New Writing North is the writing development agency for the north east of England. it creates an environment in which new writing in all genres can flourish. it works with writers from different genres to develop career opportunities, new commissions, projects, residencies, publications and live events.
Interview with writer Margaret Wilkinson and director Tess Denman-Cleaver in rehearsals for Margaret Wilkinson's new play, Blue Boy, which runs from 24 October-6 November in theatres across the north east of England.
For more information, see www.blueboytheplay.com.
The Spark is true story telling... live
Last autumn in New York we visited The Moth, which is an exuberant and popular real-life storytelling night. Inspired by this, New Writing North and Hexham Book Festival have got together to bring our own version to the North East, and we've called it The Spark.
We want to hear from people from all walks of life who are willing to prepare a true story on a theme and perform it for a curious crowd of friendly but discerning listeners.
To take part, all you need to do is turn up on the night and put your name in our hat. If you are picked, you get the chance to get up on stage and do your thing. A judging panel made up of audience members will score each story according to The Rules. The winner will get a huge heap of love and glory.
• Each story must last no more than five minutes
• Your story must be based on the theme set by The Spark.
• The story must be true
The next Spark event is at The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle on Thursday 14 July 2011 at 8pm
The Common Book 2008 project is aiming to get the whole of Newcastle University campus reading and talking about the same book Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
In a world where successes can be few and far between, what does it take to be on the winning team?
A new play by Carina Rodney
3-4 April, Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Hexham
10-12 April, The Customs House, South Shields
18 April, The Maltings, Berwick
22 April, Alnwick Playhouse
23-26 April, Northern Stage, Newcastle
Shivers is a horror film based on the local myth of the 'white lady'. As part of community-based creative writing project Writing West Park, writers Paul Summers and Ian Dowson worked with filmmaker Richard Lawson and year six pupils at Darlington's Mount Pleasant Primary School to create four short poetry films during the course of a term. The children wrote a series of poems with the writers and, although diverse in content, each poem had a strong local connection, drawing on the children's local knowledge of place and character, myth and folklore.
By poet Paul Summers and director Paul Moody. During 1998/1999 four poets were working in residence in the Grainger Town area of Newcastle, to create scripts for short poetry films inspired by the area. Writers Ian Dowson, Paul Summers, Ellen Phethean and Subhadassi each scripted a personal vision of the city centre. Filming began in spring 2001, and the films premiered as part of the Poetry Film Festival in Newcastle in autumn 2004. The films are available to buy on DVD from our website.
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The Common Book project Newcastle 2008: Half of a Yellow Sun
Pub Quiz: a new play by Carina Rodney
Orange Young Writers' Festival 2004
Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award 2005
The Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award 2006
