News from New Writing North 22 May

May 2015 News from New Writing North

New Writing North news Last Crime Story seminar for 2015 Our successful season of Crime Story seminars is drawing to a close, with the last seminar taking place on Wednesday 27 May, 5pm-7pm, at Northumbria University. The sessions are for readers and writers of crime fiction and have been aimed at exploring the facts behind the fiction, with experts in criminology, law and forensics. In our final session, Professor Peter Francis will be discussing the role of the victim in crime fiction, and the ways in which this compares with experts’ current understanding of victim narratives in real life. Why does crime fiction fall back on well-worn clichés about victims? Could it be that the real victim in your story is not who you think it is? Prepare to have your ideas challenged in this inspiring seminar. Tickets cost £8/£6 and are available at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-crime-story-seminars-crime-stories-victim-narratives-and-victimology-tickets-15663722616. Two weeks until Newcastle Writing Conference We’re busy gearing up for Newcastle Writing Conference 2015 and looking forward to what promises to be a really inspiring day. Several of the speakers have been in touch to let us know how much they are looking forward to coming ‘up North’ (not something they are often asked to do) and we feel like we are really programming something quite exciting for writers in the region. If you are intending to book, please be advised that booking closes on Thursday 4 June to allow us to finalise catering. Don’t leave it too late! Tickets and the full line-up are available at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/newcastle-writing-conference-2015-do-it-yourself-tickets-15833220589. Get into spoken word at The Writing Room Cuckoo Young Writers is joining up with Apples and Snakes North East to offer young writers or performers in Sunderland and beyond the chance to develop their spoken word over the summer. The Writing Room offers young writers/performers aged 15-21 the chance to work with a number of well-established spoken word artists, who will challenge, encourage and inspire your writing, and get you performing. At the end of the sessions you’ll have the chance to appear at Sunderland’s finest spoken word events – King Ink at Pop Recs, and Jibba Jabba at Independent. We’re looking for young people aged 15-21 who can attend at least four sessions in July and August. We welcome both young people with experience of performing and those who want to try it out. For dates and more details, see www.newwritingnorth.com. For more information or to book a place, email laura@newwritingnorth.com or phone 0191 204 8851. A new half term for Cuckoo Young Writers It’s been an exciting few weeks at our Cuckoo Young Writers groups. We have been protesting in Sunderland with former Futurehead Barry Hyde, exploring the poetry archive in Newcastle with John Challis, and talking storytelling in Cramlington with Hannah Morpeth. Our new group in Amble has fast become our biggest group! After this Saturday, our groups are taking a week off for half term and then will resume on Saturday 6 June with only two changes: Martin Longstaff (aka The Lake Poets) will be back at Sunderland with group leader Lizzie Nixon, and the Newcastle group is having an extra week off and returns on Saturday 13 June. For full details see www.newwritingnorth.com/young-cuckoo-young-writers-page-1620.html. As always, the groups are open to 12-19 year-olds, are free to attend and there is no need to book, just turn up! New members are always welcome. If you want more information, email laura@newwritingnorth.com or phone 0191 204 8851. Rendezvous 2 at Live Theatre The first of our Rendezvous 2 events celebrating the writing of Julia Darling will be at Live Theatre this Sunday 24 May, with the second on Saturday 31 May. Both evenings will be hosted by Charlie Hardwick (Emmerdale), a member of Julia’s performance poetry group The Poetry Virgins and actress in a number of Julia’s plays including The Women Who Painted Ships and Attachments (Live Theatre). Zoe Lambert will perform extracts from Sudden Collapses in Public Places and Personal Belongings with songs and accompaniment by Dave Scott, Jim Kitson will perform songs from Manifesto for a New City (which was originally toured in 2005 by Northern Stage) and The Poetry Virgins will recite a number of Julia’s poems. On Saturday 31 May, we will also be announcing the winner of the Julia Darling Travel Fellowship. Tickets for Rendezvous 2 on Sunday 24 May, 7.30pm, are available from Live Theatre box office (Saturday 31 May is sold out) at www.live.org.uk/whats-on-book/rendezvous-2. Wonderlands Graphic Novel Expo workshops On 30 May 2015, Sunderland is playing host to the amazing Wonderlands Graphic Novel Expo. As well as welcoming top graphic novel names, such as Steve Bell, Posy Simmonds and Bryan Talbot, there will be a host of exciting workshop, panels and stalls to browse throughout the day. What’s more, the whole event is FREE. Cuckoo Young Writers is excited to be able to offer young writers the chance to participate in an exclusive workshop/Q&A session with some of the stars of the expo, including comics author and artist Woodrow Phoenix, Comics Laureate Dave Gibbons (Dr Who, Watchmen, 2000AD) and authors from the amazing Improper Books. The workshop will take place 4.30pm-6.30pm at Sunderland University’s City Space, City Campus, Chester Road, SR1 3SD and is free to attend – just get in touch with laura@newwritingnorth.com for more information or to book your place. For the full Wonderlands programme, see www.wonderlands.org.uk. People We were thrilled to see two previous Northern Writers’ Awards winners on the longlist for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2015. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for Benjamin Myers’ Beastings (Bluemoose Books) and Carys Davies’ The Redemption of Galen Pike (Salt). There are two new collections from Smokestack Books to look out for. The debut collection by Jon Tait, Barearse Boy, will be launched at Rothbury Traditional Music Festival in July. Gordon Hodgeon’s latest collection, Talking to the Dead, is out now and will be launched at Preston Hall on 13 June. Opportunities Writers wanted to consult on The Word in South Shields The Word – The North East Centre for the Written Word – is a major new library and cultural venue that is being developed in South Shields as part of the town’s £100m regeneration programme. At its heart The Word will be a contemporary library and digital media centre, housed in an iconic building. The Word will celebrate the written word in all its forms – from books to screenplays, social media, archive material, songs, diaries, stage plays to poetry – and its programme will include a rolling series of exhibitions linked to the written word. As well as celebrating the written word, the building will also be a home for living North East writers and South Tyneside Council would like to consult with writers as to how they would like to engage with the building. Current ideas include a bookshop selling books by North East writers and publishers and programmes of workshops and book launches. As the plans develop the council is consulting with organisations and individuals to help shape the project and they would like to draw together a group of writers to discuss the project and what it could offer local writers. If you’d like to take part in the discussion please contact Richard Barber at richard.barber@southtyneside.gov.uk. The Word is due to open in late 2016, so this is a great opportunity to be involved in the beginning of an exciting new venue for the region. More information can be found at www.southshields365.co.uk. Arts Council England: Grants for the Arts application advice Writers interested in applying for Grants for the Arts funding from Arts Council England have the opportunity to meet with Alison Boyle, Relationship Manager, Literature. Alison will be in the New Writing North office in Newcastle on the afternoon of Friday 5 June for 50-minute advice sessions. This is an ideal opportunity to have an in-depth conversation about your funding application and we expect demand to be high. If you would like to book a session, please email Beth Rutherford at beth@newwritingnorth.com, including a brief description of the project you would like to discuss, by Friday 29 May. Alison will also be at Newcastle Writing Conference on Saturday 6 June and available for brief conversations about Grants for the Arts funding. For more information on Grants for the Arts funding, see www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/grants-arts/. Poetry Editor (voluntary) at Cadaverine magazine Cadaverine magazine is looking for a creative, committed individual with an ear for language and a scrupulous eye for detail to join their team as poetry editor. This is a voluntary position. Cadaverine is a non-profit online magazine that specialises in promoting the work of emerging writers under the age of 30 from all over the world. Initially supported by Arts Council England, it offers support, a platform, and a voice for young writers. The role of the poetry editor is to read and evaluate poetry submissions, select suitable content for publication, and manage the formatting and upload of this content to the website. To apply for the position, email Phoebe Walker at thecadaverine@hotmail.com by Sunday 31 May. Competitions National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition 2015 is now open and the judges this year are David Wheatley, Esther Morgan and Sarah Howe. The first prize winner will receive £5,000, publication in The Poetry Review and the chance to read at some of the UK’s top literature festivals! Details are at http://tinyurl.com/d5o5et. Verity Bargate Award The Verity Bargate Award is Soho Theatre’s biennial prize for a new play open to any writer in the UK and Ireland with fewer than three professional productions. There is no restriction to subject matter and the prize is £6,000 in respect of an exclusive option to produce the winning play at Soho Theatre. As part of the award’s 2015 launch, Soho Theatre is offering info sessions and events for playwrights around the country and will be in Newcastle in June. At Live Theatre, Newcastle, on 13 June (1pm), an open access session for playwrights will be led by artistic associate Suzanne Gorman, introducing Soho Theatre, explaining its work, and talking through the details of the Verity Bargate Award. The award itself opens for submissions on 1 July and closes on 31 July. For more information, see http://sohotheatre.com/writers/verity-bargate-award/. Northern Film School short script competition The Northern Film School is looking for a series of short film scripts that students can make during their period of study. It needs in the range of 16 compelling short fictional film scripts of no more than three minutes in length, with a maximum of four characters, and with locations that can be found in Yorkshire. 16 scripts will be selected for production by a panel of students, tutors and industry personnel, and one script will also be selected for a Special Merit Award, and awarded a place on one of the school’s short professional courses as a prize. If your script is chosen you will need to consent to a programme of script editing to ensure it will work effectively for production. The winning films will be made in the 2015/16 academic year. You will be invited to the screening and will receive a credit on the film. Feedback on scripts will be offered dependent on the volume of submissions and will be provided by supervised students during undergraduate study in the 2015/2016 year. Deadline for entries is 30 June 2015. Please submit a copy of your script by email to NorthernFilmSchool@leedsbeckett.ac.uk with the words 3 MIN SCRIPT COMP in the subject header. All scripts should be correctly formatted and clearly written. Please write your name and contact details on the script cover page only so that it can be removed for anonymous selection of films. Jobs Mslexia, the national magazine for women writers, is looking for an advertising and marketing associate (maternity cover for up to 15 months). This is an excellent opportunity to gain a range of highly marketable publishing experiences working within a small marketing team, dealing with likeminded organisations in the literary and arts sector. Training provided, if necessary, for the right candidate. £15,000 per year (pro rata for 25-35 hours per week), plus a generous commission on advertising sales (total earnings over 15 months are expected to be £21,000-£24,000). Full details are at https://mslexia.co.uk/about/work-for-mslexia. Please email a CV plus a brief covering letter (indicating when you could start) to Helen Baynes by 31 May. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in the first week of June. Mslexia is based in Newcastle. The Listening Post Minors’ Strike Queen’s Hall, Hexham: Wednesday 17 June, 7pm For the last few months Hexham Book Festival, supported by Northumberland Arts Development, Queen’s Hall Arts and the Trusthouse foundation, has been working with students from Haltwhistle Community Campus, turning their words into action through the experience of writing, rehearsing and editing. Minors’ Strike is their play about the devastating effects of the miners’ strike on the pupils of an imaginary school in 1984. Some of the students/writers will join Queen’s Hall Youth Theatre to perform this new piece of work as part of this collaborative project. Tickets are free but should be booked in advance from the Queen’s Hall box office on 01434 652477. Workshops Poetry Weekender: Words to Our Now II Inscribe, the professional development programme for writers of Black and Asian descent, presents the Poetry Weekender for intermediate/advanced writers. The weekend takes place at Wentworth Castle in Yorkshire from Friday 31 July-Sunday 2 August with guest tutor Jackie Kay and onsite tutors Kadija Sesay and Dorothea Smartt. Subsidised places start at £110 (all inclusive) for the weekend, and are limited. This includes a generous contribution towards costs for writers of Black and Asian descent who are enrolled in the Inscribe programme. Non-Inscribe rates start at £210 (all inclusive). The costs of single en suite accommodation and all meals are covered. Writers are responsible for their own travel. All interested poets must submit a selection of four poems, before being offered a place and registering. Send your poems by email, as attached Word documents, to info.inscribe@peepaltreepress.com. Deadline for the next newsletter If you have news that you would like to submit for inclusion in the newsletter please contact laurafraine@newwritingnorth.com. The deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 1 June. The next edition of The Listening Post covering July's events will be published in late June so if there are any events that you would like to submit for inclusion you will need to send information to Laura by 20 June. 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.