National Centre for Writing and Norfolk library service get arts funds

The National Centre for Writing has been given £131,545 to improve access both in its building and online.

Based in Dragon Hall in Norwich, it was opened in 2018 by the group behind the city's successful bid to become a Unesco city of literature in 2012.

The money was from a £22.7m investment programme by Arts Council England to help venues after the pandemic.

Chief executive of the centre, Chris Gribble, said the funding was a "signal of confidence in our plans".

The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood and Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee are both patrons of the centre.

The centre has been described as a place where writers can meet to share ideas and has a writers-in-residence cottage as well as an education room.

This year, the centre is running events to mark Norwich's 10th anniversary as England's first Unesco city of literature.

The funding will be used to improve accessibility for wheelchair and pushchair users.

A community space in one of the King St-facing rooms of Dragon Hall will also be created.

The centre said it would use part of the money to upgrade its digital capacities so they could reach people more easily online.

Mr Gribble said the money was "a real commitment to the future of the National Writing Centre and Dragon Hall as a resource for those who love writing in all its forms".

Norfolk's public library service has also been awarded £159,410 from the same Arts Council programme.

It will be used by the county council to fund an electric vehicle to deliver resources to schools, hospitals, and care settings.

This will be an expansion of its existing mobile service in an electric vehicle which brings books, support an events to rural and deprived areas.

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