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- 8 May 2012Contribute to new Tyneside Twitter novelNew media artists and writers Jon Winet and Peter Likarish are busy in pre-production on Tyneside Novel, a Twitter-based fiction work to be created over a three-day period from 13-15 June by a soon-to-be-formed community of writers. The US-based duo will travel to Newcastle to work on site at Culture Lab and hope to involve local writers in the project.view
- 3 May 2012Spring season gets underway with Murder Wall launchOur spring season got off to a great start last weekend with the launch of Mari Hannah’s novel, The Murder Wall, at Hexham Book Festival. The detective at the heart of the novel was brought to life by actress Phillippa Wilson and Mari talked about the book’s journey to publication and what it’s like to be a first-time published author. Our next event is on 15 May, when we will be launching new novels by Dan Smith and Carolyn Jess-Cooke at Waterstones Newcastle at 6.30pm.view
- 2 May 2012Juice Festival Press Gang: volunteer journalism opportunityNew Writing North is teaming up with Juice Festival to search for young writers to take part in their Press Gang project, which will give writers the opportunity to write pre-festival articles, reviews and blogs for the Juice Festival 2012.view
- 19 April 2012NWN launches spring/summer programmeWe’re full of the joys of spring this week, and have just launched our new season programme, which heralds the arrival of some great books by regional authors, including exciting new novels from Richard Milward, Carolyn Jess-Cooke and Dan Smith, and a debut from Mari Hannah. We’re also very proud to be launching a new international award in memory of the writer Gordon Burn.view
- 11 April 2012What About Me? New Writing North presents a discussion about dementia, combining arts and scienceFor the past six months, New Writing North has been working in partnership with The Changing Age team at Newcastle University, Alzheimer’s Society and Age UK Newcastle to better understand the science and the experience of living with dementia. This work has informed the play Geordie Sinatra by Fiona Evans, which opens at Live Theatre on 18 April. We are hosting a very special pre-show event before the 25 April performance at which writers involved with the project will discuss their exploration into the social, ethical and medical issues of dementia with scientists specialising in dementia and related disorders.view
- 5 April 2012Wonders of the North team need a playwrightWe’re delighted to be taking part in the Wonders of the North festival, a festival aiming to raise the sense of belonging which young people feel to this summer's Olympics by celebrating the region, its places, stories and traditions. The festival is organised by Changemakers and each of the ten projects which make up the festival will be led, directed and devised by a team of young people. The festival will take place throughout Newcastle and Northumberland from 27 July-5 August, to coincide with the Olympic opening ceremony. We are looking for an experienced playwright to work with the Wonders of the North team to write a series of mini-plays/monologues.view
- 22 March 2012Read Regional 2012: Open call for submissions for new books by Northern writersWe are delighted to open the call for writers and publishers to propose their books for inclusion in the 2012 Read Regional campaign. The campaign has run successfully in the North East for three years and due to this success is now expanding into Yorkshire and Humberside. Deadline for submissions Monday 30 April 2012.view
- 12 March 2012Young writers needed for Wonders of the North festivalNew Writing North is looking for young writers aged 11-19 to get involved in a playwriting project, which will be part of the Wonders of the North festival taking place across the region from 27 July-4 August. Young people will work with a professional playwright and young actors and directors from Northern Stage to produce a piece of site-specific theatre which will be performed “on location”, as part of the festival. Young people involved will not only write the play but will plan and direct the project too.view
- 10 March 2012Geordie Sinatra takes to the stage at Live Fiona Evans’ new play, Geordie Sinatra, opens at Live Theatre from 18 April-12 May. Produced in association with New Writing North, the show is a dark comedy that gets under the skin of dementia. Alongside the production, New Writing North has been working with three writers – Fiona, Rebecca Jenkins and Romi Jones – on a project that explores the uses of creative writing with people suffering from dementia.view
- 10 March 2012Hexham Book Festival launches 2012 programmeThe programme for the seventh Hexham Book Festival has been launched and is available to view at www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk. The festival takes place between 23 April-3 May and this year events are taking place in Hexham and across Northumberland. New Writing North is delighted to be helping out with the festival and we will be hosting a couple of events within the programme including the national launch of Mari Hannah’s novel,The Murder Wall, with Macmillan, on 26 April and a book group event with Sarah Moss on her bookNight Walking on 1 May.view
- 5 March 2012Cowgate Illuminations: Call for expressions of interest for artists commissionWunderbar and Newcastle City Council Arts Development Team are looking to work with artists or creative people to lead on a project that illuminates The Cowgate Centre, developed and designed through DIY, community-led means.view
- 29 February 2012Young writers' group launches in South ShieldsFollowing our very successful day of mini-workshops for young writers at the beginning of the month, on Saturday 3 March New Writing North will launch a regular young writers' group in South Shields. Sessions will take place in the Learning Room at South Shields Museum and Art Gallery between 11am and 1pm. It will be led by poet and micro-fiction writer Amy Mackelden and welcomes writers between the ages of 11-19. Dates for future sessions are: 2 March, 24 March and then fortnightly from 28 April.view
- 21 February 2012BBC seek writers, poets and performers for CBeebies showThe Rhyme Rocket will aid basic literacy among early years children and open the audience’s eyes to a mouth-watering world of tongue-twisting, eye-popping and laugh out loud rhymes, poems and songs. It is due to be aired in mid-March, with a second series in the summer. The BBC is looking for for enthusiastic performers/poets with great ideas which will engage and entertain the young audience of 4-6 year-olds. The performances should be 15 minutes each and could be combined with an end performance with up to 90 children interacting. Deadline for applications: Friday 24 February.Click through to see the BBC brief.view
- 10 February 2012Help us map the literary NorthWe’ve teamed up with NALD, the National Association for Literature Development, to create a literary map of northern England. Over the coming months, we’ll be helping staff at NALD collate information and contact details of every person and organisation in the North East, North West and Yorkshire who’s involved in literature development, publishing or book events.view
- 31 January 2012Cuckoo Quarterly Issue 2 published viewThe new literary magazine created, written and edited entirely by young people, has had a phenomenal success with its first edition, which launched in October. Cuckoo Quarterly features writing of all forms, from poetry and short stories to periodicals, op-eds, interviews and reviews. Issue 2 includes an interview with writer and broadcaster Jon Ronson, who spoke to 15-year-old journalist Dani Watson. It also features a regular “rant” section, where young people can vent their frustration on a topic of their choice. The editorial team was delighted with the wide range of submissions they received for issue 2, from as far away as India, the USA and Nigeria, some of which are featured in the issue.
- 31 January 2012Peter Straughan picks up Oscar nominationCongratulations to New Writing North alumnus Peter Straughan who along with his late partner, Bridget O’Connor, has been nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation of John le Carre’s Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. Peter was one of the first writers whose career New Writing North helped along. He won the People’s Play competition many years ago and went on to write for Live Theatre, to win the BBC Alfred Bradley award and to be commissioned by many other producers.view
- 17 January 2012Northern Writers' Awards 2012 open for entryOnce again we’re inviting writers across the north east of England to submit their work of poetry or prose for the chance to win a share of a £25,000 prize pot. Writers are invited to submit up to 3,000 words or up to 30 poems of a work in development and are open to any resident of the North East (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and the Tees Valley) writing fiction, narrative non-fiction, poetry or children’s books.view
- 10 January 2012People’s Play Award 2012 open for submissionsThe People’s Theatre and New Writing North are pleased to announce the return of the People’s Play Award. This biennial competition is run to find an exciting new play that will be produced for one week in the studio theatre at the People's Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, in November 2012. The winning writer will receive an award of £2,000.view
- 8 December 2011Kate Edwards joins Frances Lincoln judging panelSeven Stories chief executive Kate Edwards has joined the 2013 judging panel of The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Award, founded in 2009 to encourage and promote diversity in children’s fiction. Also new on board are Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti and award-winning novelist Alex Wheatle, who take their places alongside fellow judges Jake Hope and Janetta Otter-Barry.view
- 30 November 2011No Redemption photographic exhibition in Newcastle viewLast year, we were very proud to be involved in the publication of No Redemption by Keith Pattison and David Peace (Flambard Press, 2010), bringing together photos by Keith taken in Easington at the time of the miners’ strike in 1984, and words by David. From 2 December-27 January 2012, the exhibition of photos from the book and others taken at the time and since by Keith will be open at the University Gallery at Northumbria University, with free admission.
- 29 November 2011ArtWorks North East: Call for artists and professionalsArtWorks North East consists of a group of partners from cultural organisations in the north east area, led by Sunderland University. They are looking for artists, producers, art makers, academics, and practitioners to make a contribution to contemporary research via participation in peer artist learning and focus groups.view
- 28 November 2011Northern Writers’ Award winner Niel sells bookNiel Bushnell’s Sorrowline, the book that won him a Northern Writers’ Award this year, and a second novel, Timesmith, have been sold to Andersen Press. German-language rights to both books have also sold to publishers Heyne in a two-book deal worth six figures. Both of Niel’s books feature Jack Morrow, a boy who discovers he can move through time using ‘sorrowlines’, lines that connect every grave to the day of that person’s death.view
- 25 November 2011Pitch for Brass 2012Brass: Durham International Festival returns in July 2012 for another fortnight of events celebrating contemporary brass music. Brass: Pitch is an open call to creative practitioners, individual or collective, based in England working in any art form including interdisciplinary arts practices.view
- 21 November 2011Northern Crime competitionWe are currently reading and assessing the entries to our first Northern Crime competition run to find new work for our new Moth imprint which we have created in conjunction with The Leighton Group. The project was our first ‘Greater North’ project and was open to writers from across the north of England. Entries came from across this new area of interest. We look forward to announcing the winning writers in the new year.view
- 21 November 2011New poets programme beginsWe are about to begin a professional development programme for talented new North East poets from the Northern Writers’ Awards in association with the Poetry School. Led by writer and editor Clare Pollard, the programme will see the group editing and developing their work and exploring new publication opportunities. It’s our first joint project with the Poetry School and we are delighted to be working in partnership with them.view
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