About Untold
At a time of increased polarisation, it’s vital that we continue to hear from writers who are at risk, hampered by insecure environments, experiencing isolation, censorship and prejudice.
In many parts of the world, creative writers lack access to infrastructures necessary to develop their writing, the chance to connect with each other and with a wider literary community, and to find platforms for their work, which means their voices remain hidden.
We support and develop the fiction and non-fiction of writers who have little or no opportunity to access any creative network where they are. We connect them to each other and to literary editors and translators, and we influence global creative industries to enable these writers to earn money from commissions for their work, locally in their own languages and globally in translation.
Our values
Agency
We recognise and value the agency of the writers with whom we work. We work to empower writers who are at risk, facing threats, discrimination, and linguistic barriers, to enable them to have confidence in their work, faith in their ability to express themselves, a voice in local and international spheres, and the capacity to navigate global creative infrastructures from wherever they are.
Respect
We believe in fostering equity. We take time to build trust and respectful relationships between our communities and team, ensuring that individual’s autonomy is respected, cultural differences are valued. Our work is designed to respond to a particular need in a specific context.
Quality
We work with writers with creative ambition, and we strive to honour that ambition. We believe that strong literature can come from anywhere, and we work to ensure that structural barriers do not keep it hidden. We collaborate with international and local literary editors and translators, working rigorously and intensively to enable writers to produce the strongest stories possible and to enable them to reach wide global audiences.
Agility
We are flexible and nimble. We work in contexts in which responsiveness and adaptation are essential, and we are highly experienced in delivering creative initiatives in fast-changing, unpredictable contexts. We use low-tech solutions to build communities that give writers access to the literary infrastructures necessary to develop their writing and find new platforms for their work.
Safety
We work with many writers who are at risk. To do this safely demands intensive and constant care and attention.
Who we are
Untold is made up of a small operations team based primarily in the UK, who work closely with a wider pool of literary editors and translators in different countries. Collaboration is central to our work.
Our ambition
A world in which all people, irrespective of their situation, can write freely and share their work within and between communities, and in which the power of creative expression to effect change and promote human rights is recognised. To identify, develop and amplify the work of talented creative writers who are marginalised by their communities, by social, geographic or economic isolation, and by experiences of conflict or instability.
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