Chief Executive
CurrentNew Writing North is the development agency for reading and writing in the North of England. With a team of 14 we work across the North from a base in Newcastle upon Tyne. We celebrated our 25th birthday in 2021.At New Writing North I oversee the strategic direction of the company which has a turnover or £1m+ per year, lead artistic work and commissions and oversee fundraising of around £750K per annum. We are currently developing a capital project to create a new centre for writing in Newcastle upon Tyne, building partnerships to enable inward investment and cross-sector buy-in to this landmark project, the first of its kind in the UK.Major projects include the management of literary prizes the David Cohen Prize for Literature (“the UK Nobel”), the Gordon Burn Prize and the largest regional writing investment programme, The Northern Writers’ Awards, a wide-ranging programme of award-winning work with young people, the production of Durham Book Festival, the North East’s largest book festival, which reaches 25,000 people a year and gives a ROI of 1001% to Durham County Council who commission it and a myriad of talent development programmes with partners such as Sky Studios, Channel 4, Faber and Faber and Hachette UK. We commission writers across forms and regularly produce books, podcasts, major events and filmed work. We work with around 100 freelancers every year.Current exemplar projects include the UK’s first Climate Writer in Residence, A Writing Chance, a new programme for working class journalists sponsored in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Daily Mirror and New Statesman, High Street Tales, a national project delivered in 7 towns and cities during lockdown and Balancing the Books, an inclusive schools project sponsored by Granta Trust.