People's Play 2010 open for submissions
New Writing North and the People’s Theatre Company are proud to announce the launch of the 2010 People’s Play Award. The award 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 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, in November 2010. The winning writer will receive an award of £2,000. The competition aims to discover and develop new writers for theatre and is only open to writers who have not yet received a full professional production of their work on the stage. For full details on how to apply, see www.newwritingnorth.com/awards/awards.php?section=584.

New NWN book group starting in Durham
The new Durham Book Group, run by Jo Colley, will feature a mix of fiction and poetry. The group's first meeting is on 8 February at Leonard’s Café in Durham, when the book under discussion is What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn, which won the prestigious First Novel Award at the 2008 Costas. The book is about a disparate group of characters coming together over a missing girl and features a woman detective with a monkey on her shoulder! If you would like to join the group, contact durhambookgroup@newwritingnorth.com or phone 0191 233 3850.

Holocaust Memorial Day: 27 January 2010
On Wednesday 27 January, Durham Student Readers are marking Holocaust Memorial Day with a special day of reading and film events. At 1.30pm, the group will discuss The Reader by Bernard Schlink at Vennels Café, and then in the evening, the Gala cinema is showing the film of The Reader, along with Night and Fog, the celebrated documentary by Alain Resnais. To give people a special insight into the Nazi period and the films, the films will be introduced by Dr Sheila Wittlinger from Durham University. The evening starts at 7.40pm, with the films screening from 8pm. Tickets for films cost from £5 and are available from www.galadurham.co.uk.


People

Val McDermid wins CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award
Val McDermid has been named as the recipient of this year’s prestigious CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, which honours outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing. The announcement has been made by the Crime Writers’ Association in recognition of Val’s work over more than 20 years. The Diamond Dagger is the latest accolade in a highly successful career which last year saw Val inducted into the Hall of Fame at the ITV3 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards.

Rosalind Wyllie play selected for Red Lion performance
Congratulations to Rosalind Wyllie, from Newcastle, whose short play, Trust, has been selected to be performed as part of the first Bare Bones evening at Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington on 25 January. Over 450 applications were received and six were chosen. More information about the evening can be found at www.barebonesnights.com/page4.htm.

Prue Phillipson has date with Destiny
Congratulations to Hexham writer Prue Phillipson, whose historical novel, Jeanie’s Destiny, has been published by Quaestor2000. Prue has self-published novels before and also had two non-fiction books and articles and short stories published over a long writing career, but at the age of 81, this is her very first work of fiction to be accepted and published. Jeanie’s Destiny is set on the Galloway coast in the 1870s and is the story of a young girl’s efforts to keep her family together and find her true destiny in the face of many trials. For more information, go to www.quaestor2000.com.

Bea Davenport on Chicken House longlist
Congratulations to Bea Davenport, a writer from Berwick-upon-Tweed, whose children’s book, The Serpent House, has been longlisted for The Times/Chicken House children’s novel competition. Bea is one of 18 to be longlisted from more than 2,000 entries. The shortlist is announced in early February and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for her until then.


In the North East

Bloodaxe takes TS Eliot Prize honours
Congratulations to North East publisher Bloodaxe, whose publication, The Water Table, by Philip Gross has won the 2009 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. Judge Simon Armitage formally announced the winner at the TS Eliot Prize award ceremony at the Wallace Collection in London on Monday 18 January. Mrs Valerie Eliot presented the winner with a cheque for £15,000 and each shortlisted poet received a cheque for £1,000. For more information about the prize, see www.poetrybookshoponline.com/tseliot.php.

Bridging The Gap: Wednesday 27 January
Don’t miss Bridging The Gap, which is broadcast at 11am on Radio 4 on 27 January. The programme is a vivid sound portrait of the Tyne Bridge and draws on the voices and sounds of the bridge, the river, local people and wildlife, while exploring the history, construction and role of the bridge. Contributors to the programme include sound recordist Chris Watson and poet Keith Armstrong.

Live announces new Introduction to Playwriting course
Live Theatre has finalised dates for its next Introduction to Playwriting course and is keen to receive applications from writers of all experience levels. The five-week course begins on 5 May and runs on Wednesday evenings in the Studio Theatre at Live. The course will be structured around the following plays: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen; A Number by Caryl Churchill; and The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall. For more information, see www.live.org.uk/newwriting/index.php or email degna@live.org.uk.

Call for applications: Greater North: Toronto study visit
Literature Northwest and Mslexia magazine, in partnership with Arts Council England and the Scottish Arts Council, are seeking literature professionals working in strategic roles relating to the short story, and based in the north of England (the North West, North East, Yorkshire) or Scotland to take part in a group study visit to Toronto, including a visit to the 11th International Conference on the Short Story in English. The trip will take place from 14-20 June this year. For more information on the conference, see www.yorku.ca/shortcon and for more information about the trip and to get an application form, contact Ra Page on ra.page@commapress.co.uk. Deadline for applications is Monday 1 February.

INK Festival seeking submissions of new writing
INK is a new festival promoting new writing from the region and beyond, comprising two nights of mini-plays, short stories and poetry. Submissions are now being accepted for the 2010 event. This is open to everyone, regardless of experience. Plays submitted should have a running time of no more than 15 minutes and with no more than four characters, short stories have a word limit of 2,000, while poetry submitted should be suitable for performance and in any language. There is no limit to the number of entries per person. Winners will have their entries performed during the festival and receive free entry to the event. Please email entries to inkfestival@hotmail.co.uk, including your name and contact details. The deadline for entries is 31 January 2010.

New home for Flambard Press
We’re delighted that Flambard Press, the North East’s acclaimed publisher of fiction and poetry have relocated their office to be part of the writing and publishing community at Holy Jesus Hospital. This vibrant, historically important building is New Writing North’s base and home to Mslexia magazine. You can contact Flambard’s editor Will Mackie at editor@flambardpress.co.uk.


National opportunities

John Betjeman Young People’s Poetry Competition 2010
This competition for young writers aged 11-14 years carries a prize of £1,000 (£500 to the winner and £500 to the English department of their school) which is donated by John Murray Publishers. Young people wishing to enter the competition can download the entry form at http://johnbetjeman.com/comp.html. The deadline for entries is 31 July.

Wigtown Poetry Competition open for submissions
The Wigtown Poetry Competition is now open for entries. The competition is the largest in Scotland, with a first prize of £2,500, runner up prize of £750, eight additional prizes of £50 each and a Gaelic prize of £500. The winning poem and runner-up will also be published in The Scotsman, or its sister paper Scotland on Sunday, and the winner invited to appear at the Wigtown Book Festival 2010. Full details of the competition, along with the application form, can be found at www.wigtownbookfestival.com/poetrycomp.


Jobs

Harmony Initiative project seeks creative writer and artist/film-maker
The successful candidates will work as a creative team with a group of young muslims in Middlesbrough (who include asylum seekers and refugees) to create a film that captures and represents who they are. They will be employed for six days beginning with two days during February half-term with the further four days to be delivered during Easter holidays. There will then be a period of post-production to edit and create the finished film. Please download the project outline for more information and details of the application process at www.teesvalleyarts.org.uk/newsandevents.html. The deadline for applications is Friday 29 January.


Miscellany

Correction from previous newsletter
In the last newsletter, we mentioned in The Listening Post that the BHS North East Haiku Poetry Group was holding a workshop on 24 January. The date has been moved to 31 January, at the same time (1.30pm-4.30pm) and at the same place (Morden Tower).


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 1 February. The next edition of The Listening Post covering March's literature events will go out in late February. If you have events that you would like to submit for inclusion, you will need to send information by 20 February to olivia@newwritingnorth.com.

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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.