The Portsmouth Interactive Literary Map

This interactive online map is a scholarly civic engagement and KEF project that provides a gateway to Portsmouth's rich literary heritage and its equally rich contemporary literary scene.

Usable on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, this sophisticated and advanced map platform allows users to explore the Portsmouth roots and connections of historical and living authors; provides a host of information and quotations from literary works connected to specific locations in and around the city; and offers many notable quotations about the city. Key writers include Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Olivia Manning, Neville Shute, Simon Armitage, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Meades, Michelle Magorian, Maggie Sawkins, and Will Sutton.

The map reflects the research interests and expertise of UoP scholars in English Literature, History, and Creative Writing, and is also the result of extensive liaison with interested local organisations and individuals. It is for use as part of outreach activities, recruitment activities, and other events, and the resource is also being embedded within UoP open days and online provision for English Literature. The map is in a constant state of expansion and will in time move further beyond the boundaries of the city and into literary Hampshire.

1. The project underlines the city's unusually rich literary heritage and the strength of its current literary scene.
2. The project underlines the opportunities a project of this nature offers to contribute to UoP's civic engagement commitments and activities.
3. The project underlines the opportunities that canny use of Digital Humanities offers to UoP in terms of recruitment and outreach.
4. The project underlines the valuable role that Digital Humanities can play within an already vibrant subject area such as English Literature.