City of Stories

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