Northern Bookshelf Live

Welcome Northern Bookshelf Live 2025 – connecting the best writers with libraries and readers across the North of England.  

Following on from the successful launch of Northern Bookshelf Live 2024 which saw 24 libraries around the North programming over 30 author events with support from the programme, New Writing North is delighted to announce the new cohort of Northern authors taking part in library events throughout the region in 2025, covering crime-writing, poetry, Greek mythology, and children’s fiction.

These eight authors all currently live and work in the North of England and from spring onwards, they will be joining libraries around the region to take part in author events for their most recently published books.

Keep an eye on this page to see events happening near you in 2025!

Featured authors:

Sarah Brooks

Sarah Brooks won the Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2019 and a Northern Debut Award from New Writing North in 2021 for her debut historical fantasy novel The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands (2024). She works in East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds where she also helps run the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing. Originally from Lancashire, she now lives in Leeds.
Sairish Hussain

Sairish Hussain is a Bradford based author. Her debut novel, The Family Tree (2020), was published by HarperCollins and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Portico Prize and The Diverse Book Awards. It was also longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and winner of Calibre Audio’s ‘Hidden Gem’ Prize. Her second novel, Hidden Fires, was published in 2024.
Tawseef Khan

Tawseef Khan is a qualified immigration solicitor who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Liverpool, where he examined the fairness of the British asylum system. His debut non-fiction book Muslim, Actually was published by Atlantic in 2021, and his debut novel, Determinations, was published by Footnote Press in 2024. He is based in Manchester.
Eirinie Lapidaki

Eirinie Lapidaki is an author based in Gateshead. Early chapters of her debut novel, The Wives of Halcyon, won a Northern Writers Award, and was later published by Legend Press in 2024. She is currently working on her next novel, about medical gaslighting, chronic illness, and the wellness industry.
Len Pennie

Len Pennie is a poet who writes predominantly in the Scots language. She writes passionately about the promotion of minoritised languages, survivors of domestic abuse and the destigmatisation of mental illness. She began sharing a “Scots word of the day” on TikTok in 2020 and now has over 700k followers. Poyums (2024), a Sunday Times bestseller, is her debut collection. She lives in Newcastle.
Ashley Thorpe

Ashley Thorpe is a children’s author and editor at Storymix, where he helps other writers to create epic stories, and is passionate about expanding representation for young readers. He lives in Manchester and is a trustee of Manchester Libraries Trust. The Boy to Beat the Gods (2024) is his first book.
Lizzy Tiffin

Lizzy Tiffin is a journalism graduate from the North East of England. She has always been passionate about mythology, but the closest she got to Ancient Greece was an 18-30’s holiday in Zante. Her debut non-fiction book, Bad Girls of Ancient Greece, was published in 2024 by Harper North.
Trevor Wood

Trevor Wood is an award-winning author of three crime novels set in Newcastle’s homeless community, and a standalone thriller set in Northumberland. He lives in Newcastle and is one of the founding members of the Northern Crime Syndicate. The Silent Killer (2025) is his fifth novel, featuring a senior police officer who is in the first stages of Early Onset Dementia.