Featuring interviews and essays from the likes of Alan Bleasdale, Terence Davies, Linda Grant, Roger McGough, Willy Russell, Levi Tafari, and Paul Du Noyer, the book asks if there is a distinctive Liverpool literary voice, and if so, how it can be identified. It locates Liverpool as a city with a complex literary and cultural heritage, charting its ongoing connections and affiliations with Ireland, Wales, and the United States as well as the importance of its working-class culture, particularly arising from its seafaring history. The introduction considers the ways in which Liverpool, though c ... More

Featuring interviews and essays from the likes of Alan Bleasdale, Terence Davies, Linda Grant, Roger McGough, Willy Russell, Levi Tafari, and Paul Du Noyer, the book asks if there is a distinctive Liverpool literary voice, and if so, how it can be identified. It locates Liverpool as a city with a complex literary and cultural heritage, charting its ongoing connections and affiliations with Ireland, Wales, and the United States as well as the importance of its working-class culture, particularly arising from its seafaring history. The introduction considers the ways in which Liverpool, though central because of its status as second port of Empire, was, by the middle of the twentieth century, very much at the margins of British culture. The chapters explore poetry, novels, drama, TV drama, and film from writers as diverse as James Hanley, Malcolm Lowry, J. G. Farrell, Beryl Bainbridge, Brian Patten, Linda la Plante, and Ramsey Campbell, and demonstrate the remarkable strength and depth of creative talent in the city.