The Royal Literary Fund, the UK charity set up to provide grants and pensions to writers either in financial distress or invalid, has launched a new podcast series and blog series, Writers Aloud, to publicize its work and the contribution of writers in general to the UK. On Twitter as @rlfwriters, the RLF counted down “to the launch of our extraordinary Podcast series, Writers Aloud. You’re going to *love* it.”

The Writers Aloud project also gives the RLF the chance to fulfil its mission by paying writers to write, or at least broadcast about writing. “We give help to writers in many different situations where personal or professional setbacks have resulted in loss of income,” the RLF explains. “We also provide pensions for older writers who have seen their earnings decrease. This work helps around 200 writers every year. The RLF also runs a Fellowship scheme for writers in partnership with universities. Writers work one-to-one with students, using their expertise in language and communication to help them develop their essay writing.”

The RLF’s initiative is definitely positioned in the context of the recent Authors Licensing and Collecting Society report, which showed UK author earnings in sharp decline. First examples of the podcast are already archived online.

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