Fiona Hill: Forged in the North

Forged in the North is a new podcast series from Fiona Hill, exploring how the North East has shaped the lives of successful people, from musical icon Sting and writers such as Lee Hall and Peter Straughan, to entrepreneur and former Dragon Sara Davies. The podcast will be available on all major platforms from 10 October.

In this special event, Fiona will be speaking to authors Dan Jackson and Richard O’Neill about how they tell the story of our region in their books and how the North East has forged them both.

Dr Dan Jackson is the bestselling author of The Northumbrians: North East England and its People, a New History which was a Sunday Times ’Book of the Year’ in 2019.  His latest book: Howay the Lads! A People’s History of Newcastle United is being published by Little, Brown in 2026.  Richard O’Neill is a sixth generation master storyteller and author from the Romani tradition.

Fiona Hill is the Chancellor of Durham University and a political advisor specialising in Russian and European Affairs. From 2018 to 2019 she was deputy assistant to the President of the United States and served on the National Security Council. Her memoir There is Nothing For You Here was published in 2021.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances, LJ Ross has had to withdraw from this event