Ecopoet joins Gladstone's Library as a Writer in Residence

Gladstone's Library, Hawarden

Gladstone's Library has welcomed a special visitor. Isabel Galleymore, ecopoet and critic, is staying with us over the next month.

She is the last Writer in Residence of 2020 - yes, you read that correctly - to come to the library.

She will be followed by Jonathan Heawood, our final Political Writer in Residence, who will stay with us later in the month.

Both authors applied to the respective schemes back in 2019, so their arrivals are long-awaited after being delayed by the pandemic. They will be presenting talks at the library - Isabel's will be tonight (November 9).

Our director, Peter Francis, who makes a point of greeting the poets, novelists and non-fiction writers who secure a residency, says that he is heartened every time he sees them.

It is, he says, a sign of a return to something like normalcy at the library.

The Political Writers in Residence and the Writers in Residence schemes are separate, but they are both designed to give published writers a chance to do what they do best: write.

Why support published writers, though, when they have already done what so many aspiring writers dream of?

Well, life has a habit of getting in the way.

Published writers are not immune from the pressures that beset everyone: constant distractions, family and work commitments, the piling-up of laundry and washing up, the need to pay the bills.

There is a widespread perception that writers are rich, despite there being plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Perhaps this stems from the fact that, historically, the rich had the time and space to write.

Inevitably, this meant that only certain kinds of stories, poems and books saw the light of day.

The field has opened up considerably, but the average income of a professional, published writer is, according to a University of Glasgow study, about £10,000 a year.

It's our privilege to offer writers the chance to write without worrying about making the bed or cook dinner, but the writers themselves are not necessarily privileged.

A month at Gladstone's Library might be enough to allow them to bring a new book into the world.

If you want to find out more about the Writers in Residence programme, you can join us for the 2022 launch. It's free, online and takes place at 6pm on December 6.

You will (virtually) meet the next group of writers to come to Gladstone's and they will share readings from their works.

To find out more, visit https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/events/events-courses-list and scroll down to the Writers in Residence evening.