Canelo / Arts Council England

4. Other research
We reviewed a large portion of the scholarly research into publishing. 
This is now becoming a well-developed field with a solid body of 
writing from researchers including John Thompson, Claire Squires, 
Angus Phillips and James F. English. In addition we reviewed the 
trade press in detail (primarily 
The Bookseller,
but also 
BookBrunch, 
Publishers Weekly 
and 
Publishing Perspectives
), and the media more 
widely for discussion of literary fiction. At Canelo we have, collectively, 
45 years’ experience within the publishing industry across a range of 
literary publishers (corporate, independent and startup) and literary 
agents. This experience has been invaluable in pursuing the research. 

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Canelo / Arts Council England | 
9
 
Literature in the 21st Century: Understanding Models of Support for Literary Fiction
Arts Council England 
Funding for Literature
In the current funding period, from 2015 to 2018, Arts Council 
England will invest £45.6m of its total budget in literature. There are 
three main mechanisms for doing this: funding as part of the NPO 
(National Portfolio Organisations), whereby funding is committed over 
the whole period; Grants for the Arts, which tends to work on the 
basis of funding for specific projects; and strategic and discretionary 
funding beyond those programmes. The breakdown of funding 
over the period sees £20.2m go through the National Portfolio, 
£8.3m through the Grants for the Arts and £17.1m of strategic and 
discretionary funding. 
Within this funding envelope there is a great deal of diversity. At the 
smaller end writers are funded for projects they are pursuing. At the 
larger end there is, for example, an annual £5.4m grant to BookTrust 
for its Bookgifting programmes. In between lie a huge number of 
organisations and projects. These including writing development 
agencies such as New Writing North, Writing West Midlands, Spread 
the Word and Writers’ Centre Norwich, and organisations such as The 
Literary Consultancy, which helps develops writers’ work. 
Independent publishers are also supported by ACE. Examples include 
prize-winning poetry presses such as Carcanet, Bloodaxe and Peepal 
Tree Press, short story press Comma, and And Other Stories, whose 
primary focus is on literature in translation. There is also considerable 
support for organisations which support and promote reading, such 
as the above mentioned BookTrust, and The Reading Agency. In 
addition, ACE has launched a major programme to facilitate creative 
writing in schools. 

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