Journal Culture Awards
We were delighted to hear this week that a number of projects that we are involved with have been nominated for The Journal’s Culture Awards. The 2009 Durham Book Festival, programmed by New Writing North and produced by Durham City Arts, is in the running for Best Event, Durham, and The Story Engine, which last year welcomed Oscar-winning Simon Beaufoy to Darlington, is nominated for Best Event, Tees Valley.

The Leighton Group’s generous sponsorship of the Northern Writers’ Awards has also been nominated in the Business Partnership category of the awards. We are also delighted to see Toby Martinez de las Rivas, a Northern Writers’ Award winner, in the running for Newcomer of the Year, and to see Laura Lindlow and Richard Milward, two writers we’re proud to know, in the running for Writer of the Year. The gongs are handed out later this month and we will be keeping as many fingers crossed as we can spare.

Watch out for The Galloping Stone
The publication of The Galloping Stone marks the culmination of poet Gillian Allnutt’s writing residency at The Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of Torture, and on Wednesday 17 March, from 12.30pm-1.30pm at Gallery North, you can see contributors to the book perform work inspired by the residency. During her residency, Gillian worked on a one-to-one basis with people who had been though the most traumatic experiences in their countries of origin, most of them now living their lives in limbo, negotiating the asylum system in this country. The Galloping Stone features writing from these people, as well as staff and volunteers at the centre. Gillian will also present some of her own poetry, which she wrote during the project. Admission is free, but you will need to reserve a ticket by emailing booking@newwritingnorth.com.

Young writers make Book of Songs
The Book of Songs, which we published and launched last week, marked the end of Kate Fox’s year-long residency as associate writer at New Writing North. For the past year, young writers from across the region have been meeting fortnightly to discuss and develop their work in a group led by Kate, with much appreciated help from other volunteers. We’re planning to continue the group meetings on a fortnightly basis, but are always looking for new members. We’re also exploring the possibility of extending the meetings into other towns in the region. If you know of a young writer aged 13 to 19 who would like to join, email olivia@newwritingnorth.com with contact details and check out this interview in The Journal, in which Kate spoke about the group and her time at NWN.

Deadlines, deadlines…
Don’t forget that the deadline for submissions of short stories inspired by Joan Littlewood’s Oh What A Lovely War, which runs from 6-27 March at Northern Stage, is 12 noon on Friday 12 March. Short stories submitted must be no longer than 2,000 words. This scheme is open to people who live in the north east of England. You can find details of the Listen at Lunch series in our 5 February newsletter.

And the deadline for submissions to the Northern Writers’ Awards is Wednesday 10 March – please do make sure you send your submission in time to get to us, as applications cannot be hand-delivered and we will not accept any submissions which arrive late.You can find out more and download entry documents at www.newwritingnorth.com/awards/awards.php?section=308.


People

Anna Woodford wins Crashaw Prize
Congratulations to Anna Woodford, who is a winner of this year’s international Crashaw Prize, run by Salt Publishing. She will have a full-length collection published in the UK, USA and Australia later this year. The competition, which announced its shortlist in January, attracted 120 full-length manuscripts from poets in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

You can take the woman out of the North East…
Some of you may know Ann Reid, who lived on Teesside for several years and who has just graduated from an MA in creative writing at Newcastle University. Ann and her husband were originally from the USA and recently moved back there and Ann, following encouragement from her tutors on the MA course, has started a blog about the experience, the sense of loss of leaving her adopted home of north east England, and the changes to her hometown since she’s left. It’s a feeling we can all identify with, along with the problem of having too many books to fit in your new house! You can read the blog at http://noplacelikehome2010.wordpress.com.

Carolyn Jess-Cooke: Inroads book launch
Carolyn Jess-Cooke, winner of a 2008 Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North, launches Inroads, her new collection of poetry, at Newcastle City Library on Thursday 11 March, 6pm. Free event, no booking required.


In the North East

Hexham Book Festival announces 2010 line-up
The Hexham Book Festival has announced details of its 2010 festival, which this year runs from 23 April-2 May, with more than 30 authors of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, gardening, history, politics, food and wine, crime and writing for children, as well as a number of creative writing workshops. The line-up includes Margaret Drabble, PD James, Val McDermid, Shirley Williams, Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, AL Kennedy, Wendy Cope, Ruth Padel, Simon Hoggart, Stephen Anderton, Martin Wainwright, Barbara Trapido, Tamasin Day-Lewis, and the River Cottage team.

There’ll be a whole day of crime writing from guest director Val McDermid; story-telling and book stalls; fabulous foodie deals and wine tastings; film and book events at the Forum Cinema; and horticulture and cakes at The Garden Station. The fest is also extending its geographical range to present an event in Alnwick Castle with Philippa Gregory. For more information, see www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk.


National opportunities

Wicked award for young writers
The Wicked Young Writers’ Award has been established to develop writing talent in young people between the ages of 5 and 25. The top 20 winning entries from each age category will be invited to a special prize ceremony held at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, while one overall young writer will be chosen as a winner from each age category and will receive tickets to see the London production of Wicked and a writing master class from one of the author judges. All 100 winning entries will be published in an anthology, Wicked Young Writers’ Award 2010. For more information, see www.wickedyoungwriters.com/about_the_award.html. Deadline for entries: 31 July.

Playwriting competition for young writers
Rewrite has announced the launch of this year’s playwriting competition for aspiring writers from the age of 11-21. This is the third year the competition has been held and the theme this year is ‘Ten’. The play should be no more than seven minutes long. It’s free to enter and the winning plays will get a staged reading at the Oval House Theatre, directed by a professional director and read by professional actors. For more information, go to www.rewrite.org.uk. Deadline for entries: 14 March.

Biscuit Short Story Prize 2010
The Biscuit Short Story Prize 2010 is now open for entries. The competition carries a first prize of £1,500, or the winner’s collection of shorts or novella published plus £500. For more information, including how to enter, see www.biscuitpublishing.com, where you can also read previous winners’ stories. Deadline for entries: 14 April.

Mystery Women Short Story Competition
The Mystery Women Short Story Competition, which is open only to unpublished writers, carries a first prize of £100, with the winning story published in Mystery Women magazine, plus a ticket for the CrimeFest Conference 2011. The crime story must be 1000 words, and entitled Mystery Woman or Mystery Women. The fee for entering is £10 per story, with a maximum of two stories per person. For more information, see www.mysterywomen.co.uk. Deadline for entries: 15 March.


Jobs

Hosking Houses Trust: writer in residence
The Hosking Houses Trust is seeking to appoint a writer in residence for its twelfth arts residency. The appointment, which is restricted to women aged 40 or over, is for a minimum of two months and a maximum of one year. The residency is based in Stratford upon Avon, and a monthly bursary of £750 is available for the resident writer. For more details, see www.hoskinghouses.co.uk. Deadline for applications: 12 April.

The Poetry School: regional programme co-ordinator, Manchester and the North West
The Poetry School is looking for a freelance literature professional with a passion for poetry to contribute to the programming, coordination, promotion and development of its most active region outside of London. The new co-ordinator will inherit an established programme in robust health, with real opportunities and challenges ahead as the organisation looks to consolidate and grow. Fee: £2,400 per annum. For a job description and details of how to apply, email administration@poetryschool.com or phone 020 7582 1679. Deadline for applications: 22 March.


Workshops and courses

How to get Published: Bishop Auckland Town Hall, Saturday 6 March, 10am-12pm
This workshop, in association with Mslexia magazine and led by writer and editor Debbie Taylor, is aimed at fiction writers and poets and will be made up of exercises identifying the characteristics of an intriguing, inviting title and applying them to a writing project. Because this event is in celebration of International Women’s Day, the workshop is only open to women. Tickets: £10 (£8). To book, call 01388 602 610 or go to www.bishopaucklandtownhall.org.uk.

The Night We Know: Moon and Stars, Sleeping and Not Sleeping, Night Workers and Travellers: Berwick Library, Thursday 18 March, 10am-12 noon
Poetry workshop exploring the theme of night, followed by exercises for people of all abilities to experiment with personal poetry. Free workshop but booking essential on 01289 334051.

Creative writing spring schools at Teesside University
Teesside University writers in residence and MA tutors Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby are running a number of free writing courses in Middlesbrough and Darlington. ‘Introduction to Creative Writing’ is an ideal module for those just beginning to explore short stories, poetry and scripts or those who have been writing for a while but want to go on to develop their skills, while ‘Regional Writing’ will run at Darlington only and encourages writers to imaginatively explore location, a sense of place and regional identities through structured creative writing exercises and the study of a number of eclectic texts from contemporary and popular literature. For more information, see www.tees.ac.uk/springuniversity.

Writing From Locality: free Holywell writing course
A creative writing course for people who do not have a degree or equivalent qualification is to run at Holywell Community Centre for ten weeks on Monday evenings. Run by Barry Stone, Writing From Locality will offer participants the chance to write imaginatively about the village, Holywell Dene, and the surrounding area. For more information, email Margaret Rochester at madgeholywell@googlemail.com or call 0191 237 2276 or 07833 162758.


Miscellany

Take part in a Culture Show books special
BBC2’s The Culture Show is looking for contributors for a special programme about books and popular fiction. They’re looking for contributors who are passionate about books, whether as readers, writers, publishers or literature professionals. See www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/beonashow/culture_show.shtml for more information.

Creative writing magazine looking for submissions
Platinum Page is a new bi-monthly creative writing magazine that is looking for well-written short stories of up to 1,500 words. The magazine is available by subscription, details of which can be found at www.platinum-page.blogspot.com, along with further guidelines.

Writers make mischief with rabbits
On Friday 26 and Sunday 28 February, a mysterious figure entered Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema dressed in a rabbit suit and walked away with canisters containing one of the films from this year’s Northern Lights Film Festival. Can you to help identify who this mysterious figure is, uncover his motivations for the theft, and assist in retrieving the stolen canisters before the festival’s closing night on 27 March when the stolen film should be playing to a packed house? Let’s Make Mischief is an alternative reality game that runs throughout the month of March as part of the Northern Lights Film Festival. It was conceived by filmmaker Ian Fenton and creative media company Mere Mortals. To find out more, go to www.letsmakemischief.com.

New Five Dials goes online
The new issue of Five Dials, the free digital literary magazine published by Hamish Hamilton, is now online and features new fiction from Paul Murray, new poetry from Melissa Broder, a piece about Raymond Chandler and his unused book titles, and Jon Savage on the year 1974. Five Dials is at http://fivedials.com/fivedials.

E-book economies of sale
With Apple’s iPad looming and sales of the Sony e-reader and Amazon Kindle picking up speed, the New York Times looks at just how much it actually costs to produce a printed book versus a digital one.

Bound for glory
If you’re sick to death of reading about ebooks, you can always refresh your palate with this Bibliodyssey gallery of beautiful hand-bound books from the collection at the Royal National Library of The Netherlands. (And yes, we are fully aware of the irony of suggesting you look at a computer image of a book as an antidote to having to grapple with all that stuff about electronic publishing.)

Girls and boys
Boys read as much as girls, but the books they choose are far less challenging and easier to comprehend than those selected by girls, according to a major new study of children’s reading habits. For more information, see www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/boys-read-as-much-as-girls-but-prefer-the-simpler-books-1913667.html.


Deadline for the next newsletter

If you have news that you would like to submit for inclusion in the newsletter please contact olivia@newwritingnorth.com. The deadline for receipt of information for the next newsletter is 15 March.

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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.