The statue, celebrating Stoke-on-Trent's most famous literary son, was unveiled on what would have been his 150th birthday. The author Arnold Bennett was born in Hanley, now part of Stoke-on-Trent, in 1867. His reputation as one of England's greatest realist writers was firmly established by his death in 1931 – but it is especially for his depictions of the Potteries that he is best known. Books include ‘Anna of The Five Towns’ and ‘Clayhanger’. The statue shows Bennett at the age he would have been in 1910 when he was at the height of his career. The year 1910 is also the year in which the six towns of the district federated into the one area of Stoke-on-Trent. Though there are plaques in Stoke-on-Trent remembering the writer, this is the first statue tribute to him in the city.