The latest news from New Writing
North
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Thank you to everyone
who attended Durham Book Festival 2017
It has been a bumper year for Durham
Book Festival, with a record number of people attending events
across the city over the ten days.
We had visits from television and radio
stars including Tony Robinson, Robert Webb, Jenni Murray, June Sarpong and
Stephen McGann who were programmed alongside exciting artists such as poets
Andrew McMillan, and Sinead Morrissey, graphic novelists Una and Mary
Talbot, and North East writer Carmen Marcus. Sell-out fiction events
included names such as Kamila Shamsie, Tracy Chevalier and Booker-prize
winners Roddy Doyle and Alan Hollinghurst, and emerging names such as
Chibundu Onuzo and Jen Campbell.
We also announced the winner of the Gordon
Burn Prize on Thursday 12 October, Denise Mina and her novel The
Long Drop. The book was selected from six
shortlisted titles of fiction, memoir and travel writing.
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Development opportunity
for theatre writers
This winter, three unique organisations –
the Royal Court Theatre, Northern Stage and New Writing North – are coming
together, combining their strengths to provide a development
opportunity for theatre writers based in the North of England.
Selected via an open call for submissions,
the group will be made up of eight writers who feel they would benefit from
being pushed in their craft and supported-in the ambition of their writing
for the stage.
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Calling all writers who
are interested in working with young people
New Writing North runs a range of
programmes with young people aged 12–19, including our Cuckoo
Young Writers groups which meet weekly in towns across the North
East and our targeted programme Young
Writers’ City which takes place in schools and with community
groups.
We work with a range of writers including
poets, playwrights, rappers, songwriters, stand-up comedians, screenwriters
and games-writers. We want to hear from writers who are interested in
working for us on a freelance basis to lead writing projects with
young people. You may be a very experienced facilitator, or have no
experience at all, the main qualification at this stage is that you are a
writer, are interested in this work and are located in the north east where
currently much of our young people’s work takes place.
Please email your CV to lizzie@newwritingnorth.com along with a
covering letter explaining why you want to work with New Writing North on
our young writers’ programme by Friday
17 November.
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Write Now Live Newcastle
The Penguin Random House WriteNow
initiative aims to find, mentor and publish new writers
from communities under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves.
This includes writers from BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) or LGBTQ
(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) communities, writers who have a
disability, or come from a socio-economically marginalised background. They
were looking for 10 writers and Dominic JP Nelson-Ashley made it into the
final 150 (out of 1728).
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Theatre of the Mind:
WGGB Radio Drama Roadshow
Saturday 4 November,
1–6pm, St Peter’s Campus, Sunderland University
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is
joining with the University of Sunderland’s award-winning radio department
to host an exciting Radio Drama Roadshow.
The Roadshow is free and open to all.
Guest speakers and panellists include award-winning writers, actors,
producers, directors, sound engineers and academics. They will be giving an
insight into the craft of writing for radio and the technical processes involved,
plus there will be plenty of chances for you to ask questions, network and
get involved.
You will be able to find out how radio
dramas are created, what they require, and the challenges, rewards and
current trends in radio playmaking. There's a chance to have a go in
the studio, play around with sound effects and mixing or even have a
one-to-one script-workshop with a producer/commissioning editor. There will
also be an opportunity to listen to the 'Theatre of the Mind' in a darkened
cinema.
The event is being supported by the BBC –
the UK’s main broadcaster of audio drama – which will be providing
production and technical support, and by New Writing North. Speakers
include:
Award-winning writers Lisa Holdsworth,
Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding; former BBC Radio 4 Commissioning Editor
and independent producer Caroline Raphael*; radio actor Felicity Finch
(Ruth Archer); Andy Cartwright executive producer, Soundscape Productions;
a BBC radio drama producer (tbc) and Sound Design/Studio Manager John Scott
from SparkLab and Somethin' Else.
Have you written a radio drama script?
*Caroline Raphael has agreed to hold
one-to-one sessions on six scripts as part of the above event. This will be
on a first come, first served basis. The deadline for submission is
Wednesday 1 November at 5pm. Email info@soundscapeproductions.co.uk to make a
submission.
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Cuckoo Young Writers
Join our Cuckoo Young Writers Group in
Newcastle.
There are still a few places left at our
Newcastle Cuckoo group for young writers aged 12–19. Until December, the
group will be working with comedian Hal Branson and group leader Becky
Orwin on writing comedy: creating comedic characters, writing sketches and
putting your best jokes into writing.
The group is free to attend, so young
people are welcome to turn up on the day.
Our Cuckoo Young Writers group will meet
every Saturday from 4 November–9 December at Newcastle City Library,
11am–1pm.
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Newcastle-based writer, Ben Appleby’s new
novel is out now. Lamplight
is a horror novel telling the story of a young girl and her friends plagued
by the ancient secrets of their hometown. The book is available to buy here.
Bone
Ovation is the debut poetry pamphlet from North East poet Caroline Hardaker, in
which she celebrates the beauty and structure of bones through folk tales,
philosophy, daydreams and night terrors. Published by Valley Press based in
Yorkshire.
Lord of the Dead by
Richard Rippon will be launched by Obliterati press with a
special event at The
Town Wall on Friday
3 November, 7.30pm. Lord
of the Dead follows investigators Prejean and Atherton in
Northumberland as they search for a killer known as Son of Geb. The book is available
for pre-order on Amazon.
Dan James will be appearing at
Newcastle Book Festival: Books
on the Tyne 2017 at Newcastle City Library to discuss his debut
novel The Unauthorised
Biography Ezra Maas, published by Unbound, on Tuesday
28 November, 6pm.
Amy Lord, previous Northern
Writers' Award winner, has launched a crowdfunding campaign with Unbound
for her debut novel. In The
Disappeared, Clara is haunted by the disappearance of her
father during her childhood, when he was taken by the Authorisation Bureau
for teaching banned books to his students.
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The International
Rubery Book Award 2018 Book of the Year prize is open for
entries. Prizes include £1500 and recognition from a top London Literary
Agent, with runners up prizes of £150. For information on how to enter or
to read testimonies from previous winners visit
the website. Deadline 31
March.
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Don’t Talk To Me About
Love is an
online magazine currently accepting submissions for the international 2017 Prose Contest.
There are prizes for both Fiction and Non-Fiction, both should be 2000
words in length and written on the theme of love, whether romantic,
platonic, parental etc. Deadline Tuesday
31 October.
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Sunderland Library
Services are
sponsoring a young person to become a sail
trainee as part of the Tall Ships Races in 2018. To be in with
the chance of winning, send 500 words to enquiry.desk@sunderland.gov.uk telling
them why you want to be a sail trainee and what it would mean to you.
Deadline Saturday
4 November.
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The Bookseller is looking for the YA Novel of the
year. The YA
Book Prize is open for entries from authors residing in the UK
or Ireland with the submitted book being published between 1 January and
31 December 2017. Deadline Friday
8 December.
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The 2018 HWA Crowns are now open
for submissions for three categories. The HWA Debut Crown awards the best
historical novel by a first-time fiction author, the HWA Endeavour Ink Gold Crown
is for the best historical novel and the HWA Non-fiction Crown is for the
best non-fiction work. Deadline 28
February.
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HEBE Poetry is calling for
submissions for their third issue. This issue’s theme is ‘Patterns’,
there are no limits as to how this can be developed. Initial ideas could
include patterns found in nature, humanity or daily life. Submissions
welcome from poets
aged 18 and under. Deadline Thursday 30 November.
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Tiny Owl Publishing has launched an
open call for submissions on the theme of ‘finding hope in a scary
world’. They are looking for artists and authors to contribute ideas that
help to build a friendlier world. Submissions in the form of picture book proposals
(2-3 illustrations) and manuscripts
(600 words max) are welcome. Deadline Tuesday 31 October.
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Bandit Fiction is currently
open for submissions for their very first publication, a pamphlet of short stories, flash fiction
and creative
non-fiction. Submissions of work must be original and
unpublished. For more information and submission periods see the website
or contact through Facebook
and Twitter.
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The Emma Press, an independent
publisher based in Birmingham, has launched a call for prose and
poetry pamphlet proposals. Writers are invited to send in six pages of
their writing to one of four editors for consideration. Deadline Sunday 10 December 2017.
See the website
for details.
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Fire in the Flint is a residential
week from Arvon with the opportunity to focus on your own writing practice
alongside developing your skills as a workshop leader and facilitator of
writing for theatre, poetry or performance. Monday 4 – Saturday 9 December.
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Palm-Sized Press’ ‘Retrospective’ zine
is now available for pre-order
at £5. Those who purchase a copy by 31 October will also be entered for
a chance to win one of Mslexia’s sold out Indie
Press guide (RRP £12.99).
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Arch Remarks is a new monthly
spoken word/comedy evening to be held at Station East, Gateshead. The
opening night will be on Monday,
30 October, 7pm and headlined by Harry Gallagher and
Catherine Scott. Each night will feature support acts, open mic sections,
a raffle and vegan sweets.
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Into Crongton with
Alex Wheatle. Author and winner of the
Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2016, Alex Wheatle will be discussing
his YA novels, Liccle Bit, Crongton Knights and Straight Outta Crongton
on Thursday 23
November, 6pm at Percy
Building, Newcastle University. Free event.
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In Conversation with Catherine
Johnson and Patrice Lawrence. Writers Catherine
Johnson and Patrice Lawrence will be talking about their work and issues
around children’s literature and race as well as reflecting on how Seven
Stories can better represent BAME voices on Friday 24 November, 4.30pm at
Seven Stories, Newcastle.
£2.50 per person.
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Free as a Bard returns to Jam Jar Cinema, Whitley Bay
on Sunday 19
November, 7.30pm. With hosts Rob Walton and Peter
Mortimer, poets Andrew Sclater and Pauline Plummer and Whitley Bay-native
singer-songwriter Alex Kirtley. Tickets £5, available here.
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Pure Fiction celebrates writers of fiction and their
work. November’s event will be with novelists Sue Miller and Emma
Whitehall talking about the ‘dystopian novel’, at The Old George, Newcastle
on Thursday 16
November, 6.45pm. Tickets £3, book here.
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The Line Between Two
Towns is a new zine, published
by LMH
Creative, celebrating the Esk Valley Railway. The zine features
a number of local writers, poets, photographers and artists including Paul
Smith, lead singer of Newcastle indie band Maximo Park and Graham Palmer,
Northern Rail’s ‘rhyming conductor’. Available for purchase here.
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Bloodaxe Books is looking for a
part-time Marketing
Development Officer based in Northumberland.
Must have digital/database skills and interest in poetry. For more
information contact Neil Astley at 01434 611581. Apply in writing with a
CV and two referees to Neil Astley, Bloodaxe Books Ltd, Eastburn, South
Park, Hexham, NE46 1BS.
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Seven Stories National
Centre for Children’s Books is seeking an Events Coordinator to plan and
implement imaginative, varied and sustainable children’s arts programmes, based in Newcastle.
Deadline Monday 30
October, 12pm.
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Blaze are looking for a part-time Project Coordinator and Youth Facilitator
to help the company in its aim of developing the next generation of
cultural leaders. They welcome interest from early career arts professionals
with good experience. Based in Lancashire.
Deadline Monday 13
November.
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If you have news that you would like to be
considered for inclusion in the newsletter please contact charlotte@newwritingnorth.com. The
deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 20 November 2017.
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