Re-placing Malcolm Lowry: From the Mersey to the world (and back again)

This article focuses on a group project that the author has been involved with since its inception in 2009, centring on the Merseyside-born writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957). The article outlines the background to the project, how it developed, what it has involved and the ways in which it sits within the context of an arts centre and a university. It focuses on the importance of place, both in relation to the project’s aims and in relation to Lowry’s own writing. The overall aim of the project can be stated in terms of ‘re-placing’ Lowry: raising his profile on Merseyside (and more widely) as a writer for whom Merseyside remained a significant imaginative resource, making his life and works accessible to new audiences/readerships through a wide range of activities, and establishing Merseyside as a centre for an ongoing programme of work, ideas and events related to Lowry.