New from New Writing North

Here is the latest News from New Writing North newsletter, including information on opportunities, competitions and jobs:

News from New Writing North

New Writing North news Join our book groups New Writing North runs book groups in the North East in Berwick, Darlington, Durham, Hexham, Newcastle, Sunderland, Stockton and Whitley Bay, as well as the New Parents Book Group (pictured), which meets in the baby-friendly space of Baltic art gallery, for those with children in tow (and who may not have managed to finish the book). If you love reading and like a chat, why not give one of them a try? All the groups are free to join and are run by readers in residence. As well as discussing contemporary fiction, our groups often tie in with New Writing North’s activity through the year, including Read Regional and Durham Book Festival. Find out more about our book group network at www.newwritingnorth.com/readers-new-writing-north-s-book-group-network-page-1428.html. Easter writing schools in Amble and Cramlington Our brilliant Cuckoo Young Writers programme is set to make the Easter holidays a lot more exciting, with writing workshops for 12-19 year-olds in Amble and Cramlington. AMBLE LIBRARY Monday 30 March: Notebook making and creative writing with Susannah Pickering Tuesday 31 March: Poetry with John Challis Wednesday 1 April: Scriptwriting and dialogue with Carina Rodney CRAMLINGTON LIBRARY Tuesday 7 April: Notebook making and creative writing with Susannah Pickering Wednesday 8 April: Sight and Sound with Ian Dowson Thursday 9 April: Flash fiction with Carina Rodney Friday 10 April: Poetry with Stevie Ronnie All sessions run from 10am-4pm and are completely FREE. The sessions are open to all young writers aged 12-19, and no writing experience is expected. You can sign up for one day or the whole lot. If you’d like to come along, email laura@newwritingnorth.com. Newcastle Writing Conference 2015: Do it Yourself Tickets are selling fast for Newcastle Writing Conference 2015, which takes place on Saturday 6 June and features keynote speaker Meg Rosoff, literary agents Jo Unwin and Mark Stanton, editor Francesca Main, publicist Ben Willis and many, many more. The conference aims to inspire a ‘do it yourself’ ethos in our writers, and includes speakers on blogging, vlogging, self-publishing and crowdfunding. At the time of writing, there are a dozen Early Bird tickets left for sale, so do buy yours soon to take advantage of the discount. For more information and to book, see www.newwritingnorth.com/news_details-the-2015-newcastle-writing-conference-do-it-yourself-details-3266.html. People Congratulations, Dale Hannah! Dale has won the Commonword Diversity Writing for Children Prize – a prestigious award that celebrates diversity in children’s writing. Dale won a Northern Writers’ Award New Fiction Bursary for the winning book, The Multiple Lives of Haroon Patel, when it was a work in progress. Melvin Burgess called it ‘A remarkable book… narrated with a genuine, touching and often funny voice.’ Opportunities Tour of Britain Poet for Northumberland Active Northumberland is looking for a poet to produce a poem for the Northumberland leg of the Tour of Britain 2015. The poet will work with schools along the route to create a poem of two-line couplets that relate to each town but also work together as a whole poem. The schools engagement will take place in May-July to deliver the poem by 1 August. The fee is £3,500, including travel and expenses. To apply, email wendy.scott02@northumberland.gov.uk with the subject line POET APPLICATION Tour of Britain. Include a current CV, four examples of your work, and any links to your work or website, and a one-page outline of your approach, including any related experience. Deadline for entries: Wednesday 8 April. For more information on the tour, see www.visitnorthumberland.com/tourofbritain2015. Juice Festival artist commissions Juice Festival is a leading multi-artform festival creating exciting work by, with, and for children and young people. The festival takes place throughout NewcastleGateshead in October half-term and this year’s festival has the theme ‘Seen and Heard’ – aiming to raise the profile and visibility of children and young people’s creativity and culture. Artists/companies are invited to propose artworks or projects to be included in the 2015 programme. Proposals can be new works or adaptations. Deadline for entries: 12pm, Friday 10 April. To enter, download the artist brief at www.besidethecity.co.uk/PDF/Juice%20Festival%20artist%20commissions%20brief.pdf. Enchanted Parks creative producer The acclaimed Enchanted Parks festival is looking for a new creative producer for the 2015 festival and beyond. Closing date: Friday 17 April. Fee for the project: £12,000. For more details, see www.artsjobs.org.uk/index.php?id=25&ne_post_id=147320. Competitions The Creative Future Literary Awards The Creative Future Literary Awards celebrates talented writers who lack opportunities owing to mental health issues, disability, health or social circumstance. There are prizes in poetry and short fiction and no entry fee. Deadline for entries: Monday 15 June. For more information, see www.cfliteraryawards.org.uk. Wirral Festival of Firsts Poetry Competition Entries are now open for this open poetry competition. Poems must be in English, unpublished, and no more than 40 lines. First prize £250. Entry fee: £4 per poem (£10 for three poems). Closing date: Monday 1 June. For more details, see www.festivaloffirsts.com/poetry-competition/4581879110. Jobs Arts Council England: Literature relationship manager Arts Council England’s London office has a vacancy for a literature relationship manager. This role will involve managing client relationships with literature organisations. Candidates will have broad experience of contemporary literature and London’s literary scene. Salary: £31,939. Closing date: Monday 6 April. For more details, see www.artscouncil.org.uk/jobs-and-conferences/jobs/. The Listening Post Literary events at Darlington Arts Festival Various venues, Darlington: 20 April-31 May Darlington Arts Festival, running between 20 April and 31 May, has a number of literary events aimed at readers and writers. As well as a number of author readings there are workshops for writers on subjects including editing your work, using dialogue, and using real people as characters. For more details, see www.darlingtonforculture.org/literature-at-the-festival-2/. 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 Wednesday 1 April. The next edition of The Listening Post covering May's events will be published in late April so if there are any events that you would like to submit for inclusion you will need to send information to Laura by 20 April. 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.