News from New Writing North newsletter

Here is the latest News from New Writing North newsletter, including workshops, jobs, opportunities and a last call for entries to the Verb New Voices, for my followers:

February 2015 News from New Writing North

New Writing North news Last call for entries This is our final call for entries to the Verb New Voices. We are looking for artists and/or writers who can create exciting new work for BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. The deadline for proposals is this Sunday, 1 March. For details, see www.newwritingnorth.com/news_details-new-radio-talent-wanted-for-verb-new-voices-details-3218.html. We are also approaching the deadline for the Gordon Burn Prize, which will award one work of fiction or non-fiction that captures the spirit of Gordon Burn’s work: innovative and fearless. The prize closes for entries on Monday 2 March. To submit, see www.newwritingnorth.com/awards-gordon-burn-prize-2015-open-for-submissions-page-2750.html. New group leaders required for Cuckoo Young Writers We are seeking two leaders for young writers groups in Cramlington and Amble. We’re looking for creative people with experience in working with young people. Working alongside a professional writer, the candidate would run weekly sessions supporting young writers with creative projects. Sessions take place on Saturday mornings from 11am-1pm and are paid at a rate of £25p/h. Trained Arts Award Advisor preferred. A driving licence is an advantage due to the location of groups in Cramlington and Amble. For more details download the job description here.   To express an interest in this opportunity please write to Amy Mitchell explaining why your experience, creative interests and ambition would make you a good candidate for this post. Email Amy at amy@newwritingnorth.com or for an informal discussion, call 0191 204 8852.  Northern Crime Competition update Thank you to everyone who entered the Northern Crime Competition 2014. We had a great range of entries from writers across the North of England and a great variety of work was considered, from historical crime to gritty contemporary stories. We are now in contact with the novelists whose work we will be reading in full to consider for publication and will be making contact with the short story writers soon. The final winners will be announced on the Moth Publishing website later this spring. In the meantime you might like to catch up with two of our previous competition winners who have both gone on to publish further books. Rebecca Muddiman, whose novel, Stolen, was a huge hit in 2013/14, has just published her second novel in the DI Michael Gardner series, Gone, with Mulholland Books, who snapped her up after she won our competition. Helen Cadbury's To Catch a Rabbit was also bought by Allison & Busby, who offered Helen a book deal following our publication of the book. It has just been re-published as part of a multiple book deal that Helen has secured.  Read Regional 2015 We are delighted to return with a fresh selection of ten new books by authors from the North of England for Read Regional 2015. Author events run from March to June in libraries and at literary festivals in Yorkshire and North East England. The first event will be with Stephanie Butland at Kirkbymoorside Library in North Yorkshire on Monday 2 March. You can find out about all of the Read Regional events, read introductions to their books written by the authors, and download reading guides to each title at www.readregional.com. People Look out for Gavin Extence’s new book, The Mirror World of Melody Black, which looks like it will be as much of a hit as his debut, The Universe versus Alex Woods. You can hear Gavin speaking about the book on Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 Book Club at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053012d. Congratulations to Northumberland author Laura Salters, whose debut YA novel Run Away has been snapped up by HarperCollins. The e-book is due out on 5 May, with the paperback to follow. Find out more at www.laurasalters.com/#!about/c24vq. Opportunities Canny Creatives in Ukraine and Georgia The British Council is looking for senior or mid-career arts professionals based in Newcastle or Gateshead to spend a month-long secondment in Ukraine; and for senior or mid-career marketing and communications professionals at cultural organisations in the North West for a month-long secondment in Georgia. The deadline for submissions to both opportunities is Sunday 1 March. Volunteering opportunities at Hexham Book Festival Hexham Book Festival is looking for volunteers to help out at this year’s festival, which runs from 20 April to 4 May. If you would like to be involved please contact Susie Troup on info@hexhambookfestival.co.uk. Comma Press needs your help Comma Press is building a new self-publishing platform, which will exist as a website and an app, hosting short stories and poetry in both text and audio form. Anyone will be able to publish their work on MacGuffin, so long as they upload an audio recording along with their text. MacGuffin will launch in June 2015 and they are beta-testing the site in April. Writers who would like to help them try it out are invited to email beta@macguffin.io with a written text of a story or poem and an audio file. Competitions Women’s Short Story Competition Mslexia’s Women’s Short Story Competition is for stories of up to 2,200 words on any theme or subject. The first prize is £2,000, plus a week's writing retreat at Tŷ Newydd Writers’ Centre and a day with a Virago editor. The judge this year is acclaimed novelist Alison MacLeod and the closing date is 16 March 2015. For full details, see https://mslexia.co.uk/competition/short-story-competition/. To help inspire your writing, Mslexia has commissioned three new writing workshops, which you can download from https://mslexia.co.uk/workshop/short-story-writing-workshops/. Jobs The National Coal Mining Museum for England, in Wakefield, has a vacancy for a storyteller/storywriter to deliver a series of learning activities linked to a new exhibition about pit ponies. Deadline Monday 9 March. For full details, see www.ncm.org.uk/opportunities. Beam, the arts, architecture and learning company in Wakefield, seeks a part-time project manager for a maternity cover. Deadline Tuesday 10 March. For full details, see http://beam.uk.net/news/new_opportunity_with_beam/. West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds has a vacancy for a literary associate, who is passionate about plays and cultivating new talent. Deadline Monday 9 March. For full details, see www.wyp.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/job-opportunities/literary-associate/. Workshops Kate Fox poetry workshop Billingham Library, Stockton on Tees: Wednesday 18 March, 6.30pm-8.30pm The workshop will include a variety of fun, interactive exercises for new and intermediate writers to get creativity flowing. Kate is an award winning poet and BBC Radio 4 regular. For further information or to book a ticket contact the Visitor Information Centre on 01642 528130. Tickets: £4. Booking essential. Deadline for the next newsletter If you have news that you would like to submit for inclusion in the newsletter please contact laurafaine@newwritingnorth.com. The deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 9 March. The next edition of The Listening Post covering April's events will be published in late March so if there are any events that you would like to submit for inclusion you will need to send information to Laura by 20 March. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this newsletter is correct at the time of going to press, things do change, frequently at the last minute and very often without our knowledge.