Our Archives and Collections: Literary Lives
Our collections relating to the lives and works of writers are significant, and enable us to better understand their thoughts and creative processes.
Below is an indicative list of our holdings. For a full catalogue, go to:
- The British Archive for Contemporary Writing at UEA
- Essex Literature and Arts Collection
- Kent Modern First Editions and Modern Poetry Collection
Back to our Archive and Special Collections homepage.
| Archive | Description |
| Contemporary Fiction | This diverse and exciting collection includes the archives of current and emerging writers including: Naomi Alderman; Tash Aw; Lee Child; Adam Foulds; Charlie Higson; Sara Taylor. We also hold material from writers who established themselves in the second half of the 20th Century, such as Doris Lessing and JD Salinger. |
| Crime Writing | We hold the extensive archives of a number of crime writers, including Lee Child and Malcolm Bradbury (creater of Dalziel and Pascoe) and Alan Hunter (creator of George Gently) at UEA, and Margery Allingham at Essex. Allingham was, along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, one of the most distinguished writers of detective fiction’s “Golden Age”, and wrote the Campion novels. |
| Nature Writing | Across Eastern Arc we hold a collection from some of this country’s leading nature writers, including JA Baker (at Essex), Mark Cocker; Roger Deakin and Richard Mabey (at UEA). We hold manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence and more, documenting their relationship with the natural world. |
| Literary Letters | Our holdings include the archives of AP Watt, the earliest literary agency in the world, and that of Charles Pick, the publisher at Heinmann. Across UEA, Essex and Kent we hold correspondence by writers as diverse as W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Nadine Gordimer, Graham Greene and JD Salinger |
| Literary Translation | We hold archive material from renowned literary translators including: David Bellos, Patricia Crampton and others previously connected with the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT), based at UEA, such as Anne Born, Anthony Vivis, John Fletcher and Paul Verlaine. |
| Poetry | We hold the archive of Donald Davie, books from the personal library of TS Eliot, and a significant holding of Blake facsimiles and related work at both Essex and Kent. |