New Writing North

Every day, voices are amplified inside Larkspur Community Primary School as children, parents and carers collaborate on glitter-filled craft projects, and acceptance, joy and creative freedom fill the corridors. If these voices from an underprivileged Gateshead estate were heard and listened to beyond the school walls, what power could they wield? Read Lucie Brownlee's essay for North East Now: https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh

Bring warmth and creativity to those chilly days with our brand new season of opportunities for writers ❄️✍️    This winter, you could spend time with award-winning screenwriters, get training and support for your emerging creative career, submit your work-in-progress for an award, or join a writing group, course or workshop!    Whether you're a young person interested in publishing careers, a writer honing your manuscript, or a creative trying to make it in freelance, we've got loads on offer for you.    So find a cosy spot at home to book your tickets and write your applications as you browse our programme...    https://lnkd.in/eGq3R6By

Behind the pandemic newsfeed, a shadow spike of teen eating disorder referral rates grew in the North East. Christy Ducker and her family were left to treat a lethal psychiatric illness at home, but of three things she was sure: how stubborn love is, how useless stigma, how crucial we care for the carers. Read Christy's North East Now essay on caring in a teen mental health crisis: https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh

Rebel Kicks is a homegrown rock star. He is a prize Hereford bull from one of the most successful herds in the country by the banks of the River Tyne. In a new essay for North East Now, Adelle Stripe introduces us to the bull whose physical prowess and stature remains a powerful symbol of the North East’s resilience. https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh Photo credit MacGregor Photography.

Thank you Lisa!

Some really fantastic succinct advice here from Richard Benson who knows a thing or two about writing.

Entrepreneur, housewife, partner, mother – one woman can be all four. It can happen to all four. In 'The Women', an essay for North East Now, Preti Taneja explores the prevalance of domestic abuse in the North East by speaking to Laura Seebohm from WWIN and Sharon Brown from NDAS, whose services see women across social strata and age groups. Read the essay: https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh

Holly Turner was the first in her family to go to university, but she wasn't prepared for the significant class culture shock that awaited her. Her lack of a passport or driving license made getting a loan seem impossible; balancing part-time jobs left little time for studying. How can we make the university experience easier for those without financial security? Read more in Holly's essay for North East Now: https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh

How can we embrace variety in masculinity as we build our region's future? In our latest North East Now essay, Arlen Pettitt shares the stories of four very different men and the value they find in being part of something bigger than themselves: whether that's singing with a room full of strangers in a male voice choir, or leaving behind a teenage life of drugs and knife crime for a new job via the Princes Trust with the Newcastle United Foundation. Read the essay now, and look out for new essays coming each week: https://lnkd.in/e_PGFheh

Introducing... Sounds Good Audiobooks 🔈📚 We've partnered with Hachette UK to open a dedicated new audiobook recording studio, based at Northumbria University and supported by Creative UK and The North East Combined Authority. Sounds Good Audiobooks will help build up the North's publishing infrastructure, creating industry opportunities for narrators, students, writers, publishers, actors, sound technicians and more. It's part of our ambition to rebalance creative career opportunities in our region 💫 We've kicked off production in the studio with lots of exciting audiobooks – the first of which is Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley. This suspenseful Northern-set folk-horror novel is being brought to life by actors Gabriella Pond and Matt Jamie. Watch this space! https://lnkd.in/eRRHynQh