100 Books in 100 Years: New project announced to celebrate and preserve Stoke-on-Trent's literary heritage
A local author and lecturer at Keele University is celebrating Stoke-on-Trent’s creative heritage by creating a definitive collection of the city’s literary legacy.
As part of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s centenary celebrations, lecturer in Creative Writing Dr Lisa Blower is working with partners to establish a “literary canon” for the city, compiling a list of 100 Books in 100 Years which showcase the city’s history, and is calling for help from the public in finalising the list.
Similar lists already exist for cities like Liverpool and Manchester, and the team including Stoke Libraries, Stoke Archives, Stoke Creates, The New Vic, Drop City Books and the city council’s Centenary team now aim to create the first such catalogue of local authorship for Stoke-on-Trent.
They are seeking 100 separate works from Potteries-born authors (those born in postcodes ST1-ST12) who published novels, short fiction, poetry, memoir, plays, or history books between 1925-2025.
By December 2025, the team hopes to have a century’s worth of literary heritage to present to the city which will then be transferred to a public database as a tribute to the city’s literary legacy.
Lisa (pictured) said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to mark my home city's centenary with this project that hopes to encourage new writing from the area to continue the canon into the next century. Stoke-on-Trent has always been creatively rich, but this project will shine a spotlight on its literature and bring it to wider attention with new names and recovered works that we hope will inspire future generations to start writing."
Not only will the project team look to preserve this legacy by compiling the list, but they are also working with local schools and outreach groups to encourage the next generation of young writers to take up the mantle and continue that tradition.
‘The Places that Make Us’, in partnership with Higher Horizons and The Literacy Trust, will see local children's authors Alex Foulkes, Stephanie Carty and Louise Cliffe-Minns leading workshops with the city’s secondary schools, creating an anthology of 100 x 100 word stories by young writers, with the goal of being the first local publication in 2026 to inspire the next 100 years of local authorship.
Ant Sutcliffe, Associate Director of Higher Horizons said: " We are thrilled to be collaborating on this fantastic project. Through years of working with young people across the city, we know that we have the most passionate and creative in the country. I can think of no better way to celebrate 100 years of our great city by unleashing some of that passion and creativity by our young people writing their 100-word stories, telling people what our six towns are really all about."
The year of celebrations will also include micro-residencies in the summer with six Potteries-born authors offering free workshops, careers talks and readings, and the 100 Book Club and 6 Book Reading Challenge launching in January 2026 once the canon is in place.
To get involved with the project, contact Lisa at 100potteriesbooks@gmail.com.
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