New Writing North newsletter December 2013

Thought my followers may be interested in viewing the latest New Writing North newsletter:

December 2013 News from New Writing North

New Writing North news   Cuckoo Press free with NARC Have you got hold your copy of Cuckoo Press yet? Distributed free with regional music and culture magazine NARC. and packed full of the best fiction, poetry and cultural journalism by young people under 23, including Cuckoo regulars such as Hannah Morpeth, Daniella Watson and Jacob Armstrong, it really is the place to go for brilliant new writing and cultural comment from a young person's perspective. Something for everyone at Northern Writers’ Awards Whether you are a poet, a young person between 12-18, a woman over 43 writing her first book, or just in need of some time to write, there’s something for you at www.northernwritersawards.com.  New writers have found that winning a Northern Writers’ Award helps to get them noticed by agents and publishers and lifts them onto the first rung of the ladder towards publication. For more established writers, awards can buy precious time to undertake a new project or to support work in progress that has not yet been commissioned.  The deadline for applications for this year's awards is 17 January. People Ian Duhig opens TS Eliot Prize event As part of his role as a judge of this year’s TS Eliot Prize, poet Ian Duhig, who won a Northern Writers’ Award in 2013, will be opening the TS Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings event at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 12 January by reading a poem by TS Eliot. The evening is one of the biggest, and best attended, poetry events in the UK, and will, as usual, be hosted by Ian McMillan, who was himself a Northern Writers’ Award judge in 2013. To book, go to www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/ts-eliot-prize-readings-2014-79223 or call 0844 875 0073. Congratulations Congratulations to Bud Craig and Claire Moss, a Darlington father and daughter with literary ambitions and a November publication date in common. Bud’s crime novel, Tackling Death, was published by Not So Noble Books on 3 November, while Claire’s second book, modern romance Who Do You Think You Are?, was published by Carina UK on 29 November. Not So Noble Books is also publishing gritty North East crime thriller Ten Steps Short by Thomas Henry Richardson. New book from Ben Myers Benjamin Myers, winner of the 2013 Gordon Burn Prize and a judge for the 2014 Gordon Burn Prize, has a new book out this week. Snorri & Frosti is a limited edition paperback via 3AM Press. Described variously as a short novel, a long short story, and a poem, the book is definitely about two elderly brothers in a snowbound cabin somewhere in Northern Europe. It might also, Ben suggests, make a good Christmas present. The book is priced £10 and can be bought from Galley Beggar Press or as an ebook. Opportunities Butcher’s Dog 3 open for submissions Butcher’s Dog, the biannual poetry magazine founded by a group of poets who all won Northern Promise Awards from New Writing North, is open for submissions for issue 3, to be published in spring 2014. Based in the north of England, Butcher’s Dog is eager to receive work from writers who – by birth, domicile or inclination – feel a connection to the region, while still welcoming submissions from anywhere in the UK or Republic of Ireland. Deadline for submissions: 10 February. For more information go to www.butchersdogmagazine.com/2012/05/submissions.html. Mslexia Short Story Competition The competition run by the magazine for women who write is open now for unpublished stories of up to 2,200 words. Mslexia accepts work on all subjects, so write about anything and everything you fancy. The winning stories will be published in Mslexia as well as receiving cash prizes. For more information and to enter the competition go to www.mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/scomp_active.php.       Jobs   The International Anthony Burgess Foundation: Archivist An archivist is required to catalogue and make available to the public The International Anthony Burgess Foundation’s extensive and unusual collection of books, music, manuscripts, photographs, audio recordings, films and papers relating to Anthony Burgess and his contemporaries. The successful candidate will be responsible for creating an online catalogue, commissioning essential conservation work, devising a digitisation strategy for the collections and for delivering public events and activities. The deadline for applications is 6 January 2014. For more information and to apply see www.anthonyburgess.org/collections/job-opportunity-archivist. Miscellany Be a Costa judge and vote for your favourite short story Last year Bishop Auckland author Avril Joy won the inaugural 2012 Costa Short Story Awards with her story, Millie and the Bird. So how do this year’s short stories stack up against her work? Go to the Costa Short Story Awards website to find out, and vote for this year’s winner. Mslexia Writer’s Diary 2014: five copies to give away The Mslexia Writer's Diary 2014 is now available to order! Or you can win one from New Writing North by commenting on @newwritingnorth with the answer to this question: Who is the editorial director of Mslexia? This year the diary is about a writer's creative journey. Whatever their starting point, the diary provides a motivational map to guide them through the year ahead. And every month, like signposts along the way, it provides insights from classic and contemporary writing guides by some of the wisest and wittiest women authors of the last 100 years – along with exercises to help the writer apply that advice to their own work.