of the Bulger trial, and, since being at Goldsmiths, a novel, South of the River (2007). Numerous readers described these books as resonating with them, highlighting the potential therapeutic benefits of reading serious literature (`bibliotherapy'). Morrison explored this idea systematically in a detailed review published as an essay in The Guardian (2008). The ensuing surge of public interest in bibliotherapy manifested in a transformative expansion of The Reader Organisation [TRO], which promotes and supports the establishment of community-based reading groups. In the UK these multiplied more than 5-fold over the following 3 years, and there was similar interest in Australia, the US, Denmark and Germany. Morrison subsequently became chair of TRO's Board of Trustees, and has promoted its activities to the public and policymakers internationally through public presentations, the media, and participation in policy fora.
Creative Writing research projects funded by the British Council have created a transformative educational environment for African writers, developing life-changing training programmes. Designed and delivered by the Department of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and led by Dr (now Professor) Graham Mort, these projects pioneered eMentoring and new online teaching pedagogies, engaging directly with over 300 African writers across 9 African countries, whilst creating outreach activity through a literary festival that engaged writers from 18 African countries and the UK.
Three phases of cumulative practice-led research have helped to nurture a new generation of African writers with each project leading into the next:
As long-running debates on what it means to be British, English, Scottish or Cornish grow more urgent, researchers at the University of Exeter have engaged different publics in new perspectives on identity and citizenship, encouraging them to reconsider their own identities in the context of regional and national cultural heritage. This research has influenced media narratives, public policy debate, and a diverse range of discussions relating to regional or national identity. Its main impacts have been to:
This case study details Professor Nicola Humble's pioneering research and its impact on popular engagement with cultural heritage. Humble's research has increased awareness of the study of cook books as literary texts, of the middlebrow fiction of the first half of the twentieth century and the cultural politics that surrounded it. Through a sustained programme of public engagement including popular publishing, journalism, public speaking, radio and television broadcasting, her work has presented new forms of cultural heritage inspiring new forms of literary engagement amongst wide public audiences. The significance of this impact is demonstrated by the long legacy of her work and the increased public awareness of the approaches she pioneered; its reach by the frequent references to her work in a variety of forums on topics as diverse as baking, reading, crafts, eating, book collecting, feminism and parenting.
This case study shows how the research of Brian Cummings, his edition of The Book of Common Prayer and subsequent co-curated exhibition at Lambeth Palace, `Monarchy and The Book of Common Prayer', have enriched cultural life and public discourse through increasing public appreciation of The Book of Common Prayer. The work has informed the understanding of the history and nature of Christian worship for two overlapping groups of the public: members of Christian churches; and those interested in religious history and culture. The work has also had an impact on general public understanding of the history and development of the English language.