Street Stories: Bringing Quarry Hill To Life

A street literature project is bringing Quarry Hill to life through the written word in a unique creative event this summer. Led by Leeds-based literary collective Found Fiction, Street Stories celebrates Quarry Hill voices past, present and future. As part of Street Stories, a team of Leeds writers will be writing micro-fiction to be displayed in public spaces, abandoned areas and prominent venues across Quarry Hill.

The stories will be published in a guerrilla fashion – taking the form of vinyl stickers, wraparound banners and chalk paint murals, among others. The stories will be inspiring, reflective and attention-grabbing for passers by. They will combine fact and fiction, revealing a hidden truth about this historic Leeds neighbourhood in language that’s family friendly and accessible to all.

Steve Clarkson, founder of Found Fiction and leader of the Street Stories project, said: “The purpose of Street Stories is to pique the interest and transcend the surroundings of passers by – ultimately, empowering and inspiring people in the community through the written word. We want to bring Quarry Hill to life. “We also want to encourage people to look closer to discover stories in everyday places – both literally and symbolically. There’s a lot of inspiration to be found in Quarry Hill, which is a fascinating part of Leeds that’s riddled with hidden history, voices and characters.” Found Fiction is one of five creatives selected for the Leeds City College Arts Fund, which is supporting the Street Stories project. Found Fiction is a collective of writers, readers and artists based in Leeds, but extending worldwide. It stages creative installations and writing workshops, but it’s probably best known for printing short stories, putting them in envelopes marked READ ME, then leaving them in public spaces to be found – having done this 6,000 times over in three languages globally.

Last year, Found Fiction writers transformed Leeds into an art gallery by bringing inspirational stories to everyday places as part of It’s Proper Art. Steve added: “I’d like to thank Leeds City College for supporting the creative community in Leeds at a time when many creative practitioners are struggling due to their events being unavoidably cancelled or postponed. We’re hugely grateful to them – and hugely excited to see how the public engages with Street Stories.”