Best-selling novelist backs city bid for first UK culture title

Ms Lewycka, author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, has lived in Sheffield for the past 25 years and is currently working as a lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University. She is originally from the Ukraine but moved to England after the Second World War.

She said: "Sheffield is such a nurturing and stimulating environment for me as a writer. I have written all my novels here, and more or less taken the city for granted.

"Sheffield is a place that has a strong sense of itself and a traditional culture of education, pulling itself up by the bootstraps, moral integrity, and just a touch of bloody-mindedness.

"Sheffielders have a wonderful curiosity and openness to other people and other cultures. It's a city of great ethnic diversity, which doesn't sit on its bum and pat itself on the back, but gets on cheerfully with the daily business of accommodating incomers, nosing out their business and generally making them welcome."

She added: "I had a go at writing novels, the Arctic Monkeys had a go at forming a band, but we are just part of a huge vibrant culture of painters, writers, journalists, musicians, actors, filmmakers, designers, dressmakers, cooks, potters, ceramicists, gardeners, photographers and jewellers who meet in front rooms or church halls or libraries or garages or adult education classes to play with words, sounds, colours, ideas and generally have a go."

Earlier this month, Sheffield presented its bid to be the UK City of Culture 2013 to an independent decision panel chaired by Phil Redmond, the man behind TV's Brookside and Grange Hill and Liverpool's European Capital of Culture bid.

The panel will make its recommendations to the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport Jeremy Hunt ahead of a final decision in July.

Sheffield Council leader Paul Scriven said: "As all of us who live, work or visit the city know, Sheffield is an authentic cultural gem.

"We hope that winning UK City of Culture 2013 will help us show the rest of the world everything that the city has to offer."

Other shortlisted cities are Birmingham, Derry and Norwich.