New Writing North

Here are the latest New Writing North newsletters:

The latest news from New Writing North We’re recruiting!  We have two new vacancies open to applications at our Newcastle office. We’re hiring a Programme Officer (Participation and Young People) who will work with the Senior Programme Manager (Participation and Young People) to deliver artistically ambitious projects and initiatives, which engage people in our work, including through the innovative use of digital technology. The projects and initiatives will create the best conditions for people, especially young people, to express themselves creatively, to fulfill their artistic potential, to support their ongoing creative development and to engage with our work. One of the major projects the postholder will be responsible for delivering with the Senior Manager will be Gateshead Young Writers. This is a brand new programme funded by the Kavli Trust and taking place over two years.  Apply on our website by 9am, Monday 19 November. We’re also looking for an Evaluator for New Writing North’s Young Writers Programme. The evaluation will particularly focus on Gateshead Young Writers. This is a brand new programme funded by the Kavli Trust and taking place over two years. Professional writers and artists will work with groups of young people, especially those from backgrounds which are under-represented in arts and culture. They will support them to develop their own creative writing and provide them with progression routes, so that they can continue their own personal cultural journey, as creators and/or consumers of culture. The approach builds on our successful Young Writers City programmes in Newcastle and Sunderland and will involve not only a key secondary school but also feeder primary schools and community groups. Apply on our website by 9am, Thursday 22 November. Northern Writers’ Awards is on the road  The Northern Writers’ Awards 2019 will be opening for entry on 15 November 2018 until 7 February 2019.  This year we’ll be visiting Sunderland, Leeds, York and Manchester to meet new writers and to share expertise from publishing and broadcast industry professionals; previous Northern Writers’ Awards winners; and established writers. All of our roadshows are free to attend, but booking is essential. They are all suitable to both new and experienced writers. We hope you can join us and look forward to seeing you there! Writing Fiction Roadshow 12pm-4pm, 17 November 2018, Sunderland University  This Roadshow will include sessions on the author-agent relationship, finding outlets for new fiction and essential advice for anyone considering applying for the Northern Writers’ Awards and other opportunities.  Hachette Writing for Children Roadshow 12.30pm-4.30pm, 24 November 2018, Leeds City Art Gallery We’re excited to launch the Hachette Children’s Novel Award a roadshow dedicated to supporting children’s writers. We’ll be joined in Leeds by an impressive gathering of Hachette editors and writers who will be sharing their expertise and experiences with us.  David Almond, who is the ambassador for the award, said: “I'm proud to be an ambassador for this brilliant new award. Congratulations to Hachette and to New Writing North for forging this powerful new partnership. Writing for young people is at the heart of our literary culture. It's wonderful that new writers are being encouraged in this way.”  Northern Poetry Showcase and Roadshow 6pm-8.30pm, 13 December 2018, York St John University This event will celebrate some of the remarkable poets that have come through the Northern Writers’ Awards programmes and is relevant for poets at all stages of their careers. As we launch the 2019 New North Poets award in partnership with the Poetry School, we’ll feature readings and discussion from the five 2017 winners who have reached the end of their programme of development support. Channel 4 Writing for Television and Radio Roadshow 12pm-4pm, 19 January 2019, International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester  We’re more than delighted to be coming to Manchester for our designated television and radio event in association with Channel 4. This Roadshow is for anyone interested in writing for screen or audio formats, no matter how much experience you may have.  There is always high demand for spaces on our writing roadshows and we want to make sure that as many people as possible can benefit. If you book a space, please be sure to attend or cancel it in advance so that someone else can attend in your place. Thank you!  Thank you to everyone who joined us at Durham Book Festival 2018 It was a great year for the festival, and we were so excited to welcome a host of articulate, inspiring writers and thinkers to Durham. We’re incredibly proud of the new work we’ve commissioned from local writers, including Lucie Brownlee’s piece on the female ‘World Above’ the pits and David Olusoga’s reflection on his experience growing up in the North East. Many of our original commissions have afterlives that extend beyond the festival – Festival Laureate Jacob Polley is touring his evocative film-poem Lamanby, while Julia Darling’s short story collection Pearl is now available in all good bookshops. Jesse Ball’s remarkable novel Census won the night at the Gordon Burn Prize award ceremony, which was also attended by shortlisted authors Nicola Barker and Guy Gunaratne, judges Alex Clark and Andrew Weatherall, and chair Mark Lawson. Andrew performed his entrancing musical commission, inspired by Gordon’s novel Alma Cogan, to a packed crowd at Durham Town Hall, and refreshments were kindly provided by Durham Distillery, one of our Festival sponsors.  At sell-out events throughout the week award-winning authors such as Sarah Perry and Pat Barker gave us an insight into their work and writing process; there was a fantastic turn-out for all things poetic as we hosted Owen Sheers, Owen Lowery, and the Faber Poets Sophie Collins, Rachael Allen and Zaffar Kunial, all of whom delivered some profoundly moving readings; and Cathy Newman from Channel 4 News galvanised attendees at her Gala Theatre event, where she discussed the Bloody Brilliant (and at times, necessarily difficult) Women who have shaped modern history. Sarah Waters celebrated over a quarter of a decade of literary success at our flagship Big Read event, where she talked about The Little Stranger and the tensions between hatred and covetousness that lie at its heart – particularly timely considering the current socio-political climate. As part of the Big Read project, which saw us distribute 3,000 free copies of The Little Stranger to schools, prisons, libraries and reading groups throughout Co. Durham, we delivered creative and reading workshops based on the book with a number of community groups, including a men’s CREE group, residents at St. Cuthbert’s Hospice, and several disability groups. For younger readers, our Little Read took creative workshops based on Sara Ogilvie and Pip Jones’ Izzy Gizmo into community centres across the County, where children and families created songs, music and crafts that were incorporated into our Izzy Gizmo Story-Gig extravaganza. In total, over 10,000 people engaged with this year’s Durham Book Festival. It was a year which saw us celebrate intersectional feminism and the rise of the #MeToo movement. We forged links with Amman (The Jordan-Durham Cultural Exchange) and Riga (The Art of Translation), we addressed local histories and narratives entrenched in the North. We have laughed alongside our authors, and at times we’ve wept; but throughout we have been struck by the power of language and stories to speak simultaneously to the universal and the particular, and to connect people across borders – both real and imagined. We hope you’ll join us next year, as we embark on a new Durham Book Festival adventure in 2019. Congratulations to northern poets Sean O’Brien, Phoebe Power and Zaffar Kunial for making it onto the T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist. Newly commissioned videos and reviews of the shortlisted poets’ work will be available on the website and through their weekly newsletter here. Jenny Cozens has been shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Prize and will be published in its anthology in October.  She is also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Glenda Young’s debut novel Belle of the Back Streets will be released in hardback and as an e-book on 1 November, and narrated as an audiobook by Janine Birkett on December 15, with paperback versions arriving in March 2019.  Set in Sunderland in 1919, the book is about a young girl who takes on her dad's rag and bone round. Find more info at Glenda’s website. Congratulations to Beda Higgins, who has been shortlisted for the Robert Graves Poetry Prize and long-listed for the Indigo Dreams First Poetry Collection 2018. Northern Promise Award winner Claire Grey is publishing her upcoming novel Running in Circles with Sapere Books on 27 December. The thriller is the first in the Lucy Lewis series, set on an idyllic Thai island that quickly turns into a nightmare after a potential terrorist attack. Radio Drama North and BBC Writersroom are accepting submissions for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, offering a £5000 bursary and the chance of a Radio 4 drama commission, specifically for northern writers new to radio. Deadline 9 November. The Royal Court Theatre and Kudos Television production company have created three new Fellowships for writers already establishing a career. The fellowships will offer three writers a £10,000 bursary to support themselves in order to focus purely on their writing for six months. Deadline Friday 16 November. Live Theatre is interested in imaginative and surprising new plays by writers who challenge existing perceptions of the world we live in. They are looking for scripts of full-length plays written for stage. Writers must be currently based in the UK or Republic of Ireland. Deadline Wednesday 31 October. The Good Journal is now open to submissions from British authors of colour. Issue 3 will be guest edited by Courttia Newland. Prose, poems, comics or photo essays are all welcome. Deadline 4 November. Peepal Tree Press is launching an open call for intersectional work by women on the themes of race, gender, austerity, hope and resistance. Submissions open to articles, images, photography, artwork, graphic novel extracts, satirical cartoons and poetry. Deadline 15 November. Registration is opening soon for UniSlam 2019, the UK National University Poetry Slam. UniSlam brings together poet teams from universities across the UK and Ireland for a festival of poetry slam rounds, creative and professional development talks, masterclasses and workshops, giving participants the opportunity to meet and hear from poets from all over the UK.  From Margins to Mainstream - Breaking into the Writing Industry is the final event of the Bi’an Awards, bringing together publishers, producers and agents to discuss how Chinese-heritage writers can best connect with the writing industry. The panel of industry experts features Melanie Harris, Niki Chang, Françoise Harvey and New Writing North’s Will Mackie. The event will take place on Saturday 1 December at Northern Stage, Newcastle. Author Shellie Horst is hosting a Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing workshop on Saturday 27 October at the Ropewalk Gallery. Writers new to the genre or those trying to iron out their own work are all welcome. Book your place via fw@the-ropewalk.co.uk or 01652660380. Make sure to head down to Ryedale Spookfest on 27 October, a festival full of horrors, ghosts and gothic tales at Talbot Hotel in Malton, Yorkshire. Along with a whole host of gruesome events, come along to get your publishing questions answered at the Writing Revealed by horror authors Simon Clark, Rev Peter Laws, John Linwood Grant and Tricia Pinfold.  Radość Pisania: Manchester Polish Poetry Festival (30-31 October) is two days of free literature, performance and creative writing celebrating different cultural perspectives from European poets. For the full programme and to book your FREE tickets click here. Come see Lamanby by Jacob Polley and John Alder, an interdisciplinary theatrical performance fusing spoken word, film, and music, that tells the story of a childhood house that becomes the site of an alternative personal history and dream-vision of boyhood and the North of England. Lamanby will be at the Culture Lab, Newcastle University on Thursday 1 November, 7:15pm. Lyric Organix flagship project UnFOLD is coming to the Sage Gateshead on 1 November. UnFOLD embarks on their first UK tour with a spellbinding 60 minute live production featuring 3 young and emerging spoken word artists, a full band and visual art. Book online or via 0191 443 4661. Head to the Suffolk coast for a weekend of words and waves as part of Poetry in Aldeburgh on 2-4 November. Festival highlights include Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje winner 2018 Pascale Petit; poetry and dance film fusions with former Young People’s Laureate for London Caleb Femi and much more. Join RJ Barker, Ren Warom and Daniel Godfrey for a relaxed celebration of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror writing at Waterstones Hull on Saturday 10 November. Readers have the rare opportunity to hear genre authors talk about their work, meet likeminded genre readers and the chance to win books in their raffle. Take part in Remembering Flanders: Poetry Appreciation with Elaine Cusack as she marks the centenary of the end of the First World War on Tuesday 13 November, 12pm-2pm in Churchill Pavilion, Monkseaton. Bring along your favourite war poetry or perhaps one of your own to share.   Newcastle writer and journalist Daniel James will release his debut novel on 15 November from Dead Ink Books. The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas is a 'genre-defying' blend of biography, detective fiction and new journalism, and will launch at Forum Books at 7pm on Thursday 29 November.  The Wordsworth Trust is recruiting Trainees to help with day-to-day roles within the Trust. Based in Grasmere. Deadline 5 November. The Square Chapel Arts Centre needs a new Marketing Assistant to join its busy marketing department. Based in Halifax. Deadline 1 November. The MAP Charity (Music and Arts Production Leeds) is looking for a new Trustee to support the charity’s growth, preferably with legal experience. Based in Leeds. Deadline 18 November.   If you have news that you would like to be considered for inclusion in the newsletter please contact victoria@newwritingnorth.com. The deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 23 November 2018. 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. New Writing North PO Box 1277, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 5BP Tel: 0191 204 8850 office@newwritingnorth.com     Like     Tweet     Forward

Northern Writers’ Awards 2019: Free writing roadshows across the North The Northern Writers’ Awards 2019 will be opening for entry on 15 November 2018 until 7 February 2019. This year we’ll be visiting Sunderland, Leeds, York and Manchester to meet new writers and to share expertise from publishing and broadcast industry professionals; previous Northern Writers’ Awards winners; and established writers. All of our roadshows are free to attend, but booking is essential. They are all suitable to new writers as well as more experienced writers. We hope you can join us and look forward to seeing you there! Writing Fiction Roadshow 12pm-4pm, 17 November 2018, Sunderland University This Roadshow will include sessions on the author-agent relationship, finding outlets for new fiction and essential advice for anyone considering applying for the Northern Writers’ Awards and other opportunities. Find out more and book now. Hachette Writing for Children Roadshow 12.30pm-4.30pm, 24 November 2018, Leeds City Art Gallery We’re excited to launch the Hachette Children’s Novel Award with a roadshow dedicated to supporting children’s writers. We’ll be joined in Leeds by an impressive gathering of Hachette editors and writers who will be sharing their expertise and experiences with us. Find out more and book now. Northern Poetry Showcase and Roadshow 6pm-8.30pm, 13 December 2018, York St John University This event will celebrate some of the remarkable poets that have come through the Northern Writers’ Awards programmes and is relevant for poets at all stages of their careers. As we launch the 2019 New North Poets award in partnership with the Poetry School, we’ll feature readings and discussion from the five 2017 winners, who have reached the end of their programme of development support. Find out more and book now. Channel 4 Writing for Television and Radio Roadshow 12pm-4pm, 19 January 2019, International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester We’re more than delighted to be coming to Manchester for our designated television and radio event in association with Channel 4. This Roadshow is for anyone interested in writing for screen or audio formats, no matter how much experience you may have. Find out more and book now. There is always high demand for spaces on our writing roadshows and we want to make sure that as many people as possible can benefit. If you book a space, please be sure to attend or cancel it in advance so that someone else can attend in your place. Thank you! New Writing North PO Box 1277, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 5BP Tel: 0191 204 8850 office@newwritingnorth.com     Like     Tweet     Forward

Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize announced We’re thrilled to announce that Census by Jesse Ball has won the Gordon Burn Prize 2018. A terminally ill father and his son travel from A to Z, encountering a multitude of stories as they carry out their duties as census takers. Though Census is partly fable, it was inspired by the life of Jesse Ball’s brother Abram, who had Down’s syndrome and passed away at the age of 24. The novel shows us the special wonder of the bond between the man and his son as we witness the lengths human kindness can stretch. This book views the world through a lens unlike any other, exploring the joys not of seeking but of finding. Census was selected as the winner by the prize judges: journalist and critic Alex Clark, writer Kei Miller, artist Gillian Wearing and musician Andrew Weatherall. Gillian Wearing commented: “It was like walking through someone's surreal grieving mind as they attempt to make sense of existence. This is a beautiful, moving book and unlike any I have read before.” Jesse Ball has published more than ten books of prose and poetry in the United States, but Census is his first UK publication. Born in New York, he graduated from Vassar College. In 2008 he was awarded The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for his story ‘The Early Deaths of Lubeck, Brennan, Harp & Carr’, and in 2015 his novel A Cure for Suicide was longlisted for the National Book Awards. Ball was named one of the Granta Best of Young American Novelists in 2017. Among Ball’s published works are five other novels, including How to Set a Fire and Why and Silence Once Begun; a number of poetry and prose collections; a book of drawings and a pedagogical monograph, Notes on My Dunce Cap. He lives in Chicago, where he teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jesse Ball said: “It is heartening to learn that this support, the Gordon Burn Prize, has been given to my book, Census, a book that in many ways is not my own. From the first, it was for my brother, a person who no longer exists (he is in the ground). As his, it is a book pointed at a world that we do not live in, but perhaps could. I would like for people to read the work because I think we can see differently than we do. We need not be limited by the poverty that is forced upon us, when we are already, every one of us, so rich in sight.” Jesse Ball wins £5000 and the opportunity to take a three-month writing retreat at Gordon Burn’s cottage in the Scottish Borders. The shortlist for the Gordon Burn Prize 2018 was: • Census, Jesse Ball (Granta Books) • H(a)ppy, Nicola Barker (William Heinemann) • In Our Mad and Furious City, Guy Gunaratne (Tinder Press, Headline) • Crudo, Olivia Laing (Picador) • The Cost of Living, Deborah Levy (Hamish Hamilton) • I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara (Faber & Faber) The Gordon Burn Prize, run in partnership by the Gordon Burn Trust, New Writing North, Faber & Faber and Durham Book Festival, seeks to celebrate the work of those who follow in Gordon Burn’s footsteps: novels which dare to enter history and interrogate the past; non-fiction adventurous enough to inhabit characters and events in order to create new and vivid realities. Find out more www.gordonburnprize.com New Writing North PO Box 1277, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 5BP Tel: 0191 204 8850 office@newwritingnorth.com     Like     Tweet     Forward

The latest news from New Writing North Durham Book Festival 2018 Durham Book Festival is almost upon us and as we switch into full festival mode, we’re pleased to see our audience is as excited about the programme as we are. Many events have now sold out, so please book soon if you’re hoping to join us in Durham this October. You’ll know that our newly commissioned work is really important to us and we’re proud to premiere events and books in Durham that go on to tour other festivals and into bookshops around the country. You can find all our commissions here. This year all of our commissions have gone to northern writers, several of whom came through an open call. Do support this new work if you can, and help to foster a culture of new writing from the north of England. Free creative writing workshops and readings to celebrate Julia Darling We’re thrilled to bring out a collection of Julia Darling’s short stories, Pearl, through our publishing imprint Mayfly Press. The collection includes classic stories from Julia’s Bloodlines collection, alongside others that appeared in anthologies, magazines and were broadcast on Radio 4. To celebrate its publication, we’re offering a series of readings and free creative writing workshops in Durham, Chester-Le-Street, Newton Aycliffe, Sedgefield and Newcastle. The workshops are all free and open to everyone – no experience necessary, but must be booked in advance. Find out more and book now. You can pre-oder Pearl here. Age 12-19? Join a Young Writers group It’s a new term for our Young Writers Groups and another chance for us to remind all the young people in our network that joining a Young Writers Group is fun, free and open to everyone. There are creative writing groups on Saturdays in Newcastle, South Shields, Amble and Cramlington, and a brand new songwriting group on a Wednesday evening in Newcastle.  Come along and take your first steps in writing with us! Find out more. Songwriting for Girls workshop We’re excited to be working with Pop Recs and We Make Culture on Songwriting for Girls, a workshop for young female or female identifying songwriters aged 11-15. The workshop will be delivered by Liz Corney of The Cornshed Sisters and Rebecca Young from This Little Bird, and will be a chance for girls to have a go at songwriting in a supportive environment. More information can be found at Facebook or by emailing holly@newwritingnorth.com. You can sign up directly here. Cree: a new graphic novel by Una As huge graphic novel fans, we’re ridiculously excited that Mayfly Press is publishing its first graphic novel this autumn, created by the inimitable Una, the author of the 2015 hit Becoming Unbecoming. As part of Durham Book Festival 2017 we commissioned Una to write a book inspired by the lives of women in County Durham. The result is Cree; a novel which takes the reader on a journey through the rural and urban landscapes of County Durham to a ‘cree’ group, a centre for women where friendship and creativity combine. It’s a gentle, colourful story of solace and hope, in which Una experiments with symmetry and the sequential in her own distinctive and innovative style, inserting herself into the story alongside the women whose story she tells. The book is available for pre-order now and there are a handful of tickets left for Una’s event at Durham Book Festival on 5 October. She will also be sketching and signing books at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival on 13 October, where you will find her in the Page 45 room. You can pre-order Cree here. Lamanby: a live literature performance by Jacob Polley and John Alder Now touring throughout the North is our unmissable production, Lamanby. which is based on Jacob Polley’s award-winning book of poems, Jackself. The story of an extraordinary house and a troubled friendship, as well as a dream-vision of boyhood, Lamanby is charged with drama, strangeness and poetry. Through an intricate sound-world of voice, birdsong and live music, Lamanby movingly explores how we might hold on to what matters. The tour stops at Borderlines Book Festival (3 October); Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven (6 October); Durham Book Festival (14 October); NCLA (1 November); and National Centre for Writing, Norwich (10 November). Find out more. Digi Transform Earlier this year we worked with a group of 15 fantastic writers from the North East to help develop their online profiles. The Digi_Transform project, which was funded by Creative Fuse North East, enabled the writers to work with professional photographers, designers, developers and industry mentors to develop new websites and to think about how they operate across digital media. Their websites are now live and you can take a look at what they have created at newwritingnorth.com/digital-literature. Amanda Quinn writes about her experience on the programme here. Shelley Day Sclater, 2015 winner of a Northern Writers’ Award, is releasing her debut short story collection what are you like. Published by Red Squirrel Press, what are you like will be released in November this year. Huddersfield based writer John Ling has published his newest book The Paper Aeroplane Man with Olympia Publishers. The Paper Aeroplane Man is a brilliant short story collection set mostly around Huddersfield and the north of England, featuring humour, mystery and murder.  Leeds author Tom Palmer has released his newest book, Armistice Runner. The book is about a young modern day runner who finds out that her great-great-grandad was a trench runner during the First World War. Read the first 3 chapters here. South Shields born author John Orton has published the third volume in his award winning series Tales of Old South Shields. A Chill Wind off the Tyne. The book opens in 1903 with the arrival in Shields of two Yemeni seamen, and takes the reader through the twenties and thirties up to the outbreak of war. Northern based poets Amy McCauley and Anna Woodford have both been long-listed for the Not the Not the Booker Prize. Not the Not the Booker is a tongue-in-cheek new prize for a book of poetry in the spirit of the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize, chosen by public vote.  Our Read North East partners the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House have launched an exciting new comic strip competition for schools! Inspired by the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney, pupils in the North East are challenged to design a Zoo-Wee Mama comic strip. One lucky winner and their classmates will meet Jeff on November 16 and win a box of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for their school! Deadline Friday 26 October. The Bi’an Award is a writing competition open to UK-based writers of Chinese heritage, supported by Arts Council England, Arvon and Stand magazine. Writers may submit poems of up to 20 lines, a short story of up to 1000 words, or a five-minute script in English. Prizes include free places on the Bi’an Arvon residential writing course (1–6 April 2019) and publication in Stand. Deadline Friday 26 October. Off the Shelf Literature Festival has launched a Monster Micro Fiction Competition to mark the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein. The ‘monster’ theme is open to interpretation but the story can only be 18 words. The winning entry will be announced at the Writing Matters event and the winner will receive £100 in book tokens. Deadline Monday 15 October. Greene & Heaton are introducing The Greene Door Project, an open submissions competition for writers from BAME backgrounds. After the submission period, the two authors whose work we believe has the most promise will be given feedback and an opportunity to discuss their work with one of our agents. Deadline Wednesday 31 October. The Emma Press has launched a call for Gothic poems for an anthology to be edited by Nisha Bhakoo and Charlotte Geater. Poets are invited to send in up to three poems by 9 November 2018. Mikron Theatre Company is launching their second Writers’ Scheme this autumn, open to professional writers of any stage of their career. Send your submission to Mikron by Friday 12 October. Writers’ Block North East is looking for twelve writers to take part in a year-long programme consisting of workshops, one-to-one mentoring and advice from industry professionals. Deadline Monday 15 October. Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre is inviting established writers to apply for the Jessie Kesson Fellowship. The successful candidate will receive time and space to develop their work, as well as opportunities to expand their practice. This includes a stipend of £350 per week, plus accommodation. Essential that applicants have experience of delivering workshops or working with children and young people and/or community groups. Deadline Friday 19 October. DHH Literary Agency is hosting a ‘Pitch an Agent Day’ in York this December in search of diverse talent. For a chance to pitch to one of the team on Saturday 1 December, aspiring authors should submit a one-page synopsis of their novel and the first 5,000 words to pitchdhh@dhhliteraryagency.com. Deadline Thursday 25 October. As part of the 50th anniversary of the twinning of Durham with Tübingen in Germany, there is an opportunity for poets with connections to Durham to apply for a three month residency in Tübingen. The residency would begin in April or May 2019 and lasts for three months. The writer will be provided with accommodation and 1000 Euros per month. Travel costs will be paid for. The successful writer would give a public reading at the beginning and at the end of their stay and give a weekend seminar at the university.  If interested, please send a brief résumé and samples of work and/or publications as soon as possible to b.stobie@durham.gov.uk and m.cleland@durham.gov.uk This year's NAWE conference will be in York from 9-11 November 2018. The conference brings together writers and educators from across the UK and beyond to explore the best in teaching creative writing practice and debate today’s issues. The full programme is available online here. Booking closes Monday 8 October.  In time for National Novel Writing Month, Teesside based author Tracey Iceton is running two novel writing master classes. If you want to kick-start your novel writing join her at Cockerton Library, Darlington (6 October, 1.00pm-3.30pm, £15 per person) OR Hartlepool Community Hub (13 October 10.30-12.30, £12 per person). For more details and to book contact traceyiceton@hotmail.co.uk. Inscribe is offering the Full of Life workshop on Saturday 6 October, 11:00am-4:00pm. Full of Life is an opportunity to explore the older years of life and ageing in the present day with Jocelyn Watson.  Join poets Jennifer Lee Tsai, Mary Jean Chan and Xi Chuan for Both Sides Now: Writing from East and West on Saturday 13 October, a day including practical writing workshops, networking and dinner at one of Manchester's longest-established and best-known Chinese restaurants. Interlace words with Maya Chowdhry for Tracery, a digital poetry workshop in a filigree of forms, using simple digital tools for creating sound, image and language. The workshop will be on Sunday 14 October, 11am-1pm at Ilkley Arts Studio as part of Ilkley Literature Festival. You will need a phone, tablet or laptop, and a willingness to go beyond the page! The Urban Writers’ Retreat is taking over Space Six in Newcastle, on Sunday 18 October and Sunday 25 November. The one-day retreats are short enough to fit into everyday life while still giving writers time to switch off from the world and get on with writing. They’re currently offering a discount for these dates – book your place here. Author, playwright, storyteller and experienced creative writing tutor Irene Lofthouse is facilitating a six-week course focussing on short story form, from dribbles and drabbles to two thousand words. The course begins Oct 1 and is held at the Grade II-listed Undercliffe Cemetery in Bradford, location of many films and TV series. Contact irenelofthousewriter@gmail.com for further details. The second Sedgefield Book Festival will be taking place from 29 September to 20 October. They have a great list of events this year at the community centre in Ceddesfeld Hall. Contact Norma Neal (01740620091) or Sarah Guest (01740622186) for more info. Out The Box Poetry is running a Poetry and Prose Open Mic with two amazing guest poets, Gill Lambert and Simma Singer. The open mic will take place at Richmond Library on Tuesday 2 October, at 7:15pm-8:45pm. Hexham Book Festival has been working collaboratively with Northumberland Libraries and Arts & Heritage to an exciting quiet space to eight of the region's Libraries. Authors Tony Ross and Katherine Rundell will be appearing at special events to celebrate the tour in Ashington & Berwick upon Tweed Libraries. The intiative will launch at Berwick Upon Tweed Library on Monday 8 October, 5:15pm. Book your place here. Sarah Moss is returning to Cogito Books to talk about her latest book Ghost Wall, inspired by visits to Northumberland, on Thursday 18 October at 7.30pm in The Beaumont Hotel, Hexham. Tickets are £8, including a glass of wine on arrival, and are available now from Cogito Books 01434602555. Words of Colour Director and broadcaster Joy Francis steers the discussion for the Asian Writer’s Festival on Saturday 20 October at the Wesley Conference Centre with the shortlist of the SI Leeds Literary Prize. This year's judges are Sharmaine Lovegrove, Susheila Nasta, Kadija George and Winnie Li.  Publisher, editor, broadcaster and critic Ellah Allfrey will be in conversation with the 2018 SI Leeds Literary Prize shortlisted writers at the Southbank Centre London Literature Festival on Tuesday 23 October. The prize is an award for unpublished fiction by black and Asian women in the UK.  Former Test Match Special Legend and National Treasure Henry Blofeld will be signing copies of his memoir Over & Out on Sunday 30 September from 12:30pm at DRAKE - The Bookshop, Stockton on Tees. Make sure to also join DRAKE on Saturday 6 October from 9:30am as they celebrate their 3rd birthday and their two author talks. Join Alicia Drake at 4:00pm as she discusses her debut novel I Love You Too Much then see author Laura Barnett and folk musician Kathryn Williams at 7:00pm for their collaboration over Laura’s latest novel Greatest Hits. Get your tickets for the author talks by calling DRAKE at 01642909970.  The Word is commissioning an artist to take part in their Lost Dialects project, celebrating forgotten words in the North East. Based in South Shields.  Deadline 15 October. The British Library needs a new Data Architect to provide data architecture expertise for their projects. Based in Boston Spa.  Deadline 8 October. The Reader is recruiting a Digital Project Manager to lead the implementation of their changing digital infrastructure. Based in Liverpool. Deadline 1 October. If you have news that you would like to be considered for inclusion in the newsletter please contact victoria@newwritingnorth.com. The deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 22 October 2018. 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. New Writing North PO Box 1277, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 5BP Tel: 0191 204 8850 office@newwritingnorth.com     Like     Tweet     Forward