READ REGIONAL 2019 DISCOVER BRILLIANT NORTHERN WRITERS - New Writing North
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READ DISCOVER
BRILLIANT
REGIONAL NORTHERN
2019 WRITERS
WELCOME TO READ REGIONAL 2019 ‘Libraries are like oases of civilisation in what can seem like the desert of modern life.’ Tony Williams ‘This scheme is a work of genius, and unique in the way it supports writers, readers and libraries equally. I’m absolutely raring to go!’ Laura Steven Read Regional is one of the highlights of New Writing North’s calendar. Each year we usher in the spring by introducing readers to a fresh wave of talented northern authors. Our line-up for 2019 includes award-winning poets, thrilling new fiction, inspirational nature writing and cutting-edge young adult and children’s stories. We’re looking forward to introducing you to these amazing writers and their wonderful books. Libraries are at the heart of Read Regional. We respect and admire the tireless and imaginative work of the many dedicated librarians in our region – it’s a joy to have the chance to engage with them each year. Throughout the campaign we celebrate the unique place that libraries occupy in the cultural and social fabric of the North of England. This year we’re pleased to include 22 library authorities in the campaign, spanning the length and breadth of the North. New Writing North is a registered charity and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The organisation acts as a dynamic broker between writers and the creative industries, commissions and produces new work, and supports reader development. Our other projects include the Northern Writers’ Awards, the Gordon Burn Prize, Crime Story, Durham Book Festival and New Writing North Young Writers. We work with a broad range of regional and national partners, which includes publishers, local authorities and universities. Happy reading! Will Mackie Senior Programme Manager (Writing, Awards and Libraries) March 2019 ‘The opportunity to meet readers is one of the things I enjoy most about being an author. It is a notoriously solitary occupation and, while I love my writing days, I love getting out and talking about books too.’ Catherine Isaac
CONTENTS
Author photographs © Mark Savage
03 Foreword by Andrew Michael Hurley FICTION
14 Amy Arnold, Slip of a Fish
CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION 16 Jude Brown, His Dark Sun
04 Laura Steven, The Exact Opposite of Okay 18 Andrew Michael Hurley, Devil’s Day
06 Mark Illis, The Impossible: On the Run 20 Catherine Isaac, You Me Everything
22 Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Kintu
POETRY 24 Robert Scragg, What Falls Between the Cracks
08 Clare Shaw, Flood 26 Tony Williams, Nutcase
10 John Challis, The Black Cab
12 Exploring Poetry NATURE
13 Anna Woodford, Changing Room 28 Karen Lloyd, The Blackbird Diaries
EVENTS
31 Events in the North East
32 Events in the North West
33 Events in Yorkshire
36 Library Contacts
01
FOREWORD
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
If anyone were to ask me why I became
a writer, I could do no better than
take them by the hand and lead them
into my local library. When I was
growing up, I was often happier there
than I was at home. Books in their
hundreds made for a reassuring
presence. They were always there,
wanting to show you something new,
waiting to tell you a story. There was
a promise of escape, too. The chance
to be transported somewhere else.
The shelves were a destination board
of all the places I might go. ‘Libraries
raised me,’ Ray Bradbury once said,
and I know what he meant.
As an adult they still feel like special places. There’s a rare kind of freedom
in the library. No one wants your money. You are not required to be
a customer. You are not required to be anything, in fact. Libraries are
among the few truly egalitarian public institutions. They are places people
trust because they are devoted solely to things which make us better
able to understand, empathise and debate as rational, intelligent beings.
And for that reason, they are extremely precious, never more so than now.
The ever-astute Isaac Asimov said that when a library closes then ‘society
has found another way to destroy itself ’. It’s not an overstatement.
I worked in local libraries for six years and saw first-hand how vital they
are to the communities they serve. They are the community in many cases;
places of connection, study, knowledge, support, advice and wellbeing.
Without them, there are only deficits. Which is why it’s such a privilege
to be part of Read Regional and to support the work that libraries do.
All of us, I’m sure, will enjoy going back to those places that nurtured us
readers and turned us into writers.
03
WINNER OF A NORTHERN WRITERS’ AWARD Laura Steven is an author, journalist and screenwriter from the northernmost town in England. The Exact Opposite of Okay, her young adult debut about slut-shaming, is out now in the UK and has been widely translated. HarperTeen will publish the North American edition in summer 2019. The sequel, A Girl Called Shameless, is out now.
THE EXACT
Young Adult
OPPOSITE OF
OKAY
Laura Steven
Published by Egmont
‘Funny, unapologetic and
shameless in the best
possible way.’
Louise O’Neill
What inspired you to write
The Exact Opposite of Okay?
It’s inspired by a few things I’ve experienced
as a young woman: a friend-zoned guy who
turned aggressive; a former boss who sexually
harassed me. I wanted to explore some of
the serious issues facing teenage girls – What’s one of the hardest things Izzy has
slut-shaming, body image, victim-blaming – to face in the novel?
but also do it with humour.
Ever since Izzy’s parents died in a car crash
We’re living in a time of huge change, with the when she was a kid, she’s used humour as a
Silence Breakers being named Time’s Person defence mechanism, and overcoming that is
of the Year, the #MeToo campaign gathering a huge part of her emotional journey. The
steam, and powerful men beginning to be held most difficult thing about the sex scandal and
accountable for their predatory actions. It the subsequent fallout is not the fact that her
feels like the tide is finally turning, and I’m boobs are on show to the world (although
proud to be joining the fight with this book. that’s not ideal), it’s that it forces Izzy to peel
back her own layers and actually deal with the
Where and when is the novel set? pain she’s going through, rather than forever
cracking jokes about it.
Modern-day America. Revenge porn is illegal
in the UK, which is why I set the book in the US; What do you most value about the libraries
I wanted to explore the emotional aftermath in our region?
of a sex scandal, not the legal aftermath,
although I tackle the latter in the book’s sequel. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t
There are over a dozen states without any have much money – certainly not enough to
form of revenge porn legislation, yet the sate my enormous bookish appetite. My local
phenomenon is so widespread it’s practically library in Berwick-upon-Tweed was a lifeline,
a pandemic. One in twenty-five people in the and I spent every weekend picking out dozens
US have either been victims of revenge porn of books (and invariably finishing them all by
or have been threatened with the posting of Tuesday morning). Knowing that these
sensitive images. The number jumps to one in magical havens exist for kids who wouldn’t
ten for young women. And that makes me otherwise have access to books means so much
incredibly, incredibly angry. to me; I wouldn’t be who I am without them.
05
WINNER OF A NORTHERN WRITERS’ AWARD Mark Illis has written extensively for TV, including EastEnders, The Bill and Emmerdale. He also wrote the award-winning screenplay for Before Dawn. He has had three adult novels published by Bloomsbury, and more recently two by Salt. The Impossible won a Northern Writers’ Award in 2015. He lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, with his wife and two children.
THE
Children’s Fiction
IMPOSSIBLE:
ON THE RUN
Mark Illis
Published by Quercus Children’s Books
‘If you ever imagined that
people who get special
gifts always turn out to
be super-heroes, think
again.’ Melvin Burgess
What inspired you to write
The Impossible: On the Run?
What do you most value about the
In The Impossible, Hector, Grace, Asha and libraries in our region?
Josh mutate in scary ways, and they discover
weird things happening in their small town. I love my local library. I took my children there
I loved writing about those four teenagers in the when they were little, I use it regularly for
first book, and I wanted to spend more time books and DVDs, I occasionally work there,
with them. So in the sequel, The Impossible: I know the staff, and I enjoy walking in not
On the Run, they mutate in even scarier ways, knowing whether I’m going to find a loud
and I explore the effects their experiences sing-song with a group of toddlers or a nice,
have had on them. I also wanted to build on book-focused hush. Besides all that, it’s great
that first story, do something connected but that the libraries in our region host all sorts
different, and bigger and better. That’s why of events. I’ve run workshops in libraries,
I’ve taken them out of their town and sent launched one of my books, and attended
them out into the world. readings. Libraries are invaluable, vibrant
hubs and they’re an essential part of any
What’s the best thing about writing a road society that calls itself civilised.
novel?
Are you looking forward to taking part in
Momentum. Hector and his friends are – as Read Regional?
the title suggests – on the run, so they’re not
hanging around, they’re racing away from Of course! Sometimes a writer can feel like
home in an almost indestructible camper van nobody knows that their book exists, so I’m
that none of them can drive very well. The delighted to have a chance to take it out on
story has a great pace as a result, and it was fun the road. It’ll be great to chat to people about
to introduce increasingly difficult challenges The Impossible: On the Run and about my
for them to meet along the road. Tension, writing in general, to give readings and talks
suspense and danger keep building in this and run workshops. I’m looking forward to
kind of novel. You get to know and love the being a small part of the library system for
characters as they collide – sometimes literally a while, pulsing round it like a blood vessel,
– with one problem after another, as it all visiting parts of the country I haven’t been
heads for a massive climax. to before. Can’t wait.
07
WINNER OF A NORTHERN WRITERS’ AWARD Clare Shaw was born in Burnley. She has three poetry collections from Bloodaxe: Straight Ahead (2006), which attracted a Forward Prize Highly Commended for Best Single Poem; and Head On (2012), which is, according to the Times Literary Supplement, ‘fierce … memorable and visceral’. Her third collection, Flood, was published in June 2018. She is a Royal Literary Fellow, and a regular tutor for the Writing Project, the Poetry School, the Wordsworth Trust and the Arvon Foundation. She also works as a mental health trainer and consultant.
FLOOD
Poetry
Clare Shaw
Published by Bloodaxe
‘These poems reveal a
deep level of profundity,
leaving a mark as indelible
as the high-waterline of
a receding flood.’
John Irving Clarke
What are the main themes of Flood?
What do you most value about our
The title of Flood is very straightforward – it region’s libraries?
offers an eyewitness account of the floods of
2013 and 2015 that devastated large areas As a child growing up in Burnley, I read my
of the UK, including my hometown of Hebden way through the entire children’s section of
Bridge. Throughout the collection, flood also Coal Clough Library. It wasn’t just about the
acts as a metaphor for other powerfully books. I grew up in a setting where reading
destructive experiences – the Jimmy Savile wasn’t always valued, and where it was hard
story, breakdown, hospitalisation, bereavement, to find your own space. Libraries offered me
the end of a relationship, trauma. It’s not all a place where I could be myself. They made
about destruction though – as much as Flood me feel understood, respected and safe. For
describes how destructive experiences can me, the smell of a library is the smell of home.
hurt us, it also expresses how we survive I know I’m not alone in this – libraries are
them as individuals and communities; how we comforting, often transformative, potentially
support each other to recover and rebuild. life-saving. People and communities – especially
those facing difficult times – need them more
Tell us about the locations and people than ever.
you visit in your poems.
Where and when do you write your poems?
This collection is a long love letter to the
Calder Valley. Starting with my Burnley Every poem tends to come in three stages:
childhood, it tells the story of how I finally the first forceful blast of ideas and feelings;
found my family and community in Todmorden the second, crafting and drafting stage; and
and Hebden Bridge: it delights in the urban the third stage of final edits. In childhood, I
and rural landscapes of West Yorkshire. wrote in bed, under my covers. Now I’m more
Referencing other flooded areas of the UK, likely to pour down my ideas in grabbed
it celebrates the landscapes I love, like moments of stillness, on trains and in cafés.
Cumbria. And it’s a love letter to ‘my people’ – In stolen moments on holidays when my
the people who sustained me – my daughter, daughter is busy doing something else. And
my community and my friends. And beyond those final two stages of hard work and
that, the people through whom the most editing – they happen in my kitchen, on my
difficult narratives played out: my mother; the hard chair, at my table. Sometimes in gaps
relationship I fought and failed to save; long- between jobs, more usually when my daughter
term patients in a 1990s psychiatric hospital. has gone to bed.
09WINNER OF A NORTHERN PROMISE AWARD John Challis was born in London in 1984 and has lived and worked in the North East since 2010. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University and is a recipient of a Pushcart Prize. In 2012 New Writing North awarded him a Northern Promise Award. His poems have appeared on BBC Radio 4, as well as in journals and anthologies including The North, Magma, The Rialto and Land of Three Rivers (Bloodaxe). The Black Cab is his first pamphlet of poems. He lives in the North East and works at Newcastle University.
THE BLACK
Poetry
CAB
John Challis
Published by Poetry Salzburg
‘An exciting debut.’
Sean O’Brien
What are the main themes of The Black Cab?
The Black Cab is about work, class, history, How challenging was it to put together
London and England. It draws connections this collection?
between jobs that members of my family did
– driving a taxi and selling fruit and veg – and It took me six years to write these poems. I
positions I’ve held – working in advertising and, didn’t start writing about my father or London
now, as a poet – and situates these alongside until I moved to the North East. Distance from
London’s rich and terrible histories. The book home created longing. If I couldn’t be physically
also refers to the infamous boatman, Charon, present, I’d imagine these places on the page.
who ferried the souls of the dead across the By chance, I travelled further back, reaching
River Styx to the underworld. Exploring into the past to deepen my understanding of
ancestry and heritage, many of these poems my own position in the world. By peering into
layer memory with history and myth to explore historic, social and political layers of London,
how the past haunts and informs the present. I thought about origins. What might have been
my role had I been born earlier? I doubt I would
Tell us about the locations and people have had the opportunity to write poems.
you visit in your poems.
Where and when do you write your
These poems ferry the reader across London poems?
and England as my father’s fares, pausing to
consider history alongside memory. The bones The most exciting work, when I begin to hear
of plague victims are found in Farringdon. a new poem in my head, happens almost
The Krays control London market life. The anywhere, although usually when I’m not
cabbies strike against Uber, a company which thinking about poems. Then I can be found
threatens to render their unique knowledge, scribbling or muttering to myself in shops,
essentially a degree in London, obsolete. libraries, cafés, pubs, on the metro, at the
Outside of the city, the urban and the rural seaside, in the shower, at dinner, or while
meet in a B Road Lay-By. A Coal-Fired Power doing the washing up. The desk is the place
Station is architecturally beautiful, yet to refine and edit, to whip the poems into
environmentally frightening. Elsewhere we shape. Though it isn’t all about chance.
visit pillboxes and docklands where there is Sometimes I force myself to sit and write, to
the sense that the past isn’t over. The dead practise the instrument, to keep the music
go on working. going.
11EXPLORING POETRY
Free poetry reading workshops, open to everyone
Come along to one of our Exploring Poetry sessions, where you can read and discuss
contemporary poetry in a friendly environment. Exploring Poetry is for anyone who wants
to find out more about contemporary poetry, how to read it and which poets to look out for.
The Exploring Poetry leaders, Anna Woodford and Linda France, will work with you to share
ideas about what works and how poetry makes you feel. You should come away with an idea
of which contemporary poets you might enjoy and ideas of what to read next. The sessions
are relaxed and informal, and no knowledge of poetry is required.
To enable discussion, these sessions are capped at 16 attendees. Please speak to your library
about booking a place on an Exploring Poetry session.
Anna Woodford
Anna Woodford is a poet and practitioner based in Newcastle.
Her new poetry book Changing Room is published by Salt. Her
debut book Birdhouse won the Crashaw Prize and was included
in the Guardian’s round-up of the best poetry books of the year.
She has three poetry pamphlets: Party Piece was a winner in the
international Poetry Business Competition, Trailer was a Poetry
Book Society Choice and The Higgins’ Honeymoon won an Eric
Photograph © Kluens
Gregory Award from the Society of Authors.
www.annawoodford.co.uk
Linda France
Linda France lives close to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
Since 1992, she has published seven poetry collections with
Photograph © Lucinda Douglas-Menzies
Bloodaxe, Smokestack and Arc, including The Gentleness of the
Very Tall (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation), The Toast
of the Kit Cat Club, book of days (a ‘year renga’) and You are Her.
She has worked on a number of collaborations with visual artists
and musicians and around forty public art projects. Linda also
edited the ground-breaking anthology Sixty Women Poets
(Bloodaxe 1993, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation).
In 2014 she won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition.
She is currently writing about plants, based on visits to botanic
gardens in the UK and abroad.
www.lindafrance.co.ukAnna Woodford introduces her new collection,
Changing Room
Bedsocks, Nurofen, sex, Cheesestrings, Primark, fidget spinners, Squirrel
Nutkin . . .
Shiprats, KitKats, petting, pussy cats, Jenny Agutter, Fra Angelico, Charles
& Di . . .
Everything is the stuff of poetry – and all of the above have found their way
into my new poetry collection, Changing Room.
The book is full of the small detail and large changes of everyday life: from
tales of early motherhood written in the wake of having a child – in the
title poem a woman tries out her new reflection in a shop cubicle a few
months after giving birth – to accounts of the constantly changing spaces
we are all in due to age, illness and shifting family dynamics.
There are many rooms in the book. A boss dies buried under his own
paperwork in a cramped office, a woman falls and retreats into her house,
someone arranges and re-arranges their nakedness in a bathroom.
Changing Room also includes poems on ageing and mobility that were
first featured on 200 buses in York and Newcastle and a meditative final
section as the small room of the first poem gives way to the spacious
shrine room of the last.
13WINNER OF THE NORTHERN BOOK PRIZE 2018 Amy Arnold was born in Oxford in 1974. She studied Neuropsychology at Birmingham University and has worked in a variety of jobs from packing swedes to teaching and lecturing. She lives in Cumbria, and in 2018 was awarded the inaugural Northern Book Prize, run by New Writing North and And Other Stories, for her debut novel, Slip of a Fish.
SLIP OF A FISH
Debut Fiction
Amy Arnold
Published by And Other Stories
‘An original, ambitious
novel.’
Guardian
What inspired you to write Slip of a Fish?
I was reading a lot of Scandinavian literature
(such as Jon Fosse) when I conceived the idea.
I was completely blown away by a small handful
of books where the weight of the story is
carried between the lines, and sprawling
topics (love, death, solitude) are tackled so Tell us about the relationship between Ash
completely without fanfare. In fact the books and Charlie at the start of the book.
felt quiet, but deeply unsettling.
Charlie and Ash are inseparable. They climb
These works convinced me it was possible to trees together, they swim in the lake, they do
create a character who comes unstuck as all the things that make for an idyllic
much through the things she doesn’t do and say childhood. Charlie adores Ash. She looks up to
as those she does. I’ve always been fascinated her the way many young children look up to
by the idea that language and words isolate their parents. However, quite early on in the
people as much as they bring them together. book there’s a sense that Charlie understands
Slip of a Fish was an experiment: I wanted to Ash might not always be a responsible adult.
try to capture a sense of the isolation that In one scene Charlie climbs high up into a tree
language can engender. whilst Ash is lost in thought. When they are
walking home Charlie tells Ash she should’ve
I also wanted to see if it was possible to elicit been watching her, she tells her she should
empathy for a character who does something hold her hand when they come off the footpath
abhorrent. I wrote it, I suppose, to test my own – but promises she wouldn’t ever tell.
tolerance. Could I at least listen to whatever
such a character had to say? What do you most value about the libraries
in our region?
Where and when is the novel set?
I use my local libraries (yes, more than one)
It’s set in every town, any town, in middle every week. They can almost always get hold
England, around the beginning of the twenty- of any book. I would be lost (and a lot poorer)
first century. Somewhere we all recognise. without them.
What was the hardest thing about writing Are you looking forward to taking part in
your novel? Read Regional?
The words. Seriously, it was the words. The I’m really looking forward to it. I’m still an
novel is about language. The words had to be offcomer and completely mesmerised by
the right words. everything northern.
15WINNER OF A NORTHERN WRITERS’ AWARD Jude Brown has published short stories in several anthologies, one of which won an Arts Council England Community Publishing Award. Her work has been shortlisted for the Bridport and Raymond Carver Short Story Prizes and she won a Fish Publishing prize for her micro-fiction. His Dark Sun was long- listed for the Mslexia Novel Competition. She lives in Sheffield.
HIS DARK SUN
Debut Thriller
Jude Brown
Published by Moth
‘Jude Brown writes with a
searing and contemporary
voice; a story which will
not relent.’
Matt Wesolowski
(author of Six Stories)
Who are the key characters in your story
and what are they up against?
What inspired you to write His Dark Sun?
Luke has to stop the sun from dying and the
Fact, some firefighters are arsonists. Reason? only way is to resurrect the rituals and
They can turn up, put the fire out, save the sacrifices of sun worship. But time is running
day. I used this hero complex as a starting out and his estranged bully of a father is about
point and made the main character not a to make an appearance. As Luke’s fears grow,
firefighter but a nineteen-year old arsonist, so do his mother’s. When she hears about a
who believes the sun is dying and he is the local arson attack she is worried that Luke
only one who can stop it. His mission to save has returned to his old ways. His actions
the world pushes him to do very bad things. prove deadly and the police close in, but Luke
As an art therapist I worked with young adults does have allies: his girlfriend Fee, oblivious
with behavioural problems and I wanted to to his deeds, and his sister, with whom he
explore the psychology of bad behaviour in the shares a secret.
book. Whether nature or nurture, understanding
is the key. What was the hardest thing about writing
your novel?
What’s it like writing about the near future?
It was my debut novel and I didn’t have a
I’d originally set the novel in the present but synopsis, so the story developed as I wrote.
struggled with the plot so I gave up and began It lacked direction and I struggled to nail the
writing another one. This second book turned plot. Another tricky thing was maintaining
out to be a dystopian futuristic one. I found a first-person voice throughout. The novel
writing speculative fiction opened up so many is told entirely from Luke’s point of view and
possibilities, because as well as creating although that allows the reader right inside
characters, plot, and setting, I could make up lots Luke’s head, and is a great tool when writing
of other things. Invent things that didn’t psychological suspense, it does bring with it a
actually exist! I found this really freeing, so I number of restrictions. I’d only ever written
revisited His Dark Sun and set that in the near short stories before and keeping the voice
future. It brought the narrative alive and the consistent and maintaining it all the way
plot took off. The rest, as they say, is history. through the book was very challenging.
17WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD Andrew Michael Hurley has lived in Manchester and London, and is now based in Lancashire. His first novel, The Loney, won the Costa Best First Novel Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards in 2016, and is in development as a feature film. Devil’s Day is his second novel.
DEVIL’S DAY
Suspense Fiction
Andrew Michael Hurley
Published by John Murray
‘The new master of
menace. This chilling
follow-up to The Loney
confirms its author as a
writer to watch.’
Sunday Times
What inspired you to write Devil’s Day?
So many things! Though I think it was the
setting that came first. A few years ago, I Tell us about the key locations in the novel.
began to explore the Forest of Bowland in
Lancashire and became fascinated by the Most of the novel takes place in the Briardale
wilderness of the moorland. I began to think Valley, a fictional place on the edge of the
about what it would be like to live next to such Lancashire moors. In the valley is a small
a vast empty space and what kind of folklore village called Underclough, which is somewhat
might be told about that landscape; how the down-at-heel following the closure of the
Devil would be manifest in those stories, and mill, which once employed the majority of
what he might represent. the residents. A few miles further on is the
farming hamlet of the Endlands, where three
Who are the two main characters in the families, the Pentecosts, Dyers and Beasleys,
novel? work the land. The two communities have a
complex history of antagonism and mistrust,
The novel’s narrator is John Pentecost, a which continues into the present day.
teacher in his early thirties. He has recently
returned to the Endlands for the annual sheep What was the hardest thing about writing
gathering with his wife, Kat, who is in the early your novel?
stages of pregnancy. Unbeknown to her, John
is planning on staying permanently so that Even though the Gaffer is deceased at the
they can raise their child on the farm. His start of the novel, I wanted him to be a
newfound sense of duty and obligation comes significant presence, which meant that I had
from the fact that The Gaffer, probably the to allow the reader to see him when he was
other most important character in the novel, alive and at different ages. So, I’d say that the
has died. The Gaffer was the patriarch of hardest thing was probably trying to keep
the community, the custodian of their folk track of the various timelines. Because a
tales and songs, and the bond between the three large part of the book is about storytelling
families. With the Gaffer gone, John feels as and the history of the valley, too, time began
though it is now up to him to keep the farm to take on a fluid quality that was often
and the traditions of the Endlands going. difficult to keep under control.
19A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLING AUTHOR Catherine Isaac was born in 1974 in Liverpool. She began her career as graduate trainee at the Liverpool Echo and was later appointed Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post. She wrote her first book, Bridesmaids, while on maternity leave and under the pseudonym Jane Costello. She has since written nine books, all Sunday Times bestsellers in the UK. You Me Everything is her first novel writing as Catherine Isaac.
YOU ME
New Fiction
EVERYTHING
Catherine Isaac
Published by Simon & Schuster
‘A heart-wrenching story
which explores the
lengths we’re willing to
go to for those we love.’
Cosmopolitan
What inspired you to write You Me
Everything?
I’d written romantic comedy under the
pseudonym Jane Costello for a decade before
I had the idea for a very different kind of novel. Tell us about one of the key locations in
It came after the mother of someone I know the novel.
was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, a
genetic condition in which children of patients The novel is set the Dordogne, where I spent
have a 50/50 chance of developing it many a childhood holiday and have loved ever
themselves. The young man in question since. It features lots of towns and villages
decided not to take a test to find out if he carries that visitors to that part of the country will
the faulty gene that causes it, instead deciding know well, such as Sarlat, with its labyrinthine
to enjoy life and take each day as it comes. It streets and caramel coloured squares, and
was this courageous outlook that made me the lovely hilltop town of Domme, with its
want to write about this terrible disease, with sweeping views. The hotel itself, Chateau de
a message that was ultimately optimistic and Roussignol, is fictional, but its neoclassical
full of hope. style and ivy-strewn balconies are seen all
over this region.
How would you describe the novel for people
coming to your events? What do you most value about the libraries
in our region?
It’s about a single mother who takes her ten-
year-old son to the south of France to rekindle My love of libraries was sparked as a child
a relationship with his father. The prospect of when I used to visit a small one in Liverpool
spending a summer with her ex is my character with my mum, who’s a wheelchair user. I was
Jess’s idea of hell, even if it does mean staying obsessed with books, as all authors are, and
at Chateau de Roussignol, the luxurious hotel the fact that it was accessible sent a clear
he runs. But she is driven to fulfil the wishes of message that this was a place where everyone
her mother who is in the late stages of was welcome. I love the fact that our region
Huntington’s disease and believes strongly houses some spectacular libraries – the
that young William should have a relationship Picton Reading Room in Liverpool, for example,
with his dad. It’s been described as both or the Lit and Phil in Newcastle. I’ve so enjoyed
heartbreaking and uplifting, which sounds introducing my children to these places and
contradictory but my hope is that it’s both. watching their own love of reading develop.
21WINNER OF A WINDHAM- CAMPBELL PRIZE 2018 Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, a Ugandan novelist and short story writer, has a PhD from Lancaster University. Kintu won the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. Her first collection of stories, Manchester Happened, will be published by Oneworld in 2019. A story from the collection won the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In 2018, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi was awarded the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction to support her writing. She lives in Manchester.
KINTU
Epic Fiction
Jennifer Nansubuga
Makumbi
Published by Oneworld
‘A multi-character epic
that emphatically lives
up to its ambition.’
Sunday Times
What inspired you to write Kintu?
Initially, it was my father’s mental illness, but
when I travelled to Britain and saw how
Uganda and Africa were presented in western
media as a place of madness, I decided to write
about that.
Tell us about two of your key characters and focused on post-independence Uganda.
and what links them together. It was important for me to focus on Uganda
without Europe and for readers to focus on
One of the major characters is Kintu Kidda, Uganda without looking at what Britain did
the patriarch, a chief in 1750 with identical in Uganda. Even when my characters’ lives
twin wives, who brings a curse into the dipped into the colonial time, I kept away from
family. Kamu Kintu, the tragic character in the politics of colonisation.
the prologue whom we meet in 2004, is his
descendent who inherited the curse. What do you most value about the libraries
in our region?
Explain the timeframe of the novel.
The books and the space to write. I did not
The novel starts in 2004 with a tragic trigger grow up with so many books around me in
moment. Then it travels back to 1750 to explain Uganda. When I arrived in Britain, I was like
the tragic moment. It then travels back into a kid with goodies. At the time, there was a
the 20th century, going back and forth library in every village I went to. That was
depending on the age of the characters. It heaven. I write in public libraries – Central
ends in April 2004. This structure helps to Library most, Ashton-under-Lyne, Denton,
show the scale and scope of the curse and Hyde, Stockport, All Saints and John Ryland’s.
the family’s attempt to break it. These spaces are invaluable to my writing.
How did you piece together the setting in What are you most looking forward to about
historical Uganda? taking part in Read Regional?
Once I decided to omit the colonial period How I grew up in Uganda reading mostly
from my story, it was easy to go back to the British writing and some American. I would
seventeen hundreds at a time when there was like to discuss the implications of that in
turmoil and upheaval in the succession of relation to the way I write and to the way
Buganda Kingdom. Then I skipped colonisation African writing is read in the West.
23THRILLING CRIME FICTION DEBUT Robert Scragg had a random mix of jobs before taking the dive into crime writing. He’s been a bookseller, pizza deliverer, karate instructor and football coach. His debut novel, What Falls Between the Cracks, impressed the judges at last year’s Theakstons Crime Writing Festival in the Dragons’ Pen, enough to get a thumbs-up all round.
WHAT FALLS
Crime Fiction
BETWEEN
THE CRACKS
Robert Scragg
Published by Allison & Busby
‘This a classic police
procedural, with a host
of engaging characters’
Booklist
What inspired you to write What Falls
Between the Cracks?
It started with the notion of what makes a
perfect crime. For it to be perfect, nobody editing the life out of what I’d already done,
would ever know it happened, but that’d make instead of ploughing on to finish it. That went
for a pretty poor story, so I opted for one that on for two years before I gave myself a mental
was stumbled across by chance after being slap across the face, and started to set goals.
buried under thirty years of lies, and it grew Five hundred words a day became a thousand,
from there. Who would cover up something and that did the trick to get me over the finish
like this, why, and how could they do it for so line. There was still a long way to go to get
long with nobody asking the right questions? it published, but it was a pretty great feeling
when I finished the first draft.
Was it interesting to integrate a historical
crime into your story? What do you most value about the
libraries in our region?
Absolutely. I love the fact that my detectives
can’t just call up CCTV footage or request a Not many things in life are free these days,
mobile phone location. Setting the original but here we have these amazing buildings,
events back in the eighties meant that Porter crammed with everything from Harry Potter
and Styles have thirty years of lies to dig through to Shakespeare, all under one roof. Books
to the present day, and have to do at least have been a huge part of my life since I was
some of it the old-fashioned way. It was also a kid, and libraries were a big part of that,
quite interesting doing the research to make and set me on the road to becoming an
the chapters that take place back in the 1980s author. To have all those stories, all that
feel authentic in terms of setting. knowledge, available to anyone regardless
of age, race, gender or religion, is an amazing
What was the hardest thing about thing. They feel like an endangered species
writing your novel? these days, so all the more reason to protect
them!
I’d have to say getting into a writing routine,
and getting it finished. I created the characters I’ve been to Read Regional events as a reader
six years ago, and wrote a few chapters then before, so when I found out I’d been selected
shelved it for months, before going back and to take part I was over the moon.
25WINNER OF A SABOTEUR AWARD Tony Williams’ All the Bananas I’ve Never Eaten won the Saboteur Award for best short story collection. His poetry includes The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street and The Midlands. He lived in Sheffield for more than a decade before moving to rural Northumberland. He works in Newcastle upon Tyne.
NUTCASE
Fiction
Tony Williams
Published by Salt
‘Nutcase is one of those
books that feels effortless;
so natural that you don’t
see the brushstrokes
behind the masterpiece.’
Sheffield Telegraph
What inspired you to write Nutcase?
Nutcase began when I was reading the
Icelandic sagas. These medieval stories are
amazing – they feel so fresh and direct, like
novels really. They have a breakneck pace
and don’t waste time with details. They just
tell you what happened and move on to the
next thing. I wanted to see what would the twenty-first. For one thing, I was amazed
happen if I used the same approach in a novel. by what happens to the violence. In the saga,
So I took the famous outlaw saga of Grettir it’s all Vikings with axes, and the reader just
the Strong and transplanted the story to accepts that people are getting hurt and
modern-day Sheffield. Aidan lives in a place killed. But once you move the story to the
where the people live without much money present, the horror of all that violence just
or hope and that really shapes their lives. hits you. I was surprised to be writing a book
like that. But I hope I don’t ever sensationalise
Where and when is the novel set? the violence – I just tell it straight.
It’s set in Sheffield in the 90s and 2000s. I Are you looking forward to taking part in
was living there at the time and I saw a lot Read Regional?
of the city. I love the place, but like any large
city it also had its darker moments. I had I’m SO looking forward to sharing Nutcase
never expected to write about it, but once with readers across the North. The book is
I had embarked on retelling the saga, it all mainly set in the North, and I think that lots
appeared so vividly in front of me. This was of readers will recognise the kind of places
my saga: what it means to be an outlaw in Aidan turns up in. It’s not country homes and
our time, and how violence can come to grand city centres, it’s the other Britain, the
define someone. back streets and kebab shops. That’s where
most of our stories really happen. And – you
What was the hardest thing about writing spend so long writing a book, on your own,
your novel? and when it’s published you just want people
to read it. If Nutcase then sends people on to
The hardest thing was also the most magical: read the Icelandic sagas, I’d be doubly happy.
seeing what happens when you take a story It’s such an amazing literature and it needs
from the tenth century and transplant it to to be read.
27WINNER OF A LAKELAND ARTS AND LITERATURE AWARD 2018 Karen Lloyd is a writer of creative non-fiction and poetry based in Kendal, Cumbria. She is a contributor to the Guardian Country Diary, has written for the Family section of the Guardian and is a features writer for BBC Countryfile magazine. She contributes to a number of blogs, including Caught by the River, and writes for a number of literary journals, including Scottish Island Explorer and Scotland Outdoor. Karen is a member of Kendal’s Brewery Poets and recently graduated from the Creative Writing M.Litt programme at Stirling University, where she gained a distinction. Her first book, The Gathering Tide, won a Lakeland Award.
THE
Nature Writing
BLACKBIRD
DIARIES
Karen Lloyd
Published by Saraband
‘Sure to delight readers
and fans of British
wildlife.’
BBC Countryfile
What inspired you to write The Blackbird
Diaries?
For a couple of years, I had been paying more
and more attention to the blackbirds that
nested in our garden. I began to realise that
a book celebrating their presence here would
form the central narrative of a book which,
amongst other things, was a celebration of
the humble back garden.
Which birds did you find the most research into curlew decline, I visited Bolton
difficult to write about? Moor in Wensleydale and was astonished –
and uplifted – by how many pairs of curlew
Without doubt, the last golden eagle in England. were breeding successfully there. It is still
There is a very complicated background to difficult territory for me – I have always been
this, but I knew I wanted to include the story anti-blood sports and anti-hunting – but I can
in the book; the male eagle was presumed to now see the benefits of how some endangered
have died during my writing the book. During species are actually supported by certain
my research I read the testimony of an methods of habitat management.
ex-RSPB warden, Dave Walker, whose book
Call of the Eagle is a full and frank record of As a nature writer, how much time do
how ultimately the species was failed by the you spend outdoors rather than at your
NGOs and by the way the land is managed. As desk?
a native Cumbrian I care deeply about how
man’s actions have impacted on the land, and Until recently we had a collie and so I was out
therefore on certain species, but felt that the walking every day in our local fells or in the
story had to be negotiated. woods by the River Kent and further afield.
I am still coming to terms with being able to
Tell us about one of the more unusual go to these places without her – Milly features
locations in your book. in both of my books. But being outdoors is
absolutely essential to me. At the moment
I had not imagined in a million years that I I’m looking forward to re-visiting one or two
would ever spend time with someone who locations on Morecambe Bay for an essay
manages a grouse moor; however, in my I’ve been asked to write.
29What’s new in creativity and
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JUN/JU SEP/OC DEC/JA
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the magazine for women who writeEVENTS
NORTH EAST
DARLINGTON
KAREN LLOYD CATHERINE ISAAC
Saturday 23 February, 2pm Thursday 9 May, 7pm
Crown Street Library, Darlington, DL1 1ND Marton Library, Marton-in-Cleveland, Middlesbrough, TS7 8BH
JUDE BROWN
NEWCASTLE
Wednesday 10 April, 1.30pm
Crown Street Library, Darlington, DL1 1ND ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
CLARE SHAW, JOHN CHALLIS and Monday 1 April, 3pm
EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP WITH LINDA FRANCE Newcastle City Library, 33 New Bridge Street W, NE1 8AX
Wednesday 5 June, 1.30pm (Exploring Poetry), JOHN CHALLIS
followed by reading at 2.30pm Wednesday 15 May, 5.30pm
Crown Street Library, Darlington, DL1 1ND Newcastle City Library, 33 New Bridge St W, NE1 8AX
DURHAM ROBERT SCRAGG
Monday 10 June, 5.45pm
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY Newcastle City Library, 33 New Bridge St W, NE1 8AX
Thursday 9 May, 11am
Spennymoor Library, 24 Cheapside, Spennymoor, DL16 6DJ NORTH TYNESIDE
AMY ARNOLD
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
Tuesday 4 June, 2.30pm
Thursday 23 May, 2.30pm
Consett Library, Victoria Road, Consett, DH8 5AT
Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Tyne and Wear, NE26 1AB
ROBERT SCRAGG
KAREN LLOYD
Monday 24 June, 2.30pm
Tuesday 11 June, 3pm
Lanchester Library, 1 Lee Hill Ct, Lanchester, DH7 0QE
North Shields Library, Northumberland Square, North Shields,
Tyne and Wear NE30 1QU
GATESHEAD
(Meet at the Tynemouth Road entrance to Northumberland
ROBERT SCRAGG Park at 2pm if you wish to participate in a walk led by Karen,
Thursday 2 May, 10.30am or at 3pm at North Shields Library for the author talk.)
Birtley Library, Durham Rd, Birtley, DH3 1LE
NORTHUMBERLAND
CATHERINE ISAAC
Thursday 16 May, 7pm LAURA STEVEN (School event, not open to the public)
Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Rd, NE8 4LN Wednesday 6 March, 10am
JOHN CHALLIS and EXPLORING POETRY Ashington High School
WORKSHOP WITH LINDA FRANCE CATHERINE ISAAC
Monday 20 May, 2pm (Exploring Poetry), reading at 3pm Thursday 14 March, 6.30pm
Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Rd, NE8 4LN Prudhoe Library, Spetchells Centre, 58 Front Street, NE42 5AA
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
MIDDLESBROUGH
Wednesday 8 May, 6pm
LAURA STEVEN Berwick Library, Walkergate, Berwick Upon Tweed, TD15 1DB
Saturday 23 March, 2pm CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP
Middlesbrough Central Library, Victoria Square, TS21 2AY WITH LINDA FRANCE
ROBERT SCRAGG World Book Night Celebration Thursday 4 April, 6.15pm (Exploring Poetry), reading at 7.15pm
Tuesday 23 April, 7pm Morpeth Chantry Northern Poetry Library,
Acklam Library, Acklam Rd, Middlesbrough, TS5 7AB 67A Bridge St, Morpeth, NE61 1PQ
31NORTH WEST
Events
SOUTH TYNESIDE BURY
KAREN LLOYD LAURA STEVEN
Tuesday 14 May, 2pm–4pm Monday 11 March, 6pm–8pm
The Word Library, Market Place, South Shields NE33 1JF and Bury Library, Manchester Rd, Bury, BL9 0DF
North Marine Park, 47 Lawe Rd, South Shields, NE33 2EN CATHERINE ISAAC
Talk and nature walk (Meet at The Word) Thursday 28 March, 7pm
CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP Prestwich Library, Longfield Centre, Prestwich, Manchester,
WITH ANNA WOODFORD Part of Write Festival 2019 M25 1AY
Friday 17 May, 10am (Exploring Poetry) reading at 11am CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP
The Word Library, Market Place, South Shields, NE33 1JF WITH ANNA WOODFORD
MARK ILLIS (School event, not open to the public) Friday 10 May, 2pm (Exploring Poetry), reading at 3pm
Wednesday 22 May, 10am–12pm Radcliffe Library, Stand Ln, Radcliffe, Manchester, M26 1JA
The Word Library, Market Place, South Shields, NE33 1JF ROBERT SCRAGG
Thursday 16 May, 7pm
STOCKTON-ON-TEES
Ramsbottom Library, Carr St, Ramsbottom, Bury, BL0 9AE
LAURA STEVEN
CUMBRIA
Thursday 28 March, 6pm–8pm
Stockton Central Library, AMY ARNOLD
Church Rd, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1TU Wednesday 5 June, 6.30pm
KAREN LLOYD Penrith Library, St. Andrew’s Churchyard, Penrith, CA11 7YA
Wednesday 10 April, 10am–12pm ROBERT SCRAGG
Yarm Library, 41 The High St, Yarm, TS15 9BH Friday 7 June, 2pm
Family nature walk and author talk Dalton Library, Dalton Community Centre, 21 Nelson St,
ROBERT SCRAGG Dalton-in-Furness, LA15 8AF
Monday 20 May, 6.30pm MARK ILLIS (School event, not open to the public)
Norton Library, Tuesday 11 June, 10am
87 High St, Stockton-on-Tees, TS20 1AE Workington Library, 8A Oxford St, Workington, CA14 2NA
KAREN LLOYD
SUNDERLAND
Thursday 13 June, 6.30pm
MARK ILLIS Millom Library, 2-6 St. George’s Terrace, Millom, LA18 4BD
Thursday 4 April, 10.30am CATHERINE ISAAC
Washington Town Centre Library, Washington Hwy, NE38 7RT Thursday 20 June, 2pm
(School event, not open to the public) Carlisle Library, 11 Globe Ln, Carlisle, CA3 8NX
JUDE BROWN ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
Wednesday 13 March, 1.30pm Thursday 27 June, 7pm
Houghton Library, Ambleside Library, Kelsick Road, Ambleside, LA22 0BZ
75 Newbottle St, Houghton le Spring, DH4 4AF
AMY ARNOLD
Saturday 23 March, 2.30pm
Sunderland City Library, Burdon Rd, Sunderland, SR1 1SEYORKSHIRE
Events
KNOWSLEY CALDERDALE
CATHERINE ISAAC ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY and JENNIFER
Tuesday 23 April, 2pm NANSUBUGA MAKUMBI
Halewood Library, The Halewood Centre, Roseheath Drive, Wednesday 13 March, 2pm
Halewood, Knowsley, L26 9UH King Cross Library, 151 Haugh Shaw Rd, Halifax, HX1 3BG
TONY WILLIAMS CATHERINE ISAAC
Friday 3 May, 2pm Friday 5 April, 7pm
Huyton Library, Civic Way, Huyton, Knowlsey, L36 9GD Brighouse Library, Halifax Rd, Brighouse, HD6 2AF
ROBERT SCRAGG
LAURA STEVEN
Monday 29 April, 2pm
Wednesday 10 April, 1.30pm
Prescot Library, The Prescot Centre, Aspinall Street, Preston,
Halifax Central Library, Square Rd, Halifax, HX1 1QG
Knowsley, L34 5GA
CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP
LIVERPOOL WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Thursday 25 April, 7pm (Exploring Poetry), reading at 8pm
JENNIFER NANSUBUGA MAKUMBI
Hebden Bridge Library, Cheetham St, HX7 8EP
Thursday 14 March, 6pm
Toxteth Library, Windsor St, Liverpool L8 1XF MARK ILLIS (School Workshop – also open to the public)
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY Thursday 2 May, 1.30pm
Wednesday 10 April, 6pm Todmorden Library, 8 Rochdale Rd, Todmorden, OL14 5AA
Liverpool Central Library, William Brown St, Liverpool,
ROBERT SCRAGG
L3 8EW
Thursday 9 May, 2.30pm
CLARE SHAW Elland Library, Coronation St, Elland, HX5 0DF
Thursday 13 June, 6pm
Liverpool Central Library, William Brown St, Liverpool L3 8EW EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
TONY WILLIAMS
ROBERT SCRAGG Part of a festival at Beverley Library
Wednesday 23 May, 6pm
Saturday 11 May, 10am
Allerton Library, Allerton Road, Liverpool, L18 6HG
Beverley Library, Champney Rd, Beverley, HU17 8HE
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
STOCKPORT
Part of a festival at Beverley Library
MARK ILLIS (School event, not open to the public) Saturday 11 May, 12pm
Wednesday 6 March, 10am Beverley Library, Champney Rd, Beverley, HU17 8HE
Reddish Vale High School, Reddish Vale Rd,
CATHERINE ISAAC Part of a festival at Beverley Library
Reddish, Stockport, SK57HD
Saturday 11 May, 4.30pm
CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP Beverley Library, Champney Rd, Beverley, HU17 8HE
WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Thursday 28 March, 6.30pm (Exploring Poetry), CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP
followed by a reading at 7.30pm WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Cheadle Library, 23 Ashfield Rd, Cheadle, Stockport SK8 1BB Saturday 11 May, 2pm (Exploring Poetry), followed by a
reading at 3pm
ROBERT SCRAGG
Beverley Library, Champney Rd, Beverley, HU17 8HE
Tuesday 7 May, 6.30pm
Part of a festival at Beverley Library
Bredbury Library, George Ln, Bredbury, Stockport, SK6 1DJ
AMY ARNOLD and JENNIFER NANSUBUGA MAKUMBI
Tuesday 11 June, 7pm
Hazel Grove Library, Beech Avenue, Hazel Grove, SK7 4QP
33HULL NORTH YORKSHIRE
ROBERT SCRAGG LAURA STEVEN (School event, not open to the public)
Wednesday 13 March, 6.30pm Tuesday 19 March, 10am
Hull Central Library, Albion St, Hull, HU1 3TF Ripon Library, The Arcade, Ripon, HG4 1AG
CATHERINE ISAAC ROBERT SCRAGG
Wednesday 10 April, 6.30pm Tuesday 14 May, 6.30pm
Hull Central Library, Albion St, Hull, HU1 3TF Stokesley Library, The Globe, Town Close, North Rd, TS9 5DH
CLARE SHAW, JOHN CHALLIS and EXPLORING ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
POETRY WORKSHOP WITH ANNA WOODFORD Thursday 13 June, 7pm
Saturday 27 April, 1.30pm (Exploring Poetry), readings 2.30pm Derwent Valley Bridge Community Library, 3 Pickering Rd,
Hull Central Library, Albion St, Hull, HU1 3TF West Ayton, Scarborough, YO13 9JE
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
WAKEFIELD
Wednesday 15 May, 6.30pm
Hull Central Library, Albion St, Hull, HU1 3TF ROBERT SCRAGG
MARK ILLIS Author talk and workshop for teenagers Friday 15 March, 11am
Sunday 30 June, 1.30pm–3pm Horbury Library, Westfield Rd, Horbury, Wakefield, WF4 6HP
The Big Malarkey Festival, East Park, 453 Holderness Road, CLARE SHAW Writing workshop included in event
Hull, HU8 8JU Monday 29 April, 12pm–2pm
Wakefield Library, Burton St, Wakefield, WF1 2EB
KIRKLEES
AMY ARNOLD and ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
LAURA STEVEN Monday 13 May, 7.30pm
Saturday 30 March, 2pm Pontefract Library, 28-32 Market Pl, Pontefract, WF8 1BD
Huddersfield Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, HD1 2SU LAURA STEVEN
CLARE SHAW Wednesday 29 May, 2pm
Thursday 11 April, 6pm Wakefield Library, Burton St, Wakefield, WF1 2EB
Cleckheaton Library, Whitcliffe Rd, Cleckheaton, BD19 3DX CATHERINE ISAAC
MARK ILLIS Thursday 6 June, 2.30pm
Wednesday 17 April, 1pm Hemsworth Library, Market St, Hemsworth, WF9 4JY
Dewsbury Library, Dewsbury Retail Park, Railway St, WF12 8EQ
SPECIAL EVENTS
CATHERINE ISAAC
Wednesday 12 June, 11am JUDE BROWN at MIDDLESBROUGH INSTITUTE OF
Huddersfield Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, HD1 2SU MODERN ART
Wednesday 27 February, 6.30pm-8pm
LEEDS Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Centre Square, TS1 2A
KAREN LLOYD ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY, JOHN CHALLIS and
Tuesday 2 April, 5.45pm JUDE BROWN at YORK BOOK FESTIVAL
Moor Allerton Library, Moor Allerton Centre, King Ln, Leeds, Friday 22 March, 6pm–7.30pm
LS17 5NY De Grey Lecture Theatre, York St. John University, Lord
Mayor’s Walk, York YO31 7EX
ROBERT SCRAGG
Monday 13 May, 6pm KAREN LLOYD at HEXHAM BOOK FESTIVAL
Leeds Central Library, Calverley St, Leeds, LS21 3AB Sunday 28 April, 12.30pm
Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont St, Hexham, NE46 3LZ
ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY
Thursday 16 May, 5.45pm JUDE BROWN
Otley Library, Nelson St, Otley LS21 1EZ Sunday 2 June, 2pm
Saltburn Community & Arts Association Ltd, Albion Terrace,
CLARE SHAW and EXPLORING POETRY WORKSHOP
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, TS12 1JW
WITH ANNA WOODFORD
Tuesday 4 June, 10.30am (Exploring Poetry), reading at 11.30am
Morley Library, Commercial St, Morley, Leeds, LS27 8HZThe York Centre for Writing is a hub for creative writing activities at York St John University and beyond. It is a home to the established undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in Creative Writing located in the School of Humanities, Religion & Philosophy at York St John University. Come and be inspired by our team of published writers and a range of visiting authors, editors and publishers. PROGRAMMES OF STUDY: • BA CREATIVE WRITING • BA CREATIVE WRITING JOINT HONOURS • MA CREATIVE WRITING • MFA CREATIVE WRITING • PhD CREATIVE WRITING
LIBRARIANS
NORTH EAST NORTH WEST
DARLINGTON BURY
Carol Houghton, Lending Manager Sarah Howell, Librarian
E: Carol.Houghton@darlington.gov.uk E: s.e.Howell@bury.gov.uk
DURHAM CUMBRIA
Julie Slater, Senior Librarian Helen Towers, Reader Development and Stock Manager
E: julie.slater@durham.gov.uk E: helen.towers@cumbria.gov.uk
GATESHEAD KNOWSLEY
Helen Eddon, Stock and Acquisitions Manager Carol Cherpeau, Principal Librarian
E: heleneddon@gateshead.gov.uk E: carol.cherpeau@knowsley.gov.uk
MIDDLESBROUGH LIVERPOOL
Ruth Cull, Library Development Officer Simon Savidge, Commercial Manager Liverpool Libraries
E: ruth_cull@middlesbrough.gov E: simon.savidge@liverpool.gov.uk
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE STOCKPORT
Dan Kinnair, Library Service Specialist Rachel Broster, Senior Librarian
E: dan.kinnair@newcastle.gov.uk E: rachel.broster@stockport.gov.uk
NORTH TYNESIDE
YORKSHIRE
Ruth Walton, Adult Reading and Learning Coordinator
E: ruth.walton@northtyneside.gov.uk
CALDERDALE
NORTHUMBERLAND David Duffy, Collections & Central Services Manager
Jenny Kinnear, Senior Librarian: Children and Young People E: david.duffy@calderdale.gov.uk
E: JKinnear@activenorthumberland.org.uk
EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
SOUTH TYNESIDE Tracey Booth, Librarian
Pauline Martin, Reader Development Librarian E: tracey.booth@eastriding.gov.uk
E: pauline.martin@southtyneside.gov.uk
HULL
STOCKTON-ON-TEES Winifred Brewer, Enterprise & IP Librarian
Jen Brittain, Reading Resources Librarian E: jen. E: winifred.brewer@hcandl.co.uk
brittain@stockton.gov.uk
KIRKLEES
SUNDERLAND Fiona Sullivan, Librarian
Jacqueline Reay, Library Operations Coordinator E: fiona.sullivan@kirklees.gov.uk
E: jacqueline.reay@sunderland.gov.uk
LEEDS
Alison Millar, Reader and Culture Development Manager
E: alison.millar@leeds.gov.uk
NORTH YORKSHIRE
Jenny Brookes, Project Manager, Bibliographic Services
E: jenny.brookes@northyorks.gov.uk
WAKEFIELD
Alison Cassels, Senior Library Officer: Reading and Children
E: acassels@wakefield.gov.ukYou can also read
