North East Theatre Consortium Script Development programme
We are pleased to invite writers from the North East to apply to be part of a script development programme which will take place from January-August 2010. Up to four writers will be mentored and supported by theatre director Deborah Bruce to write a full-length play during this period. At the end of the process, we would anticipate that one of the plays will be selected to be produced and toured by the North East Theatre Consortium, a group of organisations led by New Writing North along with three regional venues: Queen’s Hall in Hexham, The Customs House in South Shields, and Darlington Arts Centre. The consortium has previously produced and toured Pub Quiz by Carina Rodney and Queen Bee by Margaret Wilkinson. Click here to download full details about the scheme and guidelines on how to enter. Deadline: Friday 15 January.

Northern Writers’ Awards 2010
Tis the usual season for kicking off the Northern Writers’ Awards, but for the 2010 awards we’ve decided to move the dates back a little. So if you were wondering, fret not – we will be accepting submissions from 10 January 2010, and the deadline for entries will be in the middle of March.
We’ll post more information on our website and in the newsletter as soon as we have it, including who the judges for 2010 will be.


People

Becci scores job at Atlantic
Congratulations to long-term New Writing North intern Rebecca Sharpe, who has just secured a full-time job at Atlantic Books, the independent publisher based in London. Atlantic published one of this year’s Read Regional books, Alice de Smith’s Welcome to Life, as well as Booker prize-winning The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, and many others.

Becci worked with us when she was still a student at Newcastle University on the Common Book 2008 project, and, once she had graduated, led on setting up the Durham Student Readers reading groups this year before Durham Book Festival. She was a great asset to New Writing North while she was working here, and we’re sure she’ll have the same impact at Atlantic.

UK and foreign sales for Carolyn Jess-Cooke
New Writing North is delighted to hear that Carolyn Jess-Cooke, winner of a Northern Writers’ Award in 2008 for her poetry, has secured sales in 10 languages for her first novel, The Guardian Angel’s Journal. Sales are through her agent at Darley Anderson, Madeleine Bustan, who signed Carolyn in September after meeting her at a reception New Writing North organised in July to introduce new North East writers to the publishing industry. Madeleine took The Guardian Angel’s Journal to Frankfurt Book Fair to present to foreign publishers in October.

Carolyn’s UK publisher is Little, Brown, and the book will be on the shelves early in 2011. Foreign sales include France, Germany, Italy, Holland and China.


In the North East

Poetry Society workshops in the North East: spaces still available
The Poetry Society is running two poetry workshops in the North East in the next week or so, and spaces are still available for them.

Why Write? With Jen Hadfield
Saturday 21 November, 11am-5pm: The Thistle Hotel, Fry Street, Middlesbrough, TS1 1JH. Price: £49 (£35 concs)
Is there a poem which has been personally significant to the way you think about life and writing? Jen will bring examples of ‘credo’ poems from, among others, WS Graham, Tom Leonard and Yannis Ritsos and help you put together a poem of your own in which you explore what your writing is for. If you’ve ever wondered why you write, this is for you.

Life Drawing in Poetry with Colette Bryce
Saturday 28 November, 10.30am-4.30pm: Alington House, 4 North Bailey, Durham, DH1 3ET. Price: £49 (£35 concs)
So many poems of love and praise, yet how many of the faces can you actually remember? How many of their subjects can you visualise? Do words fail us in capturing a likeness? The morning session takes the portrait as its focus, exploring ways in which poets have attempted to portray the physical reality of others. In the afternoon, you’ll have the opportunity to share one poem of your own and to receive constructive feedback from Colette and other students. Suitable for those with some experience of writing poetry. Please bring 16 copies of your poem to share, on the day.
Further details for both events and booking information at www.poetryschool.com or call 020 7582 1679.


Jobs

Literary Officer, Live Theatre, Newcastle
Live Theatre is one of the leading new writing theatres in the country and is looking to appoint a Literary Officer to assist the Literary Manager and Artistic Director in the development and delivery of the company’s creative programme. Four days per week, 18 month fixed term contract. Salary: £14,400-£16,000 PA (£18,000-£20,000 pro rata). For an application pack and person specification, see www.live.org.uk or email clare@live.org.uk. Deadline for applications: Friday 4 December 2009. Interviews: w/c 14 December 2009.

Acting Writers in Translation Programme Manager
English PEN is looking for a literature professional to join the team on a temporary basis until 31 October 2010, delivering the work of the Writers in Translation programme, overseeing the development of the PEN Atlas, and creating activities to mark the fifth anniversary of Writers in Translation. The Acting Programme Manager will work with publishers to ensure that their titles reach the widest possible audience, through creative promotional campaigns. This is a three day per week role, joining English PEN’s staff of eight, based at the new Free Word Centre in London’s Clerkenwell. Salary: £23-25,000, pro rata, depending on experience, three days per week. Deadline for applications: Wednesday 25 November 2009. For more information, see www.englishpen.org/aboutenglishpen/vacancies.


National opportunities

Mslexia Women’s Short Story Competition open for submissions
The competition is judged this year by Tracy Chevalier and all winning stories will be published in Mslexia magazine. Send stories of up to 2,200 words on any theme. First prize: £2,000, plus one-week writing retreat at Chawton House Library (accommodation only) and a day with a Virago editor; second prize: £500; third prize: £250; three runners-up each win £100. Deadline for submissions is 25 January 2010 and the fee for each entry is £8. Further details and full rules at www.mslexia.co.uk.


The Listening Post

Pints & Poetry night with guest reader, Toby Martinez de las Rivas
25 November, 7.30pm at the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle
Pints & Poetry provides regular opportunities for the talented young poets of the North East to showcase their work. This reading, the fourth event to date, promises an exciting line-up of writers under the age of 25 performing their own work. Pints & Poetry will also be hosting one of the Faber New Poets for 2009, Toby Martinez de las Rivas, who’s based in Gateshead and won a Northern Writers’ Award in 2008. If you missed the recent Faber New Poets tour, you can still catch the BBC Culture Show story about it on iPlayer (from 14:05, until Sunday) as well as our own photos from the Durham leg of the tour, which we helped organise.


Miscellany

The state of British screenwriting
If you’re at all interested in screenwriting (or even if you’re just interested in high-quality drama), don’t miss this outstanding piece in Prospect magazine at www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/10/why-britain-cant-do-the-wire.

Living on $500,000 a year
How on earth did F Scott Fitzgerald get by on a mere half a million a year? Find out at www.theamericanscholar.org/living-on-500000-a-year.


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 30 November.

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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.