New Writing North newsletter

Here is the latest New Writing North newsletter that I thought my followers may be interested in:

Cuckoo intern wanted New Writing North is looking for an intern to work on Cuckoo Review, our arts journalism magazine written by 15-23 year-olds, which covers music, theatre, films, art and books (and other things too). The Cuckoo Review internship is a chance to gain hands-on experience of working within an arts organisation with partnerships with publishers, record companies and venues across the country, and an opportunity to develop your editing and proof-reading skills. For a full description of the role and how to apply, download the job description here. Deadline for applications: 3 January 2014, 5pm, with informal interviews to be held on 21 January.

Stevie Ronnie savours Arctic role In 2013, as part of our ongoing commitment to exploring environmental concerns through art, Durham Book Festival sent poet Stevie Ronnie on a residency to the Arctic Circle. Along with 25 other passengers – scientists, artists and educators – Stevie traversed the fragile, frozen tundra, away from smartphones, technology and consumerism. Inspired by his passionate, eccentric fellow travellers and the environment, he invented new poetic forms and made books out of discarded plastic and weather balloons. He brought back a new passion for environmental reform and the inspiration for a collection of poems that testify to what he learned during his time there. Click here to read a selection of Stevie's Arctic-inspired poems below, and see photos of the places that inspired him.

So what is a poetry synopsis? Submissions to the Northern Writers’ Awards are already dropping through New Writing North’s digital letterbox, and we are looking forward to many more over the coming months. This is only the second year that the awards have been open to entries from across the north of England and we are hoping to receive even more applications from the North West and Yorkshire this time round. A few of the poets hoping to enter the awards were wondering exactly how to write a synopsis for a poetry collection. One of New Writing North’s twitterati suggested ‘a box of gelatin to keep clouds in’. Slightly less evocative, but hopefully helpful, is our addition to the FAQ describing the purpose of a good poetry synopsis.

How to make your Verb New Voice heard The Verb New Voices project is looking for poets, prose performers and artists who use words and sounds with something bold and brave to say, offering them the chance to express themselves on Radio 3’s The Verb. But what if you have something to say, but you aren’t quite sure how to say it? While Verb New Voices is open to all sorts of writing, the easiest place to find tips on how to perform the spoken word is from performance poets. Here writer Renee M LaTulippe gives five tips on performing poetry and here blogger and performance poet Claire Kirwan gives 10. There’s also a very useful guide from Francesca Beard on how to perform a poem. It’s aimed at teachers working with young children, but there’s some very good basic tips there.

Niel Bushnell takes some Northern Promise to Sweden The Gothenburg Book Fair – or Bok & Bibliotek as the Swedes call it – is one of the highlights of the European literary year. Yet when New Writing North first approached children’s author Niel Bushnell (Sorrowline) about sponsoring his attendance, he wasn’t sure. ‘It sounded,’ he recalls, ‘like it could be home to a well-known Caped Crusader.’ Thankfully, a quick visit to Wikipedia calmed his fears. In fact, the Gothenburg festival, with its roots as a trade fair for librarians and teachers, struck him as the perfect place for a newbie author to test the festival waters. Read about his experience of the festival here.

Last chance to see Another England All four films from Another England, the series of short films that Durham Book Festival commissioned from Michael Smith and Neil Bianco as part of this year’s festival, can now be seen online. Start with Old Town, the tale of a prodigal northern son, and watch through to Blue Lagoon, exploring the mystical connection some people have to the petrochemical estuary. Find the films at www.newwritingnorth.com.

People

Congratulations Congratulations to crime writer and Northern Writers’ Award winner Mari Hannah, whose debut novel, The Murder Wall, the first in the Kate Daniels series, has just won the Polari First Book Prize. The prize is for any debut novel published in England that explores the LGBT experience. Click here to read Mari's interview in The Guardian about the process. The fourth instalment in the Kate Daniels series, Monument to Murder, has just been published by Pan Macmillan.

Opportunities

IdeasTap: Underbelly Award Underbelly and IdeasTap are working together to take a season of young theatre-makers’ work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2014. Applicants must be between 18-30 and, if successful, will be offered a slot in one of Underbelly’s prime theatre venues. Although a significant contribution will be made towards the budget for the shows, the award will not cover all costs. For more information and to apply, see www.ideastap.com/Opportunities/Brief/Ideas-Fund-Edinburgh-2014-140114#Overview.

Cardiff International Poetry Competition 2014 Submissions are now open for the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, which offers the largest monetary prize for a poetry competition of its kind, with a first prize of £5,000, and £500 for second place and £250 for runners-up. The judges for the 2014 competition are multi award-winning poets Lemn Sissay and Rhian Edwards, with Welsh poet Samantha Wynne Rhydderch returning as filter judge. Deadline for entries: Friday 14 March. For more information and to download an entry form, visit www.literaturewales.org/cipc/.