Treasures from UEA's Lee Child archive displayed in new exhibition
By: Communications
Treasures from the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA) will be on display as part of the Lee Child: Creating Reacher exhibition, which opened in Birmingham’s New Street Station on 4 November.
UEA Archives worked closely with curator Ruth Millington and Central BID Birmingham to create a unique, behind-the-scenes journey into the Birmingham-raised writer’s life and career.
Helen Busby, UEA Archives Manager, said: “We were so excited to select, digitise and supply material from Lee Child’s extraordinary archive for the Central Bid exhibition in Birmingham New Street Station.
Visitors to Lee Child: Creating Reacher will see how on-the-go inspiration, meticulous note-taking and rigorous redrafting have been at the heart of Child’s success as a novelist.
Lee Child deposited his archive with UEA in 2018 and returned to the university campus this autumn to speak at the Noirwich crime writing festival.
Helen said: “Normally the Lee Child Archive is only available for research and teaching in our reading room at UEA Library, so being able to throw the doors open wide and share these treasures with everyone is an absolute joy. We particularly enjoyed the chance to exhibit handwritten drafts of his first novel Killing Floor, his witty Reacher one liners scrawled on the back of napkins, and his notebooks filled with stories.
“The British Archive for Contemporary Writing and UEA’s Creative Writing Crime Fiction MA both celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2025, and this was a great chance to show the world why we are such a unique place to learn about the thrilling literary art of writers like Lee Child.”
Lee Child’s archive is available to view by appointment at the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at UEA Archives and Special Collections. Contact archives@uea.ac.uk for an appointment or more information.
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