New Writing North events 12 Feb - 27 Feb 2014

Here are a few extra events detailed in the New Writing North Newsletter:

The Listening Post

Ian McMillan and Tony Husband: The Tale of Walter the Pencil Man

Lit & Phil, Newcastle: Wednesday 12 February, Time TBC

Ian McMillan and Tony Husband have worked together for many years and their latest collaboration tells the sombre story of a young lad from a Yorkshire pit village caught up in the horrors of the First World War who records what he sees with a pencil and paper. Ian McMillan presents The Verb on Radio 3, and appears regularly on BBC Breakfast. Cartoonist Tony Husband draws The Yobs in Private Eye and has worked for the Times, the Spectator and Punch. Tickets: £5/£3. For more information, see www.litandphil.org.uk/events.shtml.

Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men

City Library, Newcastle: 15 February, 2.30pm-4pm

Polari was a secret language used mainly by gay men, female impersonators and others from the 1930s to the 1970s, mostly (but not exclusively) in London. Today the need for a secret language has all but disappeared. Join Professor Paul Baker and find out why Polari has become the lost language of gay men. Tickets: free. To register go to the Newcastle City Library Eventbrite page.

Tol-Con: North East Tolkien Convention

Gateshead Central Library: Tuesday 18 February, 6pm-9pm (screening) & Saturday 22 February, 10am-4pm (convention)

A convention dedicated to all things related to Middle Earth. Enjoy a screening of The Hobbit on Tuesday evening and then join them to celebrate Middle Earth on Saturday. Learn to write runes or speak Elvish, take part in quizzes and competitions, listen to a Tolkien storyteller and take part in a cosplay contest. Tickets: £3.50. For more information, see www.asaplive.com/whats-on/events/tol-con-tolkien-convention.

Crime Writers in Conversation

Northern Stage, Newcastle: 20 February, 7.15pm

Three women writers of crime fiction come together to discuss the tools of their trade. Val McDermid, who has sold over 10 million copies of her 26 crime novels, will be talking to Scottish crime writer Denise Mina (Gods and Beasts) and Creasey Dagger winner Louise Welsh (The Cutting Room). Tickets: £6 (£4 concs/ £2 for Newcastle University students). Book tickets at the NCLA webstore. For further details contact Melanie Birch at Melanie.Birch@ncl.ac.uk or 0191 208 7619.

Valerie Laws: The Operator

The Lit and Phil, Newcastle: Monday 24 February, 7pm

Valerie Laws’ debut crime novel The Rotting Spot won a Northern Promise Award and was a Read Regional choice. Now the author launches the sequel, The Operator, a medical-themed thriller, published by Red Squirrel Press. For more information, see www.litandphil.org.uk/events.shtml.

Tyne by Michael Chaplin

Customs House, South Shields: 26 February-1 March, 2.30pm (Thurs and Sat) & 7.45pm

Journeying in time and space along the banks of the river, Tyne maps the epic history, atmosphere and soul of this mighty river in story, music and images. Originally commissioned as part of Live Theatre’s 40th birthday celebrations, the play dramatises extracts from Michael Chaplin’s book Tyne View, woven together with stories from Tom Hadaway, Julia Darling, Alan Plater and Sid Chaplin. Tickets: £13.50/£12.50. To book go to www.customshouse.co.uk/whats-on/Theatre/1377/tyne.

Frank Cottrell Boyce: What’s in Your Head?


Curtis Auditorium, Newcastle University: 27 February, 5.30pm

This year’s Fickling Lecture is delivered by novelist and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who also wrote the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Find out what’s in the head of this Carnegie Medal-winning author. Tickets: free, allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, see www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/.