Lucy seizes opportunities to set-up creative programmes, all which focus on the transformative power of stories. These include:
Untold Narratives, Founder & Director
Untold Narratives is a development programme for writers marginalised by community or conflict. Local writers, who are currently unable to tell their stories beyond their immediate communities, have the opportunity to develop their writing; share their stories with wider communities in their own languages; and reach new global audiences in translation.
The launch project of Untold – Write Afghanistan – established a replicable model that can be applied to other regions. This initial group of twenty writers has been working with Untold since 2020 and form the core of the ‘Paranda network, our ongoing initiative for writers in Afghanistan and those in the diaspora. It has led to the publication of, My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird, New Fiction by Afghan Women. Also, Rising After the Fall and coming in 2024, A Song for Afghanistan: The Diary of a Women’s Writing Group.
In 2022, Untold used the editorial model to partner with BEE Books in Kolkata for the ongoing Write Assamese project, which resulted in the anthology A Fistful of Moonlight: New Fiction from Assam.
Commonwealth Writers, Founder and Programme Director
Transformed the 25-year-old prize Commonwealth Writer’s Prize into a vibrant new development programme for creative writers. The programme works with local and global partners to support writer’s craft development, new creative infrastructures, publications, cultural policy, and advocacy through storytelling in its broadest sense. The activities take place in 53 countries but the community is global.
Out Of the Gate, Founder and Creative Director
Out Of The Gate is the UK's first online audio soap opera created, written and produced by young ex-offenders. The scripts, lyrics and beats for the drama are created inside prison, while the production takes place on the outside. Young offenders join the production team post-release.
BBC Writers Room
Transformed the BBC’s unsolicited script unit into BBC Writers Room, a national bi-media initiative which targets and develops contemporary writers and dramatists new to the BBC. Now it is the public face of the BBC to the UK writing community – online and in the real world.