What we do

New Writing North was the first regional writing development agency in the UK. Set up in 1996, the company was created to be a ‘DIY agency’ for writers. The aim was simple: to create more opportunities for writers to work in the region and to grow audiences for their work.

Our founding patrons were novelist Pat Barker, poet Sean O’Brien and scriptwriter Peter Flannery.

New Writing North’s work has evolved over the years to embrace reading development activity, work with young people, and partnerships with many different organisations. Originally focusing on the North East, since 2012 we have worked to develop reading and writing across the North of England.

New Writing North was set up by Arts Council England (then operating as Northern Arts) and from the beginning was tasked with working across writing forms from poetry and playwriting to film and fiction. This has given the agency a unique focus nationally and positioned it well to develop partnerships and new ways of working. The ‘new’ in New Writing North is important and it has always been a point of reference for the organisation, forging the desire to work in new ways and to build new audiences.

Since our establishment, our model of working has spread and we are now part of a national network of new writing agencies across the UK. Many of the organisations were modelled directly on New Writing North and our role in leading the development of this sector has been widely acknowledged.