Issue #4

“I wasn’t sure how my mom’s sisters would react,” says writer and cartoonist Sarah Leavitt. “In their family, there’s a really strong belief that you don’t air your dirty laundry.” The dirty laundry in question consists of her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, from before her [...]

I’m a first year, full time student of the MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle and I have a confession to make: I’m way out of my depth. Fresh from completing a BA in English Language at Newcastle, I applied for the MA not really [...]

This wasn’t the first comedy sketch show put out by Teesside-based Arc Performance Group and Writers’ Block North East. In fact, it was their third – and, as I booked my ticket for this one, having already witnessed the last, the wittily-titled Easter Funnies, there [...]

So you want to be a writer.  And you’re serious about it, not one of these people who says “Oh, yeah, I’ve got a great idea for a book” but has never done anything about it.  You’ve taken a mayor step and invested real time [...]

With Newcastle United largely excelling themselves in the Premier League, despite repeated Geordie-incensing decisions by Mike Ashley, and Middlesbrough F.C. still languishing in the Championship despite the departure of a certain discredited ginger Scot, North East England has missed an entertaining clash between Geordies and [...]

The Writers’ Cafe, at the Settle Down Cafe, is hosting a welcome event for writers from Newcastle and Northumbria universities on Weds 23rd May, 6-8pm, at the Settle Down Cafe, on Thornton Street, next to Tilleys. If you want to know what it’s all about, [...]

A sharing of souls makes a poetry convert of Mellanie Moore Location: Percy Building, Room G.05, Newcastle University Time/Date: 16th February 2012, 19:00 Hosted by: NCLA I’d always avoided poetry readings. Even when I’ve had reason to believe that there will be poems inspired by [...]

Marleen van Os watches as the winners of the Northumbrian Water / NCLA Water Poetry Competition receive their deserved awards Location: Northern Stage, Newcastle Time/Date: 23rd February 2012, 19:00 Hosted by: NCLA The Northern Stage is lit up with a poetic atmosphere, writing hanging from [...]

Paul Farley & Michael Symmonds Roberts: Edgelands. 19th October, St Chad’s College, Durham Sniggers ripple through the silence of St Chad’s college chapel at the mention of a ‘dogging spot,’ a phrase one would assume has never been mentioned in such surroundings before. Tonight though, [...]

Read Regional Fiction Writers Friday 21 October, Durham Town Hall Durham is a beautiful city, and on a grey afternoon nothing could be more inviting to a book-worm like myself than being invited from a bright lobby, up a narrow stair case and ushered through [...]