Stoke-on-Trent's first literary canon published thanks to Keele lecturer’s research
The first ever record highlighting Stoke-on-Trent's literary and publishing legacy has been produced following a project led by a Keele University lecturer.
To mark the city of Stoke-on-Trent's centenary year in 2025, Dr Lisa Blower led a project to produce the city’s first definitive literary canon, working with colleagues at Stoke Archives to compile a list of 100 publications from each of the city’s first 100 years.
With help from the public, Dr Blower and her team have now compiled the list, which features a range of works from Potteries-born authors published over the last 100 years, from poetry and novels, to memoirs, history, science, philosophy and non-fiction works.
There were some gaps in the canon where works could not yet be found, which the team attributes to the impact of the Second World War and its aftermath, but many of the titles included on the list feature works passed down through family generations, as well as many local literary texts which are held in the collection at Stoke Archives.
The project has also showcased how the region’s industrial heritage played a key role in the stories that were born there, with many local authors basing their stories in the city.
And the team said there was a clear appetite among the authors to preserve the city of Stoke-on-Trent's industrial heritage, highlighted by a large number of memoirs and historical works published, and the many novels which use the city as a subject or a backdrop.
Burslem had the highest percentage of published authors, followed closely by Newcastle-under-Lyme, and although there were far more male authors than female (95 male compared to 40 female), the canon is bookended with publications from female authors.
The list begins with Ida Mary Downing in 1925, with her poetry collection 'Words, Pictures and Other Poems' (published by Munns & Allen), while the novel ‘Heartache for the Tram Girls’ written by Lynn Johnson features 100 years later in 2025.
The research found that many of the works were also published locally by JH Brookes; Webberleys; Cassell & Co, and Etruscan publications, but many of the works were self-published, particularly memoirs. There were also many prominent London-based publishers interested in work from the Potteries like Metheun; Hodder & Stoughton; Heinnman; and Faber & Faber.
Work is now underway with the team at Stoke Archives for the 100Bookshelf and to create a “book nook” where the titles featuring in the list are all displayed and made available for the public to browse, with the full collection expected to be made available in the summer.
Dr Blower said: “It has been the most amazing year discovering the amount of literature this city has produced over the past century. The volume of emails received made us realise how important the making of texts has been, with many forgotten works brought back into attention.
“We have tried to reflect this rich literary history in the final list acknowledging the breadth of storytelling, genres, and just how important this city has been to the craft itself. To have a physical library of these books in the Archive will hopefully inspire future generations to tell their own stories and come to belong to our Potteries Writerly Tree.”
The 100 Books for 100 Years project also included holding writing workshops with local schools to inspire young people across the region to get writing. 100 word stories penned by 100 new voices have contributed to a new anthology ‘The Places that Make Us’ to kick off the next 100 years of Stoke’s literary heritage, which was launched at a Results Show held at Keele on March 25th 2026 and presented to all contributors by Cllr Lyn Sharpe.
