New Writing North press releases

Northern Writers' Awards winners 2009

Press release

EMBARGOED until Sunday 3 May 2009, 3pm

Northern Writers� Awards 2009

Seven North East writers win a share of �25,000 prize fund

Seven writers from across the region will receive awards of between �2,500 and �5,000 to support their works in progress via the annual Northern Writers� Awards. The awards are given to both talented new writers and to established writers.

The awards were announced at a special ceremony during the Hexham Book Festival on Sunday 3 May. The writers share a prize pot of �25,000, which is made available through sponsorship from the Leighton Group and Arts Council England. The judges were impressed with this year�s submissions which totalled 240, a nearly 70% rise on the previous year.

Time to Write Awards go to Rebecca Jenkins, from Barnard Castle, who is currently working on her new novel, Gentleman Jo and the Radical; and Marion Husband, a fiction writer from Stockton on Tees, whose previous novels have been published by Teesside-based Mudfog Press and Accent Press.

Pippa Little was selected as the recipient of this year�s Andrew Waterhouse Award, which is named in memory of poet Andrew Waterhouse, who died in 2001. The award aims to give special support to a poet whose work shows great promise.

Sarah Shaw, from Derwentside, won the Andrea Badenoch Prize for her collection of short stories. This annual award was established by the family and friends of Andrea Badenoch, a gifted novelist who died of breast cancer at the height of her literary career.

Lorna Elliott, a qualified barrister and solicitor who left law to write, and Richard Rippon, a laboratory analyst, both won Northern Promise Awards for their novels in progress and were singled out by awards judge and literary agent Carole Blake for particular praise.

Carole said: �Because of the vast amount of reading in my job, I have to be really impressed by something if I�m going to pick it out of a pile of submissions and really want to read more of it, but both of these entries intrigued and impressed me. It�s a testament to the scheme that these writers are now supported by New Writing North, and have an industry-recognised award.�

Also picking up a Northern Promise Award, given to recognise and support outstanding new writing from the region, was Weardale poet Pru Kitching, whose first collection, All Aboard the Moving Staircase, was published by Vane Women Press.

The winners each receive grants of between �2,500 and �5,000 to support their works in progress.

The judges for 2009 were literary agent Carole Blake, director of Blake Friedmann Agency, and Chris and Jen Hamilton-Emery, directors of Salt Publishing. The Northern Writers� Awards are supported by Arts Council England North East and sponsored by The Leighton Group.

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All of the winning writers and New Writing North�s Director Claire Malcolm are available for interview. Please contact Olivia Mantle, Projects and Marketing Officer at New Writing North, on 0191 222 1332 or email olivia@newwritingnorth.com.

Photos of the winners are available at www.flickr.com/photos/newwritingnorth

Notes for editors:

� New Writing North is the writing development agency for the north east of England, and opened in 1996. The agency works with writers from to develop their career opportunities through new commissions, projects, residencies, publications and live events. NWN works in partnership with a broad range of organisations, universities, local authorities, regional development agencies, sponsors and media producers to develop opportunities for writers in the North East.

� The Northern Writers� Awards celebrates its tenth anniversary this year with a new �30,000 sponsorship deal from the Sunderland-based Leighton Group. The first awards were announced in 2000, and since then over 80 writers have received support ranging from �1,500 to �10,000 to move their writing on. From research undertaken in 2007, over 75% of previous winners have gone on to publish work that was supported by the awards.

Ten Storey Love Song launch

Press release

For immediate release

17 April 2009

Middlesbrough author charms crowd at mima book launch

Middlesbrough author Richard Milward returned to the city last night to launch his second novel, Ten Storey Love Song, on his home turf. Joined by three other young northern authors, Richard read to the packed crowd in mima�s atrium, and entertained them with stories of his youth in the Boro.

Over 120 people gathered at mima, which had been specially furnished with 1970s sofas, rugs and wallpaper. As the audience enjoyed cider and sweets (a tribute to the diet of the main characters in Ten Storey Love Song), Richard Milward read from his novel, followed by readings from Michael Smith (author of The Giro Playboy), Chris Killen (The Bird Room) and Joe Stretch (Wildlife). Each author read from a different part of the living room set, leaving the audience to follow, from one part of the atrium to the next.

The evening was a celebration homecoming for Milward, whose first novel, Apples, was published by Faber & Faber in 2007, and went on to garner rave reviews from critics and readers alike. His second novel, Ten Storey Love Song, centres around characters living in a Middlesbrough tower block, each with their own set of problems. In tribute to the setting of the book, Milward did his reading with a specially-crafted cardboard box on his head, depicting a tower block, with the characters peeping out of the windows.

However dark the subject matter, Milward�s skill lies in creating comedy in every situation, and ensuring his characters still have hope, as described by Irvine Welsh in The Guardian (14 Feb 2009):

�One of the great things about Milward's writing (and there are quite a few of them) is that although he spares the reader absolutely nothing in terms of detail on drug and sex highs and lows, you feel that good times are every bit as likely to be lurking around the corner as disasters. [�] Milward is a major talent � a caustic wit and genuine warmth which typifies all that's best about northern England.�

Milward has now returned to live on Teesside after living in London as a student, and was delighted his home town welcomed him, and his book, with open arms:
�It�s always difficult to leave your home town and then return, but the response I�ve had from locals has been amazing, and I�m really chuffed to be back in the Boro!�

Milward is now concentrating on writing his third novel.

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For all media enquiries and interview requests please contact Olivia Mantle, Projects and Marketing Officer at New Writing North, on 0191 222 1332 or email olivia@newwritingnorth.com.

Notes for editors:
� The launch of Ten Storey Love Song was a collaboration between New Writing North and mima, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. New Writing North is the literature development agency for the North East.

Winner of Northern Writers� Award 2008 secures prestigious national prize

Press release

For immediate release

Friday 30 January 2009

Winner of Northern Writers� Award 2008 secures prestigious national prize

Toby Martinez de las Rivas, a poet from Gateshead and one of the winners of the 2008 Northern Writers� Awards administered by New Writing North, has been named as one of the first beneficiaries of the Faber New Poets programme, an Arts Council England-funded venture designed to assist poets as they develop their work.

The four poets selected will get a range of benefits from both Arts Council England and publisher Faber & Faber: financial support, mentoring, and publication in pamphlet form for National Poetry Day in October 2009. They will also take part in readings organised for Faber's 80th birthday celebrations later this year.

Matthew Hollis, Commissioning Editor for Poetry at Faber, said: "In my role as an editor, I read many manuscripts by talented hopefuls eager for a publication that we may not be ready to offer them. While we can provide advice and encouragement, better still would be to offer these writers a sustained and supportive environment over a longer term in which they may develop their work in conversation with experienced poets and editors."

Toby Martinez de las Rivas entered the annual Northern Writers� Awards for the first time in 2008, and was quickly spotted as having outstanding potential. A young father-of-two from Gateshead, he believes the support from the Northern Writers� Awards, both financial and through mentoring and feedback, has been invaluable:

�The support from New Writing North has been vital � if I hadn�t been given a Northern Writers� Award last year I wouldn�t be in this position,� he says. �The financial award helped enormously, of course, but it was the mentoring from poet Gillian Allnutt and the guidance from New Writing North staff which really developed my work.�

This year�s Northern Writers� Awards winners will be announced at a special event during the Hexham Book Festival in early May.

More information on the awards can be found at www.newwritingnorth.com.

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For all media enquiries and interview requests, please contact Olivia Mantle, Projects and Marketing Officer at New Writing North, on 0191 222 1332 or email olivia@newwritingnorth.com.

Notes for editors

The four poets selected for the 2009 Faber New Poets programme are Fiona Benson, Heather Phillipson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas and Jack Underwood. In 2010, Joe Dunthorne (a published novelist for Penguin with Submarine), Annie Katchinska, Sam Riviere and Tom Warner will follow them.
Candidates for the scheme were identified by scouts appointed by ACE, and whittled down to a shortlist by a panel consisting of Charles Beckett (Literature Officer, ACE), Lavinia Greenlaw (poet and Professor of Creative Writing, UEA), Matthew Hollis (poet and Commissioning Editor, Poetry, at Faber), Ariane Koek (Clore Fellow and former Director of the Arvon Foundation), Gary McKeone (former Literature Director, ACE), Daljit Nagra (poet and tutor), and Clare Pollard (poet and poetry editor).
New Writing North is the writing development agency for the north east of England, and opened in 1996. Since then, staff have been working with writers from different genres and forms to develop career opportunities, new commissions, projects, residencies, publications and live events. NWN works in partnership with a broad range of organisations, universities, local authorities, regional development agencies, sponsors and media producers to develop opportunities for writers in our region.
The Northern Writers' Awards are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year with a new �30,000 sponsorship deal from the Sunderland-based Leighton Group. The first awards were announced in 2000, and since then over 80 writers have received support ranging from �1,500-�10,000 to move their writing on. From research undertaken in 2007, over 75% of previous winners have gone on to publish work that was supported by the awards.

Northern Writers' Awards 2009

Press Release
Immediate Release � Tuesday 28 October 2008

Northern Writers� Awards celebrate tenth anniversary with new business sponsorship

The Northern Writers' Awards are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year with a new �30,000 sponsorship deal from the Sunderland-based Leighton Group.

The annual awards, which are organised by New Writing North (NWN), the region's new writing development agency, support North East writers in the development of their new novel and poetry collections. Each year over �25,000 is awarded to support emerging talent and recognise established writers in the region.

Paul Callaghan, founder and chair of Leighton, the technology, media and communications group, will announce the sponsorship at a breakfast event in Newcastle today (28 October) to launch the Northern Writers' Awards 2009. The sponsorship will amount to �10,000 over the next three years.

�As a business based in this region, we in the Leighton Group are acutely aware of the importance of investing in people,� says Paul Callaghan.

�Our support for the Northern Writers� Awards is a reflection of this commitment to invest in the creative talents of the people of this region.

�By supporting the development of writers in the North East, the Northern Writers� Awards play a vital role in reinforcing the region�s commitment to the arts and culture. We are delighted to be a part of the ten-year celebrations of an award that encourages creativity through writing and nurtures this region�s talent.�

The Northern Writers� Awards, which have been helping to boost writers� careers since 2000, are open to anyone living and working in the region. During the last ten years, 82 writers have received an award; with 75 per cent of those going on to successfully publish the work for which they specifically received the award.

�We are delighted that Paul Callaghan and the Leighton Group have agreed to sponsor the awards so generously for the next three years and have seen the value in supporting individual creativity and literary endeavour,� says Claire Malcolm, director of New Writing North.

�I don�t think we often appreciate how much regional acclaim and attention that writers working quietly on their own bring to the region�s cultural reputation but it is a great deal and we should celebrate and acknowledge this more,� adds Claire.

As well as supporting established writers who need time to complete work in progress or to change direction via the �Time to Write� category, the awards also offer career development opportunities for new talent with the �Northern Promise� award.

The 2008 winners will be announced at a special event in April next year.

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For all media enquiries and interview requests, please contact
Amanda Astrop on 0787 500 9438 or email amanda@amandaastrop.com

Notes for editors

HIGHLIGHTS FROM TEN YEARS OF THE AWARDS:
1. In 2001 Cumbrian novelist John Murray received an award to support the writing of his novel Jazz etc. The novel went on to be published by Flambard Press and was longlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize for Fiction.

2. In 2002 Darlington poet Joanna Boulter received a Northern Promise Award to help her complete the manuscript of her first collection of poetry Twenty Four Preludes and Fugues on Dimitri Shostakovich. The collection was nominated for the Forward Best First Collection Prize in 2007.

3. In 2007 Newcastle novelist Alice de Smith won a �5,000 Northern Writers� Time to Write Award to support her in the writing of her novel Enough. In May 2008 she completed the novel, now retitled Welcome to Life, and one week later it was purchased at auction by Atlantic. Welcome to Life will be published in June 2009.

4. In 2005 Newcastle novelist Dan Smith received a Northern Promise Award to support the writing of his novel Dry Season. In 2008 he signed a two-book deal with Orion. Dry Season will be published in spring 2010.

New Writing North is the writing development agency for the north east of England. 2006 marked ten years of activity working with writers from different genres and forms to develop career opportunities, new commissions, projects, residencies, publications and live events. NWN works in partnership with a broad range of organisations, universities, local authorities, regional development agencies, sponsors and media producers to develop opportunities for writers in our region.

Paul Callaghan is founder and chairman of Leighton. Leighton operates at the cutting edge of new technology and currently has four companies based in the North East that lead the UK in their respective markets. Ernst and Young voted Paul the Northern E-business Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 and in 2005 he was voted the Entrepreneur of the Year in the Portfolio Awards. He is a founder director of the Entrepreneurs Forum and chairman of RTC North, the regional technology centre. In December 2006 he joined the board of One NorthEast and in April 2007 he became a member of the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform�s (DBERR�s) Business Forum. He is the chair of Sunderland Software City, the project which is developing the city as a major software centre.

In July 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Sunderland in recognition of his contribution to the business and academic life of the region and has since joined the university�s Board of Governors and is now its deputy chairman. He is currently a visiting professor of business at London Metropolitan University.

Read Regional 2008

Press Release
Immediate Release
Monday 22 September 2008

Newcastle Central Station transformed into a living room for one day only

Commuters passing through Newcastle Central Station will be encouraged to take five minutes out from their busy day by relaxing with a good book as the concourse is transformed into a virtual living room on Friday 26 September.

Between 8am and 6pm, the station will be adorned with a comfy sofa, rugs, lamps, chairs and well-stocked bookshelves to launch the Read Regional campaign, which is designed to get people reading books by regional authors.

�The promotion is a little tongue in cheek, mimicking the wider social change towards buying local food and knowing the source of products,� says Claire Malcolm, director of New Writing North, the organisation behind the Read Regional.

�So the question is, while people have been thinking about buying local, have they been reading local? Our aim is to raise wider awareness of the authors who live and work in the North East and to make this an annual event involving libraries, book groups and book shops.�

Ten regional authors and their books are being promoted as part of the Read Regional campaign. Free copies of the books will be handed out to commuters and some of the writers, including Anna Ralph, Jo Colley, Wendy Robertson and Andrew Crumey, will be on hand to sign copies of their books.

New Writing North has also teamed up with local publisher Tonto Books to give away free copies of two of their most recent publications: Being Normal by Stephen Shieber, and Everything You Ever Wanted by Rosalind Wyllie.

The National Year of Reading will also be launching its regional BookCrossing initiative � a way of sharing books by leaving them in public places for other people to pick up, read, and leave somewhere else for the next reader to enjoy.

Richard Bliss, Regional Project Manager of the National Year of Reading, says: �The National Year of Reading is all about encouraging people to read for pleasure and have fun with books. This event in partnership with New Writing North will help us to get people thinking about reading in different ways.�

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Photo call
You are invited to send a photographer to the photocall at Newcastle Central Station at 10.30am, when the writers will be �at home� in the virtual living room.

On arrival, please report to the Station Management Centre (adjacent to The Centurion). The living room set will be staged on the main concourse, between the main ticket office and the Centurion Bar.

For any further information please contact Amanda Astrop on
0787 500 9438 or email amanda@amandaastrop.com

Notes to editor
�   The authors and books being promoted as part of the Read Regional campaign are:

     Pat Barker, Life Class
     Andrew Crumey, Sputnik Caledonia
     Anna Ralph, Before I Knew Him
     Wendy Robertson, Sandie Shaw and the Millionth Marvell Cooker
     Stephen Shieber, Being Normal
     Paul Batchelor, The Sinking Road
     Peter Bennet, The Glass Swarm
     Colette Bryce, Self-Portrait In The Dark
     Jo Colley, Weeping For The Lovely Phantoms
     Anne Stevenson, Stone Milk

�   New Writing North is the creative writing development agency for the north east of England. Established in 1996, NWN is a unique organisation, providing practical support for writers and developing innovative projects in education and community contexts.

�   The 2008 National Year of Reading is a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms. It will help to build a greater national passion for reading � for children, families and adult learners alike. The Year will encourage people to read in businesses, homes, and communities around the country, providing new opportunities to read and helping people to access help and support through schools and libraries.

�   The 2008 National Year of Reading is being managed by The National Literacy Trust and lead partner The Reading Agency.

NWN Autumn events 2008

Welcome to New Writing North�s autumn events programme. This season reflects our core interest of widening participation in literature activity in the North East by delivering events and activities across the region, alongside our commitment to developing and promoting North East writers and their work.

We work in a very rich literary environment in the North East and we hope that our activities and events reflect and enhance this. We are delighted his season to be working with lots of new partners across the region � both individuals, such as our new book group facilitators, and organisations such as Seven Stories, Live Theatre, Durham Book Festival, the Cultural Olympiad and the National Year of Reading.

Autumn sees the launch of our new campaign Read Regional, a promotion to encourage the reading of books by regional authors and publishers. The promotion is a little tongue in cheek, mimicking as it does the wider social push towards buying local and knowing the source of products. Our aim is to raise wider awareness of the authors who live and work in the North East and to encourage readers to recognise the innovative and important work that independent publishers in the region do. We hope that this promotion will become an annual event involving libraries, book groups and bookshops. We�d love to hear from you if you�d like to be involved next year so do get in touch if you have any ideas or would like to support the campaign.

We are also proud to be working in partnership with Live Theatre to produce what we believe is an important new play by Fiona Evans, Geoff Dead: Disco for Sale, which explores the unexplained death at Deepcut barracks of young Private Geoff Gray. Fiona has worked closely with the Gray family to tell their story and we hope that the play will raise awareness of the family�s campaign to gain a public enquiry into the case.Around the play we have programmed a series of events with leading commentators and campaigners to look at the political and legal context of the case. We�re also extending our unique book groups across the region due to public demand and hope that this, along with our new Regional Roadshow, will allow more people than ever to engage with our activities and resources this autumn.

We are also involved with lots of events this autumn under the banner of the Northern Writers� Centre � check out the events section at www.northernwriterscentre.com to find out more.

With very best wishes for a creative autumn

Claire Malcolm, Director, New Writing North