New
Writing North news
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Durham
Book Festival plays host to poets
 This year
the Durham Book Festival is delighted to be hosting the TS
Eliot Prize’s 20th Anniversary Tour. Poets Philip Gross, whose new
poetry collection, Later,
comes out in September, Sinead Morrissey, a Northern Irish poet and
writer in residence at Queen’s University, and Deryn Rees-Jones, whose
collection, Burying
the Wren, was shortlisted for the prize in 2012, will all
be reading at Durham Town Hall on 12 October alongside a local poet.
The tour will also stop off in Halifax on 25 September, and at the Off
the Shelf Festival in Sheffield on 15 October as well a number of other
locations across the country.
Sinead Morrissey isn’t the only Northern Irish poet at the 2013
Durham Book Festival either. The internationally acclaimed Paul
Muldoon will be donning his laurel leaves as Festival Laureate on
Tuesday 29 October in Durham Cathedral Chapter House, where he will
premiere a brand-new festival-commissioned poem as well as reading from
his award-winning body of work.
Another special festival poetry commission will be unveiled at Voyages of Discovery
at St Chad’s on Saturday 12 October when Stevie Ronnie and Linda France
will be talking about how their festival-sponsored travel, a global
tour of botanical gardens last year for Linda and a trip to the Arctic
for Stevie, inspired their poetry. (Linda will also be running a Poetica Botanica
poetry workshop on Sunday 13 October in Durham University’s Botanic
Gardens.)
There are many more events – over 60 this year, including a number
of free events – so have a look at the full programme and book tickets
at www.durhambookfestival.com. |
My
Granny is a Pirate sails the digital seas
New Writing North’s production in association with Sage Gateshead of
Val McDermid’s first foray into children’s literature, My Granny is a Pirate,
has found a pirate lair online. Go to www.grannypirate.com
to find out where you can see the play, learn about the music and craft
workshops, and find out more about the cast and crew. My Granny is a Pirate
will be weighing anchor at the Durham Book Festival on Saturday 12
October. |
Cressida
Cowell: a blast from the past
Click here
to listen to children’s author Cressida Cowell talking about her hugely
popular series How
to Train Your Dragon, starring Viking hero Hiccup Horrendous
Haddock III at the 2012 Durham Book Festival. Audio from other Durham
Book Festival events can be found on our Soundcloud site at https://soundcloud.com/new-writing-north/. |
People
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Joy
for Avril
Congratulations to Bishop Auckland writer Avril Joy, whose
award-winning short story Millie
and Bird is included in The
Story of Love, Loss and the Lives of Women, an anthology of
100 women writers. The anthology will be launched at London's
Waterstones Piccadilly on 26 September at 6.30pm. |
In
the north
|
Biscuit
takes final bow
Biscuit
Publishing has closed its doors. For 13 years the publishing house
dedicated itself to promoting good writing, commissioning authors, and
running a prestigious competition. It will be missed and we would like
to wish managing director and editor Brian Lister all the very best for
his retirement. |
Fit
as a Butcher’s Dog
The third issue of biannual poetry magazine Butcher’s Dog is
now open for submissions. Poets and readers can also look forward to at
least another two years of the magazine, thanks to funding support from
Arts Council England. New Writing North, who supported the six founding
poets in setting up the magazine (as well as individually awarding them
Northern Promise Awards), is delighted by the publication’s continued
success. |
Opportunities
|
Open
Clasp bursaries
Open Clasp Theatre Company is looking for three young women (16-25
years old) to act as assistants to the director, writer and facilitator
on a new project. There is a bursary of £1,000 for each role. The young
women carrying out these roles will each spend 100 hours working with
Open Clasp spread out over an extended period (October 2013-January
2015) working on Open Clasp’s Fracking
Up North project. The play will tour in the North East and
North West in early 2015. Go to the Open
Clasp website to apply. |
Northern
Stage seeks new work for Edinburgh 2014
Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, the venue run by Newcastle’s
Northern Stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is looking for
expressions of interest for productions for next year’s festival from
artists and companies that are based in the north of England, or feel
that they have a strong or special connection with the North. Find out
how you can be a part of next year’s Northern Stage at St Stephen’s
line up at the series of roadshows Northern Stage is putting on in
Leeds on Wednesday 18 September, Manchester on Wednesday 25 September,
and in Newcastle on Friday 27 September. Email Katie at kcatling@northernstage.co.uk
or go to www.northernstage.co.uk/st-stephens/st-stephens-2014
for more information |
Artists
for ArtWorks
ArtWorks North East is piloting a series of short courses for
artists and media practitioners who work or aspire to work in
participatory settings. The short courses offer opportunities to
combine practice, theory, debate and reflection supported by a wealth
of material, toolkits and online resources. The series runs from
September 2013 to March 2014 in venues across Tyneside and Sunderland.
For early applicants there are generous fee waivers on non-accredited
courses and a limited number of fee waivers on accredited courses. A small
number of free places are available on non-accredited courses for
current Higher Education students. For a booking/application form and
further details, email admenquiry@sunderland.ac.uk
with ‘ArtWorks short courses’ as the subject line. |
Script6
opens for submissions
The Space is looking for submissions for its pilot playwriting
competition, Script6. The six playwrights selected will take part in a
tailored course of peer-led workshops and rehearsed readings aimed at
exploring new writing styles or processes. Play Dead Press have also
committed to publishing all six final scripts. One piece of work will
be chosen by a panel during the festival, and will receive a full-length
run at The Space. The scheme is open to writers who have had a minimum
of two full-length plays staged, and are looking to further their
development with exploration of different styles and methods of
writing. Contact isabel@space.org.uk
to request an application pack. The deadline for submissions is Monday
28 October. |
Newcastle
City Council looking for community artists for taster sessions
Newcastle City Council is looking for three artists to undertake the
delivery of a taster programme as part of a high quality participatory
arts programme. They are interested in hearing from a variety of
skilled participatory arts practitioners with an interest in and
experience of working with people who suffer from use/misuse of
substances including alcohol, drugs and gambling. Deadline for
submissions: Friday 20 September. For the full artist brief, email alison.flanaganwood@newcastle.gov.uk. |
Jobs
|
Wordsworth
Trust: Poet in residence
The Wordsworth Trust is looking to appoint a new poet in residence,
to run from January-December 2014. This is an invaluable opportunity
for an exceptional poet, from any cultural background and writing
within any literary tradition, to spend time in Grasmere, Cumbria, in
the heart of the Lake District. The poet will be given space to develop
their own work and will also be involved in delivering parts of the
Wordsworth Trust literature programme, both in Grasmere and throughout
Cumbria. The poet in residence will be paid a monthly stipend of £1100,
and provided with a cottage for which they will be charged a subsidised
rent. For full details, and application procedure, contact Andrew
Forster on a.forster@wordsworth.org.uk
or 015394 35544. Deadline for submissions: Monday 30 September, 4pm. |
The
Society of Chief Librarians: Artist in residence
The Society of Chief Librarians is looking for an artist in
residence to work on a World War I commemorative project. The artist
will be based in the West End Library at Benwell, a vibrant and diverse
community whose development was greatly influenced by the Armstrong
Vickers armaments factory. The deadline for submissions is Friday 20
September. For the full artist brief, email alison.flanaganwood@newcastle.gov.uk. |
York
Theatre Royal: Communications manager
York Theatre Royal is looking for an inventive and hard working
communications manager to join the communications team. The
communications manager is responsible for campaign planning for all
productions appearing at York Theatre Royal, managing all press and PR
activity, and having an overview of the areas held responsible by the
digital communications officer and marketing & press assistant.
Deadline for applications: Sunday 22 September. For more information
download the application
form. |
Tyneside
Cinema: Curator
Tyneside Cinema are looking for an individual to set the curatorial
vision and artistic vision for a brand new gallery and cinema space
opening in 2014. They will deliver the inaugural programme of work for
this Arts Council-funded space, help shape the future direction of the
organisation’s wider artistic programme, and leave a lasting legacy for
the future. Deadline for submissions: Monday 30 September. To see the
full job specification, click here. |
Writers’
Centre Norwich: Development manager
The literary organisation is looking for a new development manager
to develop relationships and secure income from a wide variety of
sources ensuring the viability and sustainability of the organisation
and its activities. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who
will enjoy the challenge of being part of this ambitious vision for
literature and has at least three years experience of fundraising in
the cultural, charitable or voluntary sector. Deadline for submissions:
Wednesday 25 September. For more information, see www.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk/AboutUs/jobvacancies.aspx. |
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Courses
and workshops
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Teeside
Talk About Local unconference
Mima, Middlesbourgh: Saturday 28 September,
11am-5.30pm
Community publishers and people interested in local news, culture
and digital storytelling are getting together in Middlesbrough later
this month for their annual unconference – an event where the attendees
set the agenda on the day. Previous events in Stoke, Leeds, Cardiff and
Birmingham have included sessions on everything from legal publishing
advice to making money online and attracted people from as far afield
as the Isle of Wight to Aberdeenshire. This year’s event will also see
the launch of a new initiative specifically for Teesside called Talk About Arts, Culture and
Place which is being run in partnership with Yorkshire’s The
Culture Vulture website.
The event is open to all but free tickets must be booked in advance
from https://tal13.eventbrite.com.
Users of social media can follow the event across platforms using the
hashtag #tal13. |
Jesmond
creative writing group
Join Rachael Marsh and her creative writing group on the first
Friday of the month at 7pm. All prose writers and poets are welcome.
The group meets at 22 Queens Road, Jesmond, NE2 2PP. For more
information contact Rachel Marsh at rachaelmarshliterary@gmail.com
or 07818 431016. |
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