Common Interests: Lucy Mercer

Wasafiri's series, Common Interests, brings together the workers building the literary ecosystem, from independent publishers and radical booksellers, to festival directors, critics, and authors. Hosted by Yara Rodrigues Fowler and produced by Wasafiri, Common Interests asks what a book world organised around writers and readers, rather than capital, profits, bestseller lists, and algorithms, could look like. In this conversation, Yara speaks with writer and academic, Lucy Mercer. 00:00 Fossil Free Books and the Baillie Gifford Campaign 03:00 Writers as Workers and Collective Action 06:10 Media Backlash and the Politics of Protest 12:00 Corporate Sponsorship and Literary Festivals 15:30 Can Literary Festivals Survive Without Corporate Funding? 19:30 Open Letters, Labour Withdrawal and Collective Power 24:00 Reforming the Society of Authors 28:15 Building Lasting Trade Union Power 32:15 How Can Writers Get Involved in Organising? 34:40 The Decline of Literary Criticism 38:40 How Do Writers Make a Living? 42:12 Reimagining the UK Publishing Industry 44:23 Trade Unions, Book Advances and Literary Culture