Words & Music Festival: 14-17 May 2010
This weekend, we will be celebrating the happy synergy between music and the spoken and written word, thanks to a new partnership between New Writing North and The Sage Gateshead. Over a long weekend developed with festival curator Ian McMillan, we present new work from a range of writers and musicians, host concerts from some of the world’s greatest songwriters, examine the linguistic possibilities of rap, folk and grime and debate how best to write about music with an esteemed panel of critics and publishers.

We’re especially looking forward to Folken Word, which will take place in the afternoon of Saturday 15 May, and will be introducing three new partnerships between folk musicians and writers from the North East: Dan Walsh and Amy Mackelden, Peter Tickell and Carolyn Jess-Cooke, and Kate Young and Ira Lightman.

You can get all the details of the festival and book tickets at www.wordsandmusicnortheast.com.

Fix This Moment now available
What’s so special about the North East? Why is it such a fantastic place to be a writer, and has borne so many successful authors? New Writing North was part of a team which commissioned current North East writers, including David Almond, Neil Astley, Michael Chaplin and Peter Mortimer, to look at the region’s literary history, and the book of their essays has now been published. It was launched at Hexham Book Festival a fortnight ago at a lovely event where several contributors read from their work, and you can now buy it online at www.newwritingnorth.com/shop/shop.php?section=1.

Read Regional: read all about it
Anyone who missed our special Read Regional supplement in The Journal last week can catch up on what they missed at www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/read-regional. The supplement features interviews with each of the eight authors in this year’s programme as well as the chance to hear from some of the North East’s keen readers on where and what they read.


People

Jackie Litherland hits for six
North East poet SJ Litherland’s sixth poetry collection, The Absolute Bonus of Rain, has just been published by Flambard. This new book follows on from her highly praised collections The Work of the Wind and The Homage and weaves together such themes as weather and cricket. The book costs £8.50 and is available from www.flambardpress.co.uk and www.inpressbooks.co.uk.

Book blog from radio DJ-turned writer
Metro radio breakfast man, Evening Chronicle columnist, and author of Hornes Down Under (Part One), Tony Horne has recently begun a book blog. Among the recent entries is a list of books he owns but has never read, despite wanting to read them when he bought them or was given them. Sounds a familiar story? Check it out at http://tonyhornebooks.blogspot.com.


In the North East

North East trio preview Prague play at Live
In our 16 April newsletter we told you about North East playwrights Rosalind Wyllie and Alison Carr, along with dramaturg/director Degna Stone, whose first collaboration, Blood & Money, will be showcased at the Prague Fringe Festival in June. We’ve just been informed that prior to jetting off, there will be a performance at Live Theatre on Monday 24 May at 8pm. Admission is free, but donations will be welcome – all money raised going towards the costs of taking the production to Prague. Tickets can be obtained from Live Theatre box office on 0191 232 1232.

Durham Mysteries: new plays from regional writers
Mystery plays were among the earliest dramas, reaching their popularity peak in the 15th Century, and for the illiterate majority, a means of telling Bible stories. The team at the Gala Theatre in Durham asked writers from the region to take a story, whether from the original medieval cycle, or from Durham’s wider relevant faith-based tradition, and to reinterpret it for a modern audience. Durham Mysteries 2010 will be presented from Thursday 27 May–Saturday 29 May, and includes stories from writers such as Gavin Williams, Fred and Ellen Phethean, and David Almond. On each of the three evenings there will be the opportunity to see the whole cycle of 10 Mystery Plays in one incredible evening of drama and spectacle. You can get more information at www.durhammysteries.co.uk.


Courses and workshops

New writing group in Blackhall, County Durham
The group meets from 5pm until 7pm on the last Monday of each month at Blackhall Library, Hartlepool. The group was set up so that local people with an interest in writing (whatever level they are at) can meet like-minded people to build confidence in reading out work and to gain positive feedback, to learn new writing skills and to find out about competitions and opportunities. Free to join and all are welcome. Free refreshments are available on arrival. For further enquiries call 0750 1117 919 or email crobinson59@ymail.com.

Pen and Tonic: Writing for parents and young people
This is a free nine-week course run by Pen and Tonic and North Tyneside Council Adult Learning Alliance’s Family Learning Team. It’s an opportunity for parents and young people aged nine-plus to learn about how writing can be fun and make you feel better. Meetings will take place at Central Library, North Shields, starting in the middle of May (date TBC). All resources are provided and no experience is necessary. For more details, go to www.penandtonic.org.


Jobs

Two arts development officers needed at North Tyneside Council
North Tyneside Council is changing the way it delivers and supports the arts and is looking to appoint two additional arts development officers. The arts development team has responsibility for initiating, managing and supporting a wide range of projects, from temporary public art installations to working with young offenders. Deadline for applications: Friday 21 May. For more information, see www.northeastjobs.org/JobDetails.aspx/8593/Arts_Development_Officers/?SminimumSalary=0&SmaximumSalary=0&sSectorLook=229&sLocationLook=6.

Writers in residence in prison (WIPN)
WIPN is funded by Arts Council England, in association with the National Offender Management Service, and seeks four new writers in residence (including one in Northumberland) at HMP Castington (Northumberland), HMP Drake Hall (Staffordshire), HMP Hewell (Worcestershire), and HMP Warren Hill (Suffolk). The contract is for one to two years at 18.5 hours a week, and the salary is £13,786 PA. For more information, email wipn@btinternet.com or see www.writersinprisonnetwork.com. Deadline for applications: Saturday 29 May.


Miscellany

Laureate Storyteller joins charity walk at Alnwick Garden
Taffy Thomas, the first Laureate Storyteller, is doing the upcoming Walk for Autism Research, which is taking place on Sunday 13 June at The Alnwick Garden. Friends and families are invited to join in any one of three short walks (1, 3 or 5 miles) through The Alnwick Garden and raise funds in the process. All funds raised will be in aid of Autistica, the only UK charity raising funds for biomedical research into the causes of autism. If you’d like to join the walk, or support someone who is, please go to www.autistica.org.uk/events/alnwick.php.

Don’t judge a book by its cover – especially in France!
At New Writing North, we’ve always been intrigued by different book covers between editions of the same book, but this article in The Guardian about book covers in foreign editions really piqued our curiosity. Why will a book which does well in the UK but do badly in France, with the same cover? And why do most books in French have a very generic beige cover with exactly the same font? (One NWN staff member is French, hence the spotlight on that language in particular!) We’ve decided we like our British eccentricity and artistic licence to be reflected in our book collection – it makes for more colourful bookshelves.


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