Susan Tranter - Lately...

Busy hands are happy hands, according to my mother. This is where you can find out what I’ve been up to lately.

Philosophy in the City

I’ve just created a website for Philosophy in the City a new project from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. They wanted a place to collect all their outreach work, including details of the first Philosophy in the City festival (taking place across Liverpool this October) and their work with schools, non-academic philosophy groups, the media, and more. If you like listening to thought-provoking ideas, or taking part in a good discussion, sign up to the mailing list or follow them on Twitter.

Culture and creativity in Liverpool

A while back I was asked to put together some web pages for a new University of Liverpool research group, and I’m happy to say the pages are now live. The Culture and Creativity Research Network is an interdisciplinary alliance of academics working in cultural fields, and also linking with cultural partners across the city. Take a look at the site to find out more. (Warning: large amounts of purple present.)

Good old-fashioned editing

Copywriting and editing have always been the core of my work, though lately much of it’s been done on the web, which quickly leads to the realms of content management and information architecture and all sorts of other stuff. So it was nice recently to get a commission to edit a report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (or Defra to you and I). Though it needed a quick turnaround (which became even quicker when one of the original authors was marooned by the ash cloud), I was able to deliver all the edits, and an executive summary, just in time for the project manager to leave for her long weekend and breathe a big sigh of relief.

Creating an Impact

It’s been a busy time for the research team at Impacts 08. Over the last five years they’ve been examining the consequences of Liverpool hosting the European Capital of Culture title in 2008. With the team’s final report published and launched at a major international conference in the city earlier this month, there was a lot of media interest in the findings. I’ve been busy making sure the website helps people find exactly what it is they’re looking for, that our contacts are kept bang up to date with developments and media coverage, and that our blog and Twitter feed is lively and interesting.

New year, new look

It’s been a couple of years since I helped launch Literature Professional, the quarterly newsletter of the National Association for Literature Development. Over the last few weeks we’ve been taking stock, talking to people about what they’d like to see us do differently, and trying out some new ideas. So the new style Literature Professional will launch next month with a new look, some new features, and more people-focussed stories.

Festival fun 2009

Making a nice change from pensions (see below) I’ve been shaking off my usual autumnal hermit habits and going instead to lots of readings and workshops at this year’s excellent Manchester Literature Festival. I was asked to provide some feedback and thoughts on the marketing and staging of a random selection of events, and I’ve really enjoyed it. A great variety of good writers, a friendly atmosphere, and a chance to catch up with some old friends from the literature world. Now I just have to write my report...

Pretty persuasion, or just good communication?

How do you get people interested in stuff that’s, well, pretty boring? This is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about lately. I’ve been editing a report for the Department for Work and Pensions which looks at ways of improving existing attempts to get the message across about planning for later life. Let’s face it, pensions just aren’t sexy, and so they pose quite a communications problem. Back in September I took part in an interesting workshop which brought together a group of communications specialists from lots of different fields (graphic design, financial journalism, teaching, illustration, copywriting, etc). Together we brainstormed ways of helping readers through the pensions maze. I learnt a lot about pensions along the way, but more interestingly, I discovered how great it is to work with an illustrator who can realise concepts in seconds!

Helpful guidance

I’ve just finished working on an internal guidance document for the Department for Transport. The document came to me in fairly good shape, with very few typos, but just needed an edit for tone of voice. Sometimes the brief you get for this kind of work can be anything from vague (‘make it funky’) to downright unhelpful (‘just, you know, sprinkle some sugar on it’), but the agency I dealt with were very on-the-ball and gave me plenty to go on. They were nice people to work with too, which always helps.

Making an Impact

The Impacts 08 research team at the University of Liverpool are looking at the long term effects of the city hosting last year’s Capital of Culture title. I’ve started carrying out some communications work for the programme, looking after the Impacts 08 university web pages, and updating its blog. As more and more research findings are published, I’ll be helping out with the press and media side too.

A novel website

I’ve just set up a website for John Murray, a novelist whose work has won plaudits and been longlisted for the Booker Prize. The site introduces John, his publishing history, and also his work as a fiction tutor - both in group settings and as a one-to-one fiction consultant. Ever wondered if you could turn that novel idea into a bestseller? Got something languishing in the bottom drawer? John could be just the man to help you get it into shape.

Spring has sprung

March has been a busy month. The end of the financial year doesn’t generally affect me much, but it sometimes has an indirect impact when clients need to get work signed off by the end of March. So (apart from working on the arts and social media workshop mentioned below, which went very well), I’ve just been flat out working on a project with the good people at Mapalim for Kirklees Council in Yorkshire. We were up against it, but in the end research was conducted, questionnaires were analysed, reports were written and everything delivered on time.

Mixing arts and social media

This year I’m helping the University of Liverpool’s Impacts 08 research team to organise an interesting series of one day workshops. The first one, taking place at FACT in Liverpool on 16th March, explores ways in which developments in social media can help develop audiences for the arts. In other words, is all that Facebook and Twitter stuff actually useful when it comes to getting people to engage with culture?

Observations on culture...

The Northwest Culture Observatory is a regional organisation with its finger on the pulse of research and intelligence for the cultural sector. I’ve just started doing some work for them as Online Manager. I’ll be content-managing the website, sending out e-bulletins, helping users with registering and uploading information, and helping to spread the word.

Even more news on EnCompass

I’ve just been down to London to meet with a few clients and talk about current and forthcoming projects. First on my list was the British Council, where we’re continuing to develop the fabulous EnCompassCulture website. There’s now a new and improved news section, so it really is the place to visit if you want to keep up to date with the UK literary and publishing scene. More improvements to the site will be gradually coming online over the next month or so too, so keep an eye out.

Crossing borders

I’ve often thought it would be great to be a literary translator, introducing brilliant works of fiction to the English-reading world. The trouble is, my grasp of any language other than English is pretty minimal. The closest I’m likely to get is the kind of work I’ve done lately on a couple of projects for people for whom English isn’t their first language. The trade-off has been that in both cases it’s also involved me dealing with subject matter that’s far from my comfort zone. I’ve edited an English translation of part of the Dutch Pay For People website, thereby learning about the wonderful world of payrolling. And I’ve also edited a thesis written by a Belarussian computer scientist, in English, to be submitted to a German university. Phew. My admiration for those writing in their second, and even third languages, knows no bounds.

More writers profiled

A laid-back literary interview

I recently had the opportunity to interview one of my favourite writers, the Australian novelist Tim Winton. Tim was in the UK on a whistlestop publicity tour for his latest book Breath (a great read, believe me), and I grabbed a few minutes with him to ask some questions on behalf of readers using the EnCompassCulture website. It’s always a bit weird when you finally get to meet or chat to one of your heroes, but Tim couldn’t have been more down to earth and, well, Australian. Read the interview.

National Year of Reading

I’ve just been down to Nottingham as a guest of the Nottinghamshire Youth Libraries Group. Gearing themselves up for the National Year of Reading which is now upon us, they invited me to speak about the British Council’s EnCompassCulture website (where I’m Reader in Residence), as part of a session on new technology and reading / writing. I gave them a guided tour of the site, introduced its main features, enthused about the wonderful on-line literary chats we host with readers around the world, and got lots of ideas from the librarians too.

Writers in profile

My latest contributions to the British Council’s very useful Contemporary Writers website are critical perspectives on M.J. Hyland and Gwendoline Riley. I’ve really enjoyed working my way through their books and hopefully my pieces will encourage new readers to give them a try too.

Happy New Year

Best wishes for a happy and successful 2008 to you all. A big thank you to everyone I’ve worked with over the last twelve months, especially those new clients who’ve sent projects my way. You’re very nice people.

Festival fun

The great thing about being freelance is that it’s flexible. You can work when and where you like, and you sometimes have whole days at a time when you can go somewhere else and do something completely different. That’s exactly what happened last week when I was asked to step in rather at the last minute and look after the running of Litfest, Lancaster’s excellent annual literature festival. Andy Darby, the Artistic Director there, was unfortunately not able to be around much due to family illness, so I headed north for five days of meeting and greeting guests, running through sound and lighting checks, introducing performers, eating pizza late into the night with writers (someone has to do it), and generally being around and welcoming to people. I haven’t done that kind of thing for some time, but I really enjoyed it. And there were some great readings too. Mind you, I do rather feel as though I’ve done a whole year’s socialising in one week, but perhaps that’s no bad thing. Now I can return to my hermit-like home-working existence with a clear conscience...

Paris, Milan, New York, and, er, Altrincham

I’ll be honest: I’m certainly no fashionista, and no doubt I’ve committed my fair share of crimes against style and good taste in my time. Thankfully though I didn’t need to impress anyone with my sartorial elegance when it came to working on a fascinating fashion project recently (thank heavens for the internet and remote working!). I’ve just finished writing some copy for a brand new website for the relaunching Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Originally the brainchild of designer Zandra Rhodes, the museum is being redeveloped by Newham College and as well as the usual exhibitions, cafe, shop, and so on, will now house a fashion, textiles and jewellery academy.

The next train to Ketchworth

Many thanks to Litfest, Lancaster’s literature development people and organisers of the excellent annual festival, for inviting me to facilitate their board’s recent away day. It was a rare opportunity for the board members to get together and think about exactly where the organisation’s going. The session was held at Carnforth Railway Station, now famous the world over as the setting for David Lean’s film Brief Encounter. Tempted as we all were to make references to the film all day, we just about managed to keep our minds on business. And nobody got any grit in their eye.

An organisation with personality

Most of the last week’s been taken up with writing a new company brochure for the good folks at Mapalim. In less than ten years they’ve grown from running a holiday playscheme for kids in Barnet to offering an impressive portfolio of services across the early years, play, youth work and cultural sectors. Last year I was part of a team of Mapalim writers who created a social inclusion pack for Essex County Council, so I was delighted to be asked back for this job. As always with corporate literature, the trick is to capture and communicate the particular flavour of the organisation’s personality, and I hope I’ve managed to do it for these guys, because they’ve got bags of it. Have a look.

A short story meze

At the weekend I was invited to take part in an editorial meeting with independent publisher Route. Six of us met up in Manchester to debate and discuss a shortlist of short stories submitted for the next Route anthology (following the successful Ideas Above Our Station). Normally I’m unenthusiastic about weekend working, but this is one exception I’m more than happy to make, because you couldn’t wish for a more congenial kind of work. The meeting took place in a Greek / tapas restaurant, and halfway through the stories we broke for a meze feast. By the time we’d finished the meeting, we’d chosen our favourite stories, discussed titles and themes, and had our fill of good food and conversation. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Please hold the line

I’ve started some work for a new client this week. Manchester-based Please Hold provide bespoke on-hold marketing for all sorts of businesses, from high-end hotel chains and multinational technology firms, to local garages and other small businesses. And what is ‘on-hold marketing’ exactly? Well, simply put, it’s the chat that comes over the line when you call up a company and get put on hold. So instead of getting sanity-destroying elevator muzak, or, as I once had, Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’ played ad infinitum down your ear, you get to find out a bit about the company instead. So just think, next time you’re cursing because you’ve been put on hold by someone, you might just end up listening to one of my scripts.

I’ve moved

I’ve spent the last few weeks up to my eyes dealing with the joys of painting, unpacking, looking for radiator keys and cleaning. Yes, I’ve moved house. I’m now based just south of Manchester, in considerably quieter Hale. I’m pleased to report that I can actually see greenery from the window as I type this and I have a dedicated room to work in for the first time! However, just so that you know, I can be in central Manchester in half an hour, and Manchester airport and the M6 within fifteen minutes. Just in case you thought I was moving to an inaccessible backwater... For details of how to reach me now, go to the Contacts page.

Nigeria calling

One of the most fun things about my role as Reader in Residence for the British Council’s international reading website EnCompassCulture is hosting live chats through the site. It always amazes me how complete strangers, living in totally contrasting cultures and circumstances, can come together for an informed and open conversation about books they’ve all read — and how different readers can bring completely different insights. A few days ago I opened the proceedings as readers in London, Glasgow and Kano in Nigeria met over the ether to discuss Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece, Things Fall Apart. There were comments about the ‘deceptively understated’ writing style, the connections with young Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and thoughts on whether murderers are treated as outcasts. And, as happens so often with these chats, a camaraderie built up, along with a real interest in each other’s worlds. If you ask me, that’s putting modern technology to genuine use. You can read the transcript of the chat session here.

Fairies, football and foreign lands

I’m working on profiles of three writers at the moment for the British Council’s interesting and useful website contemporarywriters.com. It’s nice work because it means you have to work your way chronologically through a writer’s whole back catalogue to get a sense of the themes and directions in their writing, which is something I don’t often do as a reader. So far I’ve written pieces on Jon McGregor, Maggie O’Farrell, Kirsty Gunn, James Meek, Clare Morrall, Damon Galgut and Louise Welsh. My next batch will be Susanna Clarke, Mal Peet and Rajeev Balasubramanyam. Which has meant I’ve spent the last few weeks reading about magic, fairies, football, South America, the Second World War and small-town South India. Can’t complain then.

The launch of a media empire

Well alright, not quite. But recently I’ve been working on the first issue of a new publication for the literature development industry. Literature Professional, published by the National Association for Literature Development (NALD), is a quarterly PDF newsletter full of news and information. I’ve been busy over the last few weeks designing, writing and editing it, so fingers crossed for some positive feedback…

Children’s books rule

Not all literary awards last the distance. But the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals, awarded annually to recognise the best in children’s writing and illustration, have been around for seventy years now. To mark this anniversary, the Chartered Instutute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP) has commissioned some interesting and accessible reading resources to encourage readers to rediscover some of the past winners. I’ve written one on the ‘Home and Abroad’ theme, an exploration of ways in which some of these children’s books describe Britain and other countries, and the perspectives they offer on the familiar and the foreign.

Please welcome on stage…

Last night I hosted an ‘in conversation’ evening with writers Val McDermid and Patricia Duncker as part of this year’s Queer Up North festival. I’ve helped programme some of the literary events this year, so it was nice to be asked to introduce this one. Both writers regaled the audience with amusing anecdotes and thought–provoking insights, as well as reading from their work. Bizarrely though, an unforeseen double-booking at Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club in Manchester meant that half the crowd were there for a comedy set from students at Salford University — which, in the end, followed the reading. Made for an interesting cross artform event, actually.

susantranter.co.uk Home. What I do. Clients. Lately… Links. Contact.