Bringing together readers and writers in northern libraries - CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF READ REGIONAL! - New Writing North
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CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF READ REGIONAL!
Bringing together
readers and writers
in northern libraries
FREE
Please take a copy
Read Regional is produced by New Writing North, the reading and writing development agency for the North of England, in partnership with 23 library authorities. New Writing North is a registered charity founded in 1996 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. The organisation works with a broad range of partners, including universities, local authorities, regional development agencies, publishers and broadcasters to develop opportunities for those who live and work in the North. New Writing North specialises in developing and investing in writers and acts as a dynamic broker between writers and the creative industries. As a producer of new work it commissions a wide range of writing from topical essays and publications to dance theatre productions, short films, live literature and broadcast projects. New Writing North’s other projects include the Northern Writers’ Awards, the Gordon Burn Prize, the David Cohen Prize for Literature, the Newcastle Writing Conference, Crime Story and Durham Book Festival. Work with young people includes Young Writers’ City, Cuckoo Review and Cuckoo Young Writers. www.newwritingnorth.com New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
CONTENTS
02 Welcome to Read Regional 2018 FICTION
03 Introduction by Jenn Ashworth 14 Jenn Ashworth, Fell
16 Jane Austin, News From Nowhere
CHILDREN’S
18 A.A. Dhand, Girl Zero
04 Chloe Daykin, Fish Boy
20 Sarah Dunnakey, The Companion
06 Kate Pankhurst, Fantastically Great
22 Guy Mankowski, An Honest Deceit
Women Who Changed the World
24 D.M. Mark, The Zealot’s Bones
POETRY 26 Carmen Marcus, How Saints Die
08 Polly Atkin, Basic Nest Architecture
NATURE
10 Antony Dunn, Take This One to Bed
28 Richard Smyth, A Sweet, Wild Note
12 Exploring Poetry
EVENTS
30 Events in the North East
32 Events in Yorkshire
32 Events in the North West
35 Library Contacts
Author photos © Richard Kenworthy 36 Partners
1
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Read Regional 2018
‘Libraries are more
than simply places
you can borrow
books. They have
communities and
engagement groups;
they are places
where people of all
ages can mix.’
A.A. Dhand One of the things that gets us through the dark,
cold winter is looking forward to the spring-
time launch of our long-running Read Regional
campaign, a key part of New Writing North’s work
as an Arts Council England National Portfolio
Organisation. Beginning in March, Read Regional
brings us the joy of discovering new reading
pleasures through live events, discussions and
workshops all the way until the end of June.
Through Read Regional 2018, we’re bringing
twelve northern writers and their wonderful new
books to venues across the North of England.
Schools, festivals and libraries in our towns and
‘Libraries are cities, from east to west coast, are participating
wonderful places in the campaign, making this a truly region-wide
of solace where festival of reading.
people come together This year’s writers showcase the exhilarating
to enter new range of writing talent that exists in the North
worlds. We travel and we’re proud to support these writers. In this
booklet you’ll find crime and thrillers, poetry,
everywhere in books. children’s stories, historical and literary fiction,
Libraries let this and nature writing. We hope to see you soon at a
happen for everyone.’ Read Regional event.
Chloe Daykin
Will Mackie, March 2018
Senior Programme Manager
(Writing and Awards), New Writing North
2
www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
Introduction by Jenn Ashworth
When I think of what libraries mean to me, and
why the work I do in them – with readers, writers
and front-line staff – feels like such an important
part of my career, I struggle with the enormity
of what I want to say! In libraries, we don’t only
learn about the world by accessing the literature,
research materials, digital holdings and
reference works that support study, education,
and personal and professional development
© Martin Figura
– though that’s part of it. Libraries give us the
space – a democratic space that belongs to all of
us – to dream, to idle, to become part of a wider
community. They give us the space to learn, yes,
but also to interact; to have conversations and
unexpected encounters with other readers and
thinkers, writers and makers, in serendipitous
ways with immeasura ble and immeasurably
important outcomes.
And could she – was it
‘Libraries give us the space – possible – learn how to do
that one day? Those two
a democratic space that belongs questions have shaped the
to all of us – to dream, to idle, to rest of my life and I first
become part of a wider community’ learned to ask them, almost
by accident, in a library. In a
My story began in a library: a sad and anxious time where that space – that
twelve year old played truant from school and essential, unique space – is
waited in the library because it was warm and increasingly under threat,
safe and it didn’t matter that she didn’t have any being invited into libraries
money. It was a place where she was welcome, to meet readers and staff
where she was safe: where she could engage with strikes me as an urgent
the world in the only way she knew how. And so privilege all of us Read
she read a book – a novel by an author she’d Regional writers have been
never heard of before – in one sitting. The first granted. Who knows what
time she’d ever done that. When she put down the unexpected outcomes and
book she had a couple of questions. Just how did life changing questions we’ll
the writer do that? How did he make a world she discover as we travel around
could escape into so easily and so completely? the region? I can’t wait.
3
CHILDREN’S FICTION
FISH BOY
Chloe Daykin
Published by Faber
‘ A beautifully written debut
about a lonely boy who is
obsessed with swimming.’
Irish Independent
Fish Boy is Chloe Daykin’s first novel, which she
wrote while studying for her MA in Creative
Writing at Newcastle University. It won a
Nominated for the CILIP Northern Writers’ Award in June 2014, and has
Carnegie Medal 2018 already garnered huge critical acclaim. An artist,
designer, playwright and teacher, Chloe lives in
Northumberland with her husband and two boys.
4
www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to Tell us about one or two of your main
people coming to your events? characters.
It’s a quirky, poetic, fun and under Billy is the main character – he loves
watery book for anyone who loves swimming, David Attenborough and
entering the otherworldliness of the cheesy Wotsits (amongst other things).
sea. Or David Attenborough! People His new best friend is Patrick Green
often say that it is beautiful and I’m – with ‘fingers of steel, strength of a
very honoured they think so. It’s bear’ – who’s also really into nature
about Billy Sheil – a boy who meets a and magic.
code-speaking mackerel that takes him
deep, deep into the shoal and a whole What do you most value about the
other world. libraries in our region?
Libraries are wonderful places of solace
Can you identify an inspiration or
where people come together to enter
starting point for your novel?
new worlds. We travel everywhere in
I love to make images with words. I books. Libraries let this happen for any
hope that happens when you read the and everyone. I love the way they’re a
book, I hope you have a head full of hub of the community. If you want to
imagery that is uniquely your own. So find out what’s going on, you go to the
I started with an image in my mind of library. Being able to take books home
a boy deep down in the sea with a light without having to pay is a treasure and
glowing out of him. a liberation. Our libraries unite us.
What are the key locations in your What are you most looking forward to
story? about taking part in Read Regional?
Fish Boy is set in a fictional coastal I’m really looking forward to meeting
town in the North of England. I live in everyone! I love meeting people and
the North (like lots of people!) and so I hope that perhaps I might inspire
felt that was important! Plus I’ve always some young writers of the future. I’m
wanted to live by the sea so this is a looking forward to making some fun
great way to do it. projects together too and I love the
way everyone’s ideas are unique and
surprising and exciting! Imaginations
are wonderful and it’s brilliant to be
able to enter them and share what we
discover together.
5
CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK
FANTASTICALLY
GREAT WOMEN WHO
CHANGED THE WORLD
Kate Pankhurst
Published by Bloomsbury
‘ This should be required
reading for all girls and boys
(especially the boys).’
The Independent
Kate Pankhurst illustrates and writes from her
studio in Leeds with her spotty dog, Olive. She
loves a good story, the funnier the better, and
Long-listed for the gets her best ideas by doodling in her sketch-
Kate Greenaway Award book; because even quick wonky drawings can
spark ideas for amazing plots.
As a child Kate spent most of her time
drawing silly characters and thinking
up funny things for them to do; she
feels very lucky to now do this as
her job.
6
www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to I had previously never heard of, like
people coming to your events? Agent Fifi, the World War Two secret
agent responsible for testing the skills
A highly illustrated, inspirational
of trainee spies, and Gertrude Ederle,
journey through the amazing achieve-
the first woman to swim the English
m e n t s a n d a d ve n t u re s o f s o m e
Channel. I felt like I really should have
fantastically great women who changed
known about their stories, so it was a
the world.
privilege to include them in the book.
What made you choose to focus on
Tell us about one or two of the women
this group of historical figures?
Children and families tell me that the
As an illustrator and author, creating
story of Rosa Parks’ legendary bus
books that feature strong, indep
boycott holds particular fascination.
endent female characters for both
Children find it, understandably so,
boys and girls to relate to has always
completely unbelievable that Rosa lived
been important to me. Although I
in a time where she was asked to give
can’t claim to have suffragette blood
up her seat on a bus just because of the
running in my veins (Emmeline is a very
colour of her skin. A personal favour-
distant relation of mine), the Pankhurst
ite of mine was Gertrude Ederle, the
connection has followed me all my life
cross-channel swimmer. I loved the
and was the stepping stone that took
small details of her story, like that she
me from writing about feisty fictional
listened to a song call ‘Yes! We Have
female characters, to exploring real life
No Bananas,’ on a gramophone as she
stories and amazing women.
swam in the icy cold waters of the
English Channel!
When learning about the fantastically
great women in your book, were there
What are you most looking forward to
things you discovered that surprised
about taking part in Read Regional?
you?
Working with library services I haven’t
I tried to feature women from different
yet had the chance to team up with and
walks of life, so a scientist/artist/sports-
meeting children, families and teachers
woman etc. That meant the research
from different areas to celebrate
led me to uncovering the stories of
great women, books and the power of
remarkable and talented women who
libraries.
7
POETRY
BASIC NEST
ARCHITECTURE
Polly Atkin
Published by Seren
‘ Reading these poems feels
like walking carefully across a
frozen lake, stepping out into a
changed landscape.’ Helen Mort
Polly Atkin grew up in Nottingham, and lived
in London for several years before moving to
Cumbria in 2006. Her debut poetry pamphlet,
Winner of the Andrew Bone Song, was shortlisted for the Michael Marks
Waterhouse Prize Award in 2009. Her second poetry pamphlet,
Shadow Dispatches, won the Mslexia Pamphlet
Prize in 2012, and was shortlisted for the
Lakeland Book of the Year.
An extract from her 2017 first collection,
B a s i c N e s t A r c h i te c t u r e , wa s
awarded New Writing North’s
A n d r e w Wa t e r h o u s e
Prize for ‘reflecting
a strong sense of
place or the natural
environment’.
8www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
What are the main themes of your What are you most looking forward
collection? to about Read Regional?
It’s really an exploration of how we live Having a licence to visit all sorts of
in the world, in our particular bodies, places around the North that I might
and with the other things that share not normally get to, and getting to know
our spaces. There are lots of animals, people there. There’s lots of places
birds, rain and hospitals. covered by the scheme that I really
don’t know very well, and I’m really
Tell us about the locations and people looking forward to exploring them, and
you visit in your poems. their communities. Like most writers,
I love a library, and what better way
The oldest poem in the book was written
to meet new people and places than
just before I first moved to Cumbria, in
through their libraries?
2006. In the decade represented by the
poems in the book I lived in 10 different
Where and when do you write your
houses, in four different places: London,
poems?
Lancaster, Grasmere and Nottingham,
where I grew up. Grasmere is the one Everywhere and nowhere; always and
of these I’ve chosen – or which chose never. I don’t write in any one particular
me – as home. The book also visits place. Poems grow well under sunlight
some other places, and other times. All or firelight, with a supply of hot drinks.
these places are peopled, in one way or Some poems begin as phrases that
other. There are some people I know repeat themselves. Some have to be
very well in there, and some I’ve never teased out so they don’t break off and
met. Some of my favourite people in the get stuck under the skin. Some just sit
book are members of the Moon family down next to you one day, and stay. The
who feature in ‘A Short History of the great thing about poems is you never
Moon’, and all I really know about them quite know when one is going to scuttle
is their names. into your line of vision. I prefer, if I can,
to lay out the dish of milk and let them
come to me.
9POETRY
TAKE THIS ONE TO BED
Antony Dunn
Published by Valley Press
‘ Subtle, thought-provoking
and enormously readable.’
Poetry Review
Antony Dunn was born in London in 1973, and
now lives in Leeds. He won the Newdigate Prize
in 1995 and received an Eric Gregory Award in
2000. In 2015, he was the editor of Ex Libris, a
volume of selected poems by David Hughes.
Winner of an
He has published three previous collections of
Eric Gregory Award
poems, Pilots and Navigators, Flying Fish and
Bugs. Take this One to Bed explores the passions
and tensions of how we live together.
10www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
What are the main themes of your What are you most looking forward
collection? to about Read Regional?
It touches on a lot of things but I Meeting people across the north of
noticed, as I was working out what England who are interested in talking
order the poems belonged in, that it about poems. Writing poetry is – for
tells the story of a male mind falling me, anyway – an intensely private,
apart and slowly coming back together, necessarily lonely experience, which
leaving the cracks showing. So there’s has its own pleasures. But getting
sadness and anxiety, but there’s also out and sharing the poems with other
quite a lot of messing about. Friendship, people, and getting into conversations
parenthood, neighbours – there’s quite about poems, is proper fun. I’m hoping
a lot about how we co-exist with people to get good hecklers.
and how we co-exist with the various
different versions of ourselves. Gold- What do you most value about our
fish, spiders and frogs turn up quite region’s libraries?
often too.
Their very existence seems worth
celebrating to me. They’re a civilized
Tell us about the locations and people
and civilizing feature of our neighbour
you visit in your poems.
hoods and I’d lie in front of a bulldozer
Trains take us from Leeds to London to save one. But they ’re nothing
and back, via Birmingham. There’s a without their people (and I’m not just
mountain road in Croatia and a tea- saying that because my mum recently
shop in Ilkley, the surface of the moon started volunteering in Northallerton
and a goldfish bowl in York, the banks Library) – library staff and the people
of Loch Ness and a bar in Bratislava. who use libraries are great. Anyone
It’s quite well-travelled, this book. The involved in sharing stories and history
people are often fictionalised versions and knowledge and information is
of real people – including myself. I write working for the common good. And yes,
a lot of poems featuring purely fictional, I know Google’s good for all the infor-
anonymous characters who find mation in the world, but libraries are
themselves in bizarre and unsettling warm-blooded.
situations as a way of exploring how
human nature might respond to things
turning really weird…
11POETRY
EXPLORING POETRY
Workshop Leaders
Come along to one of our Exploring Anna Woodford
Poetry sessions, where you can read Anna Woodford’s poetry collection
and discuss contemp o rary poetry Birdhouse won the Crashaw Prize and
in a friendly environment. Exploring was a Guardian poetry book of the
Poetry is for anyone who wants to find year. She has received a Leverhulme
out more about contemporary poetry, Award, an Eric Gregory Award, a
how to read it and which poets to look Hawthornden Fellowship and a Blue
out for. Mountain Fellowship (New York). She
has a doctorate in the poetry of Sharon
The Exploring Poetry leaders, Anna
Olds. Anna Woodford lives in Newcastle
Woodford and Linda France, will work
upon Tyne and works as a freelance
with you to share ideas about what
writer and teacher.
works and how poetry makes you feel.
www.annawoodford.co.uk
You should come away with an idea of
which contemporary poets you might
enjoy and ideas of what to read next. Linda France
The sessions are relaxed and informal, Linda France lives in Northumberland.
and no knowledge of poetry is required. Her poetry collections include The Gen-
tleness of the Very Tall, The Toast of
the Kit-Cat Club, book of days and You
To enable discussion, numbers for Are Her. She has worked on a number
these sessions are capped at 16 of collaborations with visual artists and
attendees. Please speak to your musicians and around forty Public Art
library about how to book a place on projects. In 2014 she won First Prize in
an Exploring Poetry session. the National Poetry Competition.
www.lindafrance.co.uk
Anna Woodford (left) © Simon Veit-WIlson
Linda France (right) © Hayley Madden
12FICTION
FELL
Jenn Ashworth
Published by Sceptre
‘ Headily atmospheric
and luminously written…
threaded with original,
arresting images. Not many
© Martin Figura
writers could bind the
supernatural and the literary
with such lightness of touch.’
One of BBC’s The
Sunday Times
Culture Show’s Best
New British Novelists
Jenn Ashworth was born in Preston. She studied
English at Cambridge and has since then gained
an MA from Manchester University, trained as a
librarian and run a prison library in Lancashire.
Her first novel, A Kind of Intimacy, was
published in 2009 and won a Betty
Trask Award.
Her third novel, The
Friday Gospels, was
published to resound-
ing critical acclaim.
She currently lectures
in Creative Writing at the
University of Lancaster.
14www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to and the misunderstood. The character
people coming to your events? of Timothy Richardson – a mysterious
lodger with unexplained magical
Fell is a novel about miracles – wanted
powers that are as much curse as they
and otherwise – magic, healing and
are blessing – also appeared very early
the danger of hope. It’s also about a
on in the novel and would not leave
family who run a lodging house on the
me alone.
edge of Morecambe Bay in a little town
called Grange-over-Sands. One day, a
Tell us about one or two of your main
mysterious and charismatic lodger
characters.
arrives, claiming that he can heal Netty
– the landlady of the house – of her Netty is the main character – a skilled
terminal cancer. The novel is narrated business woman, running her own
by a pair of regretful ghosts, woken into lodging house, and managing all the
being by their daughter’s return to the domestic and practical aspects of her
now abandoned lodging house. So it’s family life. She’s very sick, and it’s her
partly a ghost story, partly an explor desperation to stay, to get better, that
ation of loss and illness and magic, and powers the book. I was interested in how
it’s partly about what happens when someone so intensely practical could
you do and don’t get exactly what you come to believe and depend so much
wished for. on a very unreliable, possibly dishonest
faith healer. Her daughter, Annette, is
Can you identify an inspiration or also a key character: excluded from the
starting point for your novel? facts of her mother’s illness as a child,
we meet her as an adult, haunted by an
Morecambe – particularly the strange,
unnameable sense of loss and an urge
unbiddable sands of the bay itself – was
to understand a story she was never
my main inspiration. The novel moves
properly told.
around in time and through different
perspectives, and by that constant
What are you most looking forward to
shifting I wanted to try to recreate a
about taking part in Read Regional?
little of what it feels like to walk across
the bay – that lonely, haunted, atmos- I love to meet readers and talk to
phere of the place, the combination of people who, like me, have made books
domesticity and danger, the familiar and reading a central part of their lives.
15HISTORICAL FICTION
NEWS FROM NOWHERE
Jane Austin
Published by Cinnamon Press
‘News from Nowhere does
vividly what historical novels
can do better than history
books – offering the reader
an imagined window onto one
particular field in the vast
landscape of the past.’ Fiona Shaw
Shortlisted for the
York Culture Awards,
Jane Austin was born in Liverpool and has
Excellence in Writing
worked as a French teacher and as a coordinator
of Adult Education in Yorkshire. Starting writing
at 68, she believes passionately in creativity as
a way of breaking down barriers and bringing
people together.
News from Nowhere, Jane’s debut
novel, is inspired by a collection
of letters, written a
century ago by three
of Jane’s family, as
they served on the
Western Front during
the First World War.
News from Nowhere was
shortlisted for a Cinnamon
Press writing competition
and published in February 2017.
Jane lives in York.
16www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to Tell us about one or two of your main
people coming to your events? characters.
Set in the Second World War, in North We see Bronwyn growing up and taking
Wales, News from Nowhere tells the on responsibilities she couldn’t have
story of Bronwyn, the daughter left at imagined in a world transformed by war.
home when her father and brothers She and her circle of university friends
leave for the Western Front. The novel are thrown into a tidalwave of social
draws on detailed evidence and family change, cast adrift from traditional
archives to bring an imaginative truth certainties. Bronwyn meets women
to the story of everyday heroes: the who explore and shape the future in
men in the trenches and the women science and medicine, in politics and
on the home front. Bronwyn becomes journalism. When she falls in love with
passionate about building a better the glamorous George, a wounded
future, as she encounters women peace English officer, she’s torn between love
campaigners, women doctors and and her dream of becoming a writer, to
Belgian refugees. Her destiny is forged bear witness to the devastation of war.
by tough choices in a war-torn world.
What do you most value about the
Can you identify an inspiration or libraries in our region?
starting point for your novel?
In York, where I live, the libraries engage
I was inspired by a collection of family with the community in imagina tive
letters from the Western Front as well ways, with the Big City Read an annual
as my grandfather’s unpublished war highlight. This year Helen Cadbury’s
poetry. The letters highlight intensely detective novel, To Catch a Rabbit, is
personal moving accounts against selected, a Read Regional book in 2016.
the wider backdrop of the sacrifice It will be read and discussed by groups
of war. The voices of the young men across the city, along with a suite of
writing home cry out to be heard, in all related events for adults and young
their wit, pathos and authenticity, and people alike. Libraries play a hugely
Bronwyn is the sister who responds. important role in bringing people
Her character is inspired by the together to explore thoughts, feelings
spirit of my great aunts, an enduring and ideas through a shared passion
presence in my childhood. for books. Libraries also keep alive
a tradition of public discourse in an
increasingly atomised world.
17CRIME
GIRL ZERO
A.A. Dhand
Published by Penguin
‘ A story as fresh as today’s
newspaper headlines –
and all the more potent
for being so.’ Daily Mail
Amit Dhand was raised in Bradford and spent his
youth observing the city from behind the counter
of a small convenience store. After qualifying as
a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled
A UK Bestselling Author extensively before returning to Bradford to start
his own business and begin writing.
The history, diversity and darkness of the city
have inspired his Harry Virdee novels. His novel,
Streets of Darkness, was published to great
acclaim in 2017 and the follow-up, Girl Zero,
has been selected for this year’s
Read Regional.
18www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to disowning him for crossing a religious
people coming to your events? divide. Yet, Harry never faltered. He
believes his ethnic heritage is just that
Luther meets The Wire on the gritty
– heritage. It’s behind him. The past.
streets of Bradford. Young girls are
What matters is the here and now and
going missing and, this time, a murder
that means Harry respects everyone,
close to home gives DI Harry Virdee
irrespective of cast or colour. That is
his toughest case. Determined to solve
unless they cross him or the law. Ali
the case and in the process re-unite a
Kamran is the face of evil in Girl Zero
broken family, Harry will have to cross
and ‘face’ is an apt choice of word.
paths with his brother, a man who
Ali had been abandoned by the Asian
controls the underworld in Bradford.
community because of how he looks
Harry must make a choice: should he
( you’ll have to read the book to see
keep the law or break it?
what is wrong with his appearance!).
Ali believes if his skin were white, if
What are the key locations in your
he appeared ‘white’, his life would be
story?
easier and he would be accepted. To
My books are set on the streets of that extent, he bleaches his skin every
Bradford, a city trying hard to regen- day, leaching its pigmentation. Now all
erate amidst a difficult two decades Ali needs is a girl to love him even if she
of mismanagement. For me, the city is not willing…
is unique; once the richest city in
Europe with such esteemed heritage What do you most value about the
and now a forgotten northern power- libraries in our region?
house. I explore the lost parts of its
The librarians are amazing people
history, from derelict mills to forgotten
and great sources of information.
underground tunnels to the new world
Libraries are now more than simply
Bradford is trying to become.
places you can borrow books. They
have communities, engagement groups
Tell us about one or two of your main
and are places where people of all ages
characters.
can mix. I started my writing career
Harry Virdee: charismatic, fierce and by borrowing an inspiring book from
unashamedly British. His marriage to a library and hope others can have a
a Muslim woman resulted in his family similar experience.
19MYSTERY
THE COMPANION
Sarah Dunnakey
Published by Orion
‘ An engaging and totally
compelling mystery.’
Yorkshire Post
After brief stints as a college librarian, an
education officer and an NHS researcher, Sarah
landed her dream job as a Question Researcher
on Mastermind. She now writes and verifies the
questions for a plethora of TV shows including
Winner of a Northern
University Challenge and Pointless.
Writers’ Award
Sarah’s work, especially researching the
Specialist Subjects on Mastermind, has been a
rich source of ideas for her writing. Her short
story, The Marzipan Husband, was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4. The Companion is Sarah’s first
novel. She currently lives in Hebden
Bridge, West Yorkshire with her
husband and daughter.
20www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to Tell us about one or two of your main
people coming to your events? characters.
Billy Shaw has grown up at Potter’s Twelve-year-old Billy Shaw has grown
Pleasure Palace, famous in Yorkshire up at Potter’s Palace, where his Ma
and beyond for its dancing, swing-boats runs the tearooms. His dream is to run
and roller-skating. But in 1932 at the a Palace of his own. Becoming Jasper
age of 12 he is sent to be the companion Harper’s companion is supposed to
to a wild, peculiar boy, Jasper Harper, give Billy a ‘leg up’ in the world. But
who lives in a house on the moors with High Hob House is cold and isolated.
his mother Edie and Uncle Charles. Dark secrets bubble under the surface.
Four years later, Edie and Charles Billy wants to make his family proud,
Harper are found dead, ruled a joint become as successful as Mr Potter
suicide. In 2017, archivist Anna Sallis and win the love of his daughter, Lizzie.
finds inconsistencies in the story and Along the way he has to make difficult
begins to unravel the mystery of what decisions and confront uncomfortable
really happened to the Harpers and truths.
what part Billy Shaw played.
What do you most value about the
Can you identify an inspiration or libraries in our region?
starting point for your novel?
Libraries fed me stories as a child,
The Companion is partly inspired by a supported me though school and
real place – Gibson Mill in Hardcastle university. As a quiz-question writer
Crags near Hebden Bridge. A former and as an author I rely on libraries
cotton mill, it was transformed into for inspiration and information. As
an entertainment centre in the early an avid reader it is the only way I can
1900s. The spark for Billy’s story feed my habit. My local library is a safe
was an advert in The Times news- and welcoming place that doesn’t have
paper from the 1930s. It said ‘Child a dress code, doesn’t try to sell me
Companion Wanted, aged 6-7 for boy anything, doesn’t care about my age,
aged 7’. The address was Bodmin Moor. gender or sexuality. A place to sit and
The questions it raised formed the think. To read, to write. To think a bit
basis for my plot. more. Like a spa with words and ideas
instead of steam.
21THRILLER
AN HONEST DECEIT
Guy Mankowski
Published by Urbane Publications
‘ A book of outstanding quality…
Once I started reading, I could
not stop. I wanted to know
more. If I have a criticism to
make it is that I wish the book
were longer.’ The Huffington Post
Longlisted for the Guy Mankowski’s first novel, The Intimates, was
Guardian’s Not The published by Legend Press in 2011. His second,
Booker Prize Letters from Yelena, was researched in the
world of Russian ballet, and was adapted for the
stage for a one-off performance at Dance City,
Newcastle. An excerpt from it was used in GCSE
training material by Osiris.
His third novel was set in Manchester’s
post-punk scene and written as
part of a creative writing
PhD at Northumbria
University. An Honest
Deceit was published
in 2016. Guy lives in
Newcastle.
22www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to What are the key locations in your
people coming to your events? story?
It’s a thriller following one man’s quest It is set in a kind of struggling middle
to discover the truth about how his England. The novel is called An Honest
daughter came to be tragically killed Deceit and it is very much about the
on a school trip. It’s also about how post-truth world. I think middle
social media makes it harder than ever England, with all the changes imposed
for cover-ups to stay covered, and how by globalisation, is in flux and I try to
people can now use the opportunities capture that sense of chaos and change.
offered by modern technology to
expose wrongdoing. But in the main Tell us about one or two of your main
this is a novel investigating what it is characters.
that makes up the building blocks of
The novel is built around the relation-
a family. What is it that holds a family
ship between Ben, a shy teacher who
together and makes it endure through-
has to learn not to be shy to expose
out the deepest crisis? I think the family
what happened to his daughter, and his
unit is one of the great ways to survive
best friend Phillip, a gregarious stand-
the challenges of modern life – and in
up comedian on the edge of fame who
this book I depict what the modern
teaches Ben what he has learnt to help
world we live in can throw at people.
him bring the truth out.
Can you identify an inspira tion or
What do you most value about the
starting point for your novel?
libraries in our region?
It was inspired by a short film, Paris,
The fact that despite how much England
je t’aime, in which Juliette Binoche
is changing they still give people a
brilliantly plays a mother who dreamt
refuge. I love places people can learn
that her son didn’t in fact die, he just
in, and that is personally my favourite
went away to live with his hero, who
aspect of them.
was one of his toys come to life. It really
moved me and the seed of the novel
What are you most looking forward to
was there.
about taking part in Read Regional?
Meeting readers. For once they won’t
be distanced, only palpable through
avatars on Goodreads or reviews on
Amazon.
23HISTORICAL CRIME
THE ZEALOT’S BONES
D.M. Mark
Published by Hodder
‘ Dark, compelling crime writing
of the highest order.’ Daily Mail
David is based in and writes about Hull. This is
his first historical crime fiction; he is already well
known for his crime series featuring DS Aector
McAvoy and his boss Trish Pharoah. The first
in the series, Dark Winter, was selected for the
Harrogate New Blood panel and was a Richard
A Sunday Times & Judy Book Club choice. Before becoming a full
Bestselling Author time author, David was a journalist working the
crime beat and much of what he experienced at
that time is translated into his fiction. He was
born in Cumbria.
24www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to cholera outbreak that killed thousands
people coming to your events? in Hull. After that, I lay on a trampoline
for a few hours and let my imagination
My publishers say it’s historical crime
go for a walk around the darkest
fiction with a difference, which is
recesses of my psyche.
probably true. I’ve certainly never read
anything like it before, which may be a
Tell us about one or two of your main
good thing or a bad thing, depending
characters.
on your point of view. It’s essentially a
mystery/thriller, which is set in 1849 When we meet Meshach Stone he is
in Hull, during a cholera outbreak suffused with guilt and self-loathing,
that turned the old port city into a wallowing at the bottom of a brandy
Gomorrah of blood, filth and rats the bottle and taking comforts only
size of piglets. Into this world of pain through opiates and occasional bouts
and flame comes Meshach Stone, a of violence. But beneath his broken
disgraced soldier and spy now serving exterior is a man who was once a
as bodyguard to rich young archaeol- diplomat, spy and assassin. He was dis-
ogist Diligence Matheson. They have graced when he walked away from his
come to the North of England seeking duties, having survived a massacre that
the last resting place of one of Christ’s stained his soul.
apostles. It’s a story of redemption and
revenge: bloody, grimy and raw. If I’m What do you most value about the
ever sent to prison, it will probably be libraries in our region?
the prosecution’s Exhibit A.
This may sound a little obvious, but
I like the fact that people can go and
Can you identify an inspiration or
get books they want, for free. I mean,
starting point for your novel?
that’s brilliant, isn’t it? Books should
Two places. Firstly, I heard the be available. I’m also rather fond of
centuries-old rumour that the bones librarians, who seem to me like the
of Simon the Zealot, Christ’s most gatekeepers of a fabulous realm and
mysterious disciple, may have been who really shouldn’t have to spend any
laid to rest somewhere near the Roman time persuading the accountants that
garrison of Caistor, Lincolnshire, two their service is valuable. Of course it
millennia ago. Then I learned about the bloody is.
25FICTION
HOW SAINTS DIE
Carmen Marcus
Published by Harvill Secker
‘How Saints Die is a soaring
success; beautiful and
devastating.’ The Skinny
Carmen Marcus lives in the Victorian spa town
of Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Her writing has been
described as ‘crackling dangerously with inher-
ited magic yet achieving contemporary vitality’.
She is in much demand as a performance poet
Winner of a Northern
and has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall.
Promise Award
Recently she has been commissioned by BBC
Radio 3’s Verb New Voices. How Saints Die is her
first novel, and as a work in progress it won New
Writing North’s Northern Promise Award.
26www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
Can you tell us a bit about where the The act of following those old routes
idea for How Saints Die came from? summoned back the child in me and I
wrote so much after those walks. I also
You know that bit in Jane Eyre when
used significant objects. I have a box,
Rochester asks Jane for her ‘tale of
like Ellie’s ‘box of broken things’, full of
woe’ and she’s says she doesn’t have
childhood drawings, schoolbooks, my
one? Well I felt like Jane for a long time.
dad’s net needles. These things are as
I defiantly did not want to tell my tale
powerful as a time machine.
of woe. The tale of a child watching her
mother break down, the cold reaction
What was the inspiration for the sea-
of the community, the bullying that
side folklore and superstitions in
comes with a lack of understanding.
your novel?
That would be a story of damage and
be damaging to tell. It wasn’t until I My father was born in 1920; he was 56
was older and realised how strong my when I was born. He grew up in a trad
mother was to survive and also how itional fishing family, on Fisherman’s
strangely powerful and beautiful my Square, and to him the sea was a
memories of that time were because of power beyond man and god. I grew
the delicate nurture my father showed up knowing that my father and his
me. I lost my father when I was just brothers never learned to swim but
nineteen and I resisted telling this they survived the Second World War
story until I was ready to go back to in the Navy because my great grand-
a world where he was alive. I realised father had once, through love and pity,
what made my story one of strength rescued a sea god. They survived out of
and transformation was its mythic luck and love. This family myth became
counterparts: stories of selkies and sea the root story for Ellie and her father.
gods. By taking the real and layering it My mother is Irish and for her the dead
over a mythic inner structure, this tale are always close by; every Halloween
of woe became a tale of strength and she would put out treats for those who
survival, a story I could tell. had passed away, light a light and leave
the window open for a visit. As a child
other worlds were only an open window
Please tell us about how you created
away. This became the root story for
the character of Ellie Fleck.
Ellie and her mother.
I had to take myself back to my child self.
I did this physically – I walked home to
my mum’s house, past my old primary
school, through changing seasons.
27NATURE
A SWEET, WILD NOTE
Richard Smyth
Published by Elliot & Thompson
‘ Smyth has taught himself
to hear, and it’s impossible
to read his vivid account
and not listen just a little
closer yourself.’ The Spectator
Richard Smyth is a writer, researcher and editor
based in Bradford. He is a regular contributor
Winner of a Northern
to Bird Watching magazine, and reached the
Writers’ Award
final of Mastermind with a specialist subject
of British birds. He writes and reviews for The
Times, Guardian, Times Literary Supplement,
Literary Review, New Statesman, BBC Wildlife,
New Humanist, Illustration and New Scientist.
He also writes novels and short fiction, and
has written several books on English
history.
28www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
How would you describe your book to Where are the main locations in your
people coming to your events? book?
It’s a book about birdsong, and what it I grew up in West Yorkshire, and
means – not just to the birds, but to us, it’s where I still live – it’s where I’ve
too. You don’t have to be able to tell a done most of my birdwatching, so it’s
skylark from a starling to see that the central to the more personal elements
songs of birds have worked their way of the book: the skylarks on Baildon
deeply into our culture: into literature, Moor, where I proposed to my wife;
science, music, the way we think about the sparrows and collared doves of
and engage with the world around us. suburban Wakefield, where my parents
Birdsong speaks to us in some very still live; the blackcaps and chiffchaffs
deep and interesting ways. This is a of the Airedale riverside, which is my
book about what it says. local ‘patch’ now – they’re all in there.
But the book as a whole ranges far
How did you first become interested and wide, from New York to Thailand
in birdsong? to London to Berlin to Australia and
all points in between. Birdsong gets
Well, I’ve been interested in birds since
everywhere.
I was little, but birdsong was always a
bit of a closed book to me, something
How important have libraries been to
I somehow never really learned the
you?
knack for. That in itself made it inter-
esting to me when I started writing Without libraries I wouldn’t be a writer.
seriously about birds. Then you look at The wildlife books I took out over and
all the ways in which we’ve interacted over again from Horbury Library in
with birdsong – recording it, writing my home town, when I was a kid; the
poems about it, imitating it, studying it first ‘serious’ literature I found there as
– and you can’t help becoming fascin a geeky teenager; the hours I spent in
ated. It’s such an everyday thing but one library or another when I was an
at the same time it’s so fantastically undergrad studying history and English
complex and rich. literature at York; the collections and
wonderful staff of my local libraries in
Leeds, Bradford and Shipley – they’ve
all played a part in making me, first, a
book lover and, second, a writer.
29EVENTS
NORTH EAST
DARLINGTON
ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY
WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Wednesday 7 March, 2pm (Exploring
Poetry), followed by reading at 3pm
Crown Street Library,
Crown Street, Darlington, DL1 1ND
GUY MANKOWSKI
Wednesday 14 March, 1.30pm
Crown Street Library,
Crown Street, Darlington, DL1 1ND
DURHAM HARTLEPOOL
JENN ASHWORTH D.M. MARK
Thursday 10 May, 11am Wednesday 7 March, 7pm
Spennymoor Library, Seaton Carew Library, Station Lane,
24 Cheapside, Spennymoor, DL16 6DJ Hartlepool, TS25 1BN
GUY MANKOWSKI A.A. DHAND
Tuesday 5 June, 10am Friday 9 March, 2pm
Barnard Castle Library, Witham Building, Community Hub Central,
2 Hall Street, Barnard Castle, DL12 8JB 124 York Road, Hartlepool, TS26 9DE
JANE AUSTIN ANTONY DUNN, POLLY ATKIN AND
Thursday 14 June, 2.30pm EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP WITH
Consett Library, Victoria Road, ANNA WOODFORD
Consett, DH8 5AT Thursday 5 April, 4.00pm (Exploring
Poetry), followed by reading at 5.30pm
GATESHEAD Community Hub Central,
124 York Road, Hartlepool, TS26 9DE
SARAH DUNNAKEY
Thursday 3 May, 10.30am MIDDLESBROUGH
Birtley Library, 16 Durham Road,
Birtley, Chester-le-Street, DH3 1LE KATE PANKHURST
Friday 2 March, 10am
JENN ASHWORTH Central Library, Centre Square,
Thursday 17 May, 7pm Middlesbrough, TS21 2AY
Gateshead Central Library, School event (not open to the public)
Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4LN
D.M. MARK AND CARMEN MARCUS
D.M. MARK Tuesday 24 April, 7pm
Tuesday 22 May, 7pm Acklam Library, Acklam Road,
Gateshead Central Library, Middlesbrough, TS5 7AB
Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4LN Part of World Book Night Celebration
SARAH DUNNAKEY
Tuesday 12 June, 7pm
Acklam Library, Acklam Road,
Middlesbrough, TS5 7AB
Part of Crossing the Tees Book Festival
30www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE RICHARD SMYTH
Wednesday 2 May, 7.30pm
KATE PANKHURST Haltwhistle Library, Westgate,
Wednesday 28 March, 10.15am Haltwhistle, NE49 0AX
Newcastle City Library, 33 New Bridge Part of the Haltwhistle Spring
Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX Walking Festival
School event (not open to the public)
RICHARD SMYTH
A.A. DHAND Thursday 3 May, 10am
Friday 4 May, 2pm Morning Birdsong Walk – Haltwhistle
Gosforth Library, Regent Farm Road, Library, Westgate, Haltwhistle, NE49 0AX
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3HD Part of the Haltwhistle Spring
Walking Festival
ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY
WORKSHOP WITH LINDA FRANCE KATE PANKHURST
Wednesday 11 April, 5pm (Exploring Thursday 10 May
Poetry), followed by reading at 6pm Corbridge First School
Newcastle City Library, 33 New Bridge St Helen’s Lane, Corbridge, NE45 5JQ
Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX School event (not open to the public)
NORTH TYNESIDE SOUTH TYNESIDE
KATE PANKHURST SARAH DUNNAKEY
Tuesday 20 March, 10.30am Tuesday 15 May, 6.30pm
Killingworth Library, The Word, Market Place,
White Swan Centre, Killingworth, South Shields, NE33 1JF
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 6SS Part of Write Festival 2018
School event (not open to the public)
JENN ASHWORTH
SARAH DUNNAKEY Tuesday 22 May, 6.30pm
Monday 16 April, 2.30pm The Word, Market Place,
Wideopen Library, 101 Canterbury Way, South Shields, N33 1JF
Wideopen, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE13 6JJ Part of Write Festival 2018
A.A. DHAND STOCKTON-ON-TEES
Tuesday 1 May, 7.30pm
Cullercoats Library, 16 St. George’s Road, GUY MANKOWSKI AND D.M. MARK
North Shields, NE30 3JY Wednesday 25 April, 7pm
Norton Library, 87 High Street,
NORTHUMBERLAND Norton, Stockton, TS20 1AE
ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY SUNDERLAND
WORKSHOP WITH LINDA FRANCE
Wednesday 14 March, 6pm (Exploring GUY MANKOWSKI
Poetry), followed by reading at 7.15pm Thursday 1 March, 2pm
Northern Poetry Library, Morpeth Washington Town Centre Library,
Chantry, The Chantry, Bridge Street, The Galleries, Washington,
Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1PD Tyne and Wear, NE38 7RZ
SARAH DUNNAKEY SARAH DUNNAKEY
Thursday 26 April, 6.30pm Thursday 15 March, 2.15pm
Hexham Library, Queens Hall, City Library, Burdon Road,
Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS Sunderland, SR1 1SE
In partnership with Hexham Book Festival
31EVENTS
YORKSHIRE
BRADFORD GUY MANKOWSKI
Thursday 24 May, 7pm
A.A. DHAND Central Library and Archives,
Saturday 3 March, 2pm Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG
Bradford City Library,
Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1SD DONCASTER
D.M. MARK GUY MANKOWSKI
Saturday 7 April, 2pm Thursday 15 March, 10am
Bradford City Library, Doncaster Central Library,
Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1SD Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3JE
GUY MANKOWSKI JENN ASHWORTH
Saturday 5 May, 2pm Thursday 19 April, 7pm
Shipley Library, Doncaster Central Library,
2 Wellcroft, Shipley, BD18 3QH Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3JE
ANTONY DUNN, POLLY ATKIN AND SARAH DUNNAKEY
EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP WITH Thursday 24 May, 10am
ANNA WOODFORD Doncaster Central Library,
Saturday 2 June, 2pm (Exploring Poetry), Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3JE
followed by reading at 3pm
Keighley Library, RICHARD SMYTH
North Street, Keighley, BD21 3SX Thursday 14 June, 7pm
Doncaster Central Library,
CALDERDALE Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3JE
D.M. MARK EAST RIDING
Thursday 8 March, 2.30pm
Elland Library, Coronation Street, D.M. MARK
Elland, HX5 0DF Saturday 17 February, 1.30pm
Beverley Library,
POLLY ATKIN AND EXPLORING POETRY Champney Road, Beverley, HU17 8HE
WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Thursday 29 March, 6.30pm (Exploring JENN ASHWORTH
Poetry), followed by reading at 7.30pm Wednesday 14 March, 2pm
Hebden Bridge Library, Cheetham Street, Market Weighton Library, Wicstun Centre,
Hebden Bridge, HX7 8EP Beverley Road, Market Weighton, YO43 3JP
SARAH DUNNAKEY A.A. DHAND
Wednesday 4 April, 2.30pm Wednesday 18 April, 6.30pm
King Cross Library, 151 Haugh Shaw Road, Goole Library,
Halifax, HX1 3BG Carlisle Street, Goole, DN14 5DS
JENN ASHWORTH CARMEN MARCUS
Thursday 5 April, 7pm Thursday 5 April, 1.30pm
Central Library and Archives, Beverley Library, Champney Road, Beverley,
Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG HU17 8HE, Writing workshop (2 hours)
A.A. DHAND SARAH DUNNAKEY
Thursday 26 April, 7pm Thursday 7 June, 6pm
Central Library and Archives, Bridlington Central Library,
Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG 14 King Street, Bridlington, YO15 2DE
32www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
RICHARD SMYTH RICHARD SMYTH
Thursday 21 June, 2pm. This event will be Thursday 10 May, 10.30am
an outdoor walk (weather permitting) Cleackheaton Library, Whitcliffe Road,
North Bridlington Library, Cleckheaton BD19 3DX
Martongate, Bridlington, YO16 6YD Walking event to listen to birdsong
HULL D.M. MARK
Thursday 28 June, 6.30pm
GUY MANKOWSKI Dewsbury Library, Dewsbury Retail Park,
Thursday 22 March, 6.30pm Railway Street, Dewsbury, WF12 8EQ
Hull Central Library,
Albion Street, Hull, HU1 3TF LEEDS
SARAH DUNNAKEY RICHARD SMYTH
Monday 23 April, 5.30pm Wednesday 14 March, 7.30pm
Hull Central Library, Albion Street, Hull, HU1 Heart Centre, Bennett Road,
3TF. Part of World Book Night celebration Leeds, LS6 3HN
Part of Headingley Literature Festival
JANE AUSTIN
Thursday 17 May, 6.30pm CHLOE DAYKIN
Hull Central Library, Thursday 5 April, 3.30pm
Albion Street, Hull, HU1 3TF Chapel Allerton Library,
106 Harrogate Road, Leeds, LS7 4LZ
ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY Chatterbooks group (children ages 7-11)
WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Thursday 14 June, 6.30pm (Exploring JENN ASHWORTH
Poetry), followed by reading at 7.30pm Tuesday 24 April, 7pm
Hull Central Library, Wetherby Library,
Albion Street, Hull HU1 3TF 17 West Gate, Wetherby, LS22 6LL
CHLOE DAYKIN ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY
Saturday 23 June, WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD
12.15pm-1.00pm: Author talk/signing Thursday 26 April, 7pm (Exploring
3.30pm-4.30pm: Workshop Poetry), followed by reading at 8pm
The Big Malarkey Festival, East Park, Rivers Meet Café, 102 Leeds Road,
453 Holderness Road, Hull, HU8 8JU Methley, Leeds, LS26 9EP
KATE PANKHURST NORTH YORKSHIRE
Thursday 21 June,
11am-12pm & 1.30pm-2.30pm D.M. MARK
East Park 453 Holderness Road, Monday 14 May, 2pm
Hull, HU8 8JU. Eastfield Library, High Street,
School event as part of Big Malarkey Eastfield, Scarborough, YO11 3LL
Children’s Festival (not open to public)
JENN ASHWORTH
KIRKLEES Monday 21 May, 6pm
Ingelton Library, Ingleborough
JANE AUSTIN Community Centre, Main Street,
Thursday 8 March, 2pm Ingleton, Carnforth, LA6 3HG
Skelmanthorpe Library, 24 Commercial Road,
Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield, HD8 9DA JANE AUSTIN
Wednesday 6 June, 7pm
CHLOE DAYKIN Sherburn-in-Elmet Library, Finkle Hill,
Saturday 7 April, 1pm Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds, LS25 6EA
Huddersfield Library, Princess Alexandra
Walk, Huddersfield, HD1 2SU
Interactive children’s workshop as
part of Pageturners Festival
33EVENTS
WAKEFIELD SARAH DUNNAKEY
Thursday 21 June, 1.30pm
D.M. MARK Penrith Library, St. Andrews Churchyard,
Tuesday 13 March, 11am Penrith, CA11 7YA
Wakefield Library,
Burton Street, Wakefield, WF1 2EB JENN ASHWORTH
Wednesday 27 June, 7pm
A.A. DHAND Grange-over-Sands Library,
Thursday 26 April, 2pm Grange Fell Road, Grange-over-Sands,
Hemsworth Library, Cumbria, LA11 6BQ
Market Street, Hemsworth, WF9 4JY
KNOWSLEY
RICHARD SMYTH
Friday 18 May, 10.30am SARAH DUNNAKEY
Horbury Library, Westfield Road, Friday 20 April, 11am
Horbury, Wakefield, WF4 6HP Kirkby Library, The Kirkby Centre,
Norwich Way, Kirkby, Knowsley, L32 8XY
SARAH DUNNAKEY
Thursday 14 June, 2pm A.A. DHAND
Castleford Library, Carlton Street, Monday 23 April, 11am
Castleford, Wakefield, WF10 1BB Halewood Library, The Halewood Centre,
Roseheath Drive, Halewood,
Knowsley, L26 9UH
KATE PANKHURST
Tuesday 24 April, 1.30pm
Huyton Library, Civic Way, Huyton,
NORTH WEST Knowsley, L36 9GD
School event (not open to the public)
CUMBRIA STOCKPORT
JANE AUSTIN GUY MANKOWSKI
Monday 4 June, 2pm Tuesday 10 April, 6.30pm
Carlisle Library, Heatons Library, Thornfield Road,
11 Globe Lane, Carlisle, CA3 8NX Stockport, SK4 3LD
D.M. MARK ANTONY DUNN AND EXPLORING POETRY
Tuesday 5 June, 2pm WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Whitehaven Library, Lowther Street, Tuesday 1 May, 6.30pm (Exploring Poetry),
Whitehaven, CA28 7QZ followed by reading at 7.30pm
Marple Library, Memorial Park,
A.A. DHAND Marple, Stockport, SK6 6BA
Wednesday 6 June, 6.30pm
Workinton Library, Vulcans Lane, CHLOE DAYKIN
Workington, CA14 2ND Monday 11 June and Tuesday 12 June
School event (not open to the public)
CHLOE DAYKIN
Wednesday 27 June JENN ASHWORTH
Barrow Library, Ramsden Square, Tuesday 10 July, 6.30pm
Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 1LL Bramhall Library, Bramhall Lane South,
School event (not open to the public) Bramhall, Stockport, SK7 2DU
34www.newwritingnorth.com #readregional
New Writing North @NewWritingNorth @nwnNewWritingNorth
Library contacts
To find out more about Read Regional NORTH WEST ENGLAND
events in your area, ask at your local library
or contact the librarian listed below. CUMBRIA
Helen Towers,
Reader Development and Stock Manager
NORTH EAST ENGLAND E: helen.towers@cumbria.gov.uk
DARLINGTON KNOWSLEY
Michael Wilkinson, Senior Library Officer Carol Cherpeau, Senior Librarian
E: michael.wilkinson@darlington.gov.uk E: carol.cherpeau@knowsley.gov.uk
DURHAM STOCKPORT
Julie Slater, Senior Librarian Rachel Broster, Senior Librarian
E: julie.slater@durham.gov.uk E: rachel.broster@stockport.gov.uk
GATESHEAD
Helen Eddon, Stock & Acquisitions Manager YORKSHIRE
E: heleneddon@gateshead.gov.uk
BRADFORD
HARTLEPOOL Dionne Hood, Stock Promotion Officer
Denise Sparrowhawk, E: dionne.hood@bradford.gov.uk
Stock and Reader Development Officer
E: denise.sparrowhawk@hartlepool.gov.uk CALDERDALE
David Duffy,
MIDDLESBROUGH Collections & Central Services Manager
Ruth Cull, Library Development Officer E: david.duffy@calderdale.gov.uk
E: ruth_cull@middlesbrough.gov
DONCASTER
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Allan Wilkinson, Literacy, Learning
Dan Kinnair, Library Service Specialist and Engagement Assistant
E: dan.kinnair@newcastle.gov.uk E: allan.wilkinson@doncaster.gov.uk
NORTH TYNESIDE EAST RIDING
Ruth Walton, Tracey Booth, Librarian
Adult Reading and Learning Coordinator E: tracey.booth@eastriding.gov.uk
E: ruth.walton@northtyneside.gov.uk
HULL
NORTHUMBERLAND Winifred Brewer, Librarian
Jenny Kinnear, Senior Librarian: E: winifred.brewer@hcandl.co.uk
Children and Young People
E: JKinnear@activenorthumberland.org.uk KIRKLEES
Fiona Sullivan, Librarian
SOUTH TYNESIDE E: fiona.sullivan@kirklees.gov.uk
Pauline Martin, Community Librarian,
Stock & Reader Development LEEDS
E: pauline.martin@southtyneside.gov.uk Alison Millar, Area Development Librarian
(Reader Development)
STOCKTON-ON-TEES E: alison.millar@leeds.gov.uk
Jen Brittain, Reading Resources Librarian
E: jen.brittain@stockton.gov.uk NORTH YORKSHIRE
Annette Mircic, Project Manager
SUNDERLAND Bibliographical Services
Jacqueline Reay, E: annette.mircic@northyorks.gov.uk
Library Operations Coordinator
E: jacqueline.reay@sunderland.gov.uk WAKEFIELD
Alison Cassels, Library Officer, Reading
E: acassels@wakefield.gov.uk
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