FESTIVAL LISTINGS
Mentor Session with Sixth Element Publishing
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 9.30am - 3.30pm
Cost: £3
Writing a book and looking for some inspiration? Join Sixth Element Publishing for a half hour one-to-one mentoring session on writing and publishing.
If you’re writing fiction, we can help with plot structure, character development, point of view, style and genre. If you’re writing a non-fiction book, we can have a chat about chapter structure, referencing, style and research.
Whatever book you’re writing, come along for a heads up on your publishing options, whether you’re looking to go traditional or independent. If you love writing, come along for a chat… it will be half an hour well spent.
Where There’s Muck There’s Bras
Location: Acklam Community Hub
Time: 6.30pm - 8.00pm
Cost: £5
Performed by Stand-up Poet and Radio 4 regular, Kate Fox; an hilarious and thought-provoking show about the real Northern Powerhouse – Northern Women, the sung and the unsung!
This funny, gently subversive performance/lecture uncovers the hidden history of the writers, scientists, sportswomen, politicians, protestors, musicians, innovators, activists and other heroines who represent the grit, determination and spirit of the North’s women. Who gets remembered and why (and why not!)
Teesside Poetry Connexions: Branchlines
Location: Middlesbrough Central Library
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: Free
A fun creative writing workshop to encourage new teenage writers aged 16-19. Working with internationally known performance poets and playwrights Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby and members of their Teesside Poetry Connexion Group with lots of inspirational writing games and exploration of how to create a poem or story then take it from page to stage.
Participants will be encouraged to follow up with a performance of their work at an Electric Kool-Aid Cabaret event at Middlesbrough Central Library on 22 June.
Self-Publishing Workshop with Sixth Element
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 10.00am - 12.00pm
Cost: £5
Want to write, publish and sell your own book – and retain all the rights to your work? Join Sixth Element Publishing for this friendly and informal introductory workshop.
We will cover topics including how to write, self-edit and revise your final manuscript, the production process of typesetting and print, and then the all-important issues of distribution, sales and marketing.
Suitable for all writers.
Tudor Costumes With Julia Soares-McCormick
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 2.00pm - 3.30pm
Cost: £5
Join Julia Soares-McCormick for an entertaining, lively and informative talk demonstrating the design and construction of her handmade reproduction gowns, and a brief history of the people who wore them, including Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn and May Queen of Scots.
The talk includes a fabulous display of exquisite gowns decorated with pearls and semi-precious stones, elaborate headdresses, jewellery and fans.
Perfect background for fans of historical fiction.
Creative Writing Workshop with David Mark
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 10.00am - 12.00pm
Cost: £5
David Mark is a former crime journalist who has become one of the UK’s most popular crime writers. His dark, gritty DS McAvoy novels have been bestsellers around the world. In this introduction to creative writing, David will help writers at every stage of their careers turn their killer ideas into a marketable manuscript.
Creative Writing Workshop with David Mark
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5
David Mark is a former crime journalist who has become one of the UK’s most popular crime writers. His dark, gritty DS McAvoy novels have been bestsellers around the world. In this introduction to creative writing, David will help writers at every stage of their careers turn their killer ideas into a marketable manuscript.
Bryan Cross: Quit While You’re A-Head
Location: Saltburn Library
Time: 2.00pm - 3.30pm
Cost: £5
Local author Bryan Cross spent most of his working life in Teesside Primary Schools. His first book Quit While You’re A-Head is packed with the most incredible and mainly humorous tales of life behind the school gates. From teacher training college days to leading a large school, his book will stir memories of school days and provides some ‘laugh out loud’ moments!
Poetry Masterclass with Poet-in-Residence Lisette Auton
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Cost: £5
As poets we end up gathering notebooks full of fragments, knowing that they are worthy of our ink, but not quite knowing where they belong. This workshop will use these fragments as our foundation to create new work and introduce new forms and methods to find them a home. Suitable for those who have been playing with words for a while, this workshop will be excellent for those poets seeking to hone their poetry techniques to place in competitions and for publication.
Please bring your notebooks!
Where To Start… Poetry Workshop with Poet-in-Residence Lisette Auton
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5 + £0.10 booking fee
Sometimes creating a wealth of new material to draw upon is the hardest part of being a poet. This session will show you quick fire exercises to develop new ways of looking at the world and creating new work. You’ll write a wealth of new beginnings within the session, and also take away a unique toolbox of techniques to use at home. This workshop is suitable for someone who has just begun writing poetry or has been doing so for years.
A Thrilling Evening With Bestselling Authors C.L.Taylor and Alex North
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
If dark, psychological thrillers are your thing join us for an evening with two incredible authors. What is their inspiration and how do they keep you hanging on until the end?!
C.L. Taylor is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her psychological thrillers have sold over a million copies in the UK alone, been translated into over twenty languages, and optioned for television. Sleep – Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie. Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up… C.L Taylor is back with her darkest, twistiest book to date.
If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken… Alex North’s debut novel The Whisper Man has been described as ‘The best crime novel of the decade’ by Steve Cavanagh, bestselling author of Twisted.
Jake Lynch: Blood on the Stone
Location: Skelton Library
Time: 6.30pm - 8.00pm
Cost: £5
Jake Lynch is a former Tyne Tees television presenter, who launched Network North from Billingham in 1993. Now a university professor, he has turned to fiction with Blood on the Stone, a detective story of the 17th Century.
King Charles II brings the English parliament to Oxford amid a security scare over a supposed ‘Popish Plot’ against the Crown. The hero, Luke Sandys, races against time to solve a murder, thwart a conspiracy, and save a young woman from a grisly ritualistic death. But he is torn between the demands of love and duty – which will he choose to follow?
History Wardrobe Presents: Woman in Gold
Location: Middlesbrough Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Cost: £8
Art, glamour and intrigue! Explore the lure of gold in fashion and the hidden world of women in art. Inspired by the dazzling embellishments of Belle Epoque artist Gustav Klimt… and the fate of one of his most famous paintings.
Theakstons Big Read with Mari Hannah
Location: Acklam Community Hub
Time: 10.00am - 11.00pm
Cost: Free
The biggest celebration of crime writing, The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, is to tour libraries across the North with its annual Big Read.
Acclaimed author and Reader-in-Residence, Mari Hannah, will discuss The Black Echo by Michael Connelly at Acklam Library and Community Hub Central, Hartlepool.
The Big Read aims to be the North’s biggest book club. Make new friends and meet like-minds!
Everyone who attends will receive a free copy of The Black Echo thanks to publisher Orion.
To request a free copy of the book and for further details, please contact crime@harrogate-festival.org.uk. Join the conversation online at #BigRead2019.
Theakstons Big Read with Mari Hannah
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 2.00pm - 3.00pm
Cost: Free
The biggest celebration of crime writing, The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, is to tour libraries across the North with its annual Big Read.
Acclaimed author and Reader-in-Residence, Mari Hannah, will discuss The Black Echo by Michael Connelly at Acklam Library and Community Hub Central, Hartlepool.
The Big Read aims to be the North’s biggest book club. Make new friends and meet like-minds!
Everyone who attends will receive a free copy of The Black Echo thanks to publisher Orion.
To request a free copy of the book and for further details, please contact crime@harrogate-festival.org.uk. Join the conversation online at #BigRead2019.
Tony Nicholson: The Love of Dangerous Men
Location: Redcar Library
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5
Tony is an historian, writer and presenter who recently published a vivid account of the discoveries he made in his attic at Brotton. The Love of Dangerous Men tells the story of how he came across hundreds of Victorian photos and letters, and how these revealed an astonishing love story.
He is currently finishing a second book The Langworthy Affair – about a sensational Victorian scandal. He will talk about these stories and the way he writes “creative non-fiction”.
Lipstick Library VIP Girls Only with author Sufiya Ahmed
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £3
Meet Sufiya Ahmed, author of Secrets of the Henna Girl, as she discusses feminism and campaigning for girls’ rights. Other activities include henna, hair braiding, temporary tattoos, crafts, competitions, plus everyone who attends will receive a free goodie bag to take home! Suitable for 11-16 years.
An Evening With Author and Archaeologist Nicola Ford
Location: Yarm Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
Nicola Ford is the pen name of archaeologist Dr Nick Snashall, National Trust Archaeologist for the Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site. Through her day job, and now her writing, she spends more time than most thinking about the dead. Her debut novel The Hidden Bones was praised as ‘a cracking debut’ and ‘top notch’. The Lost Shrinepublished in May, is the second in her Hills & Barbrook series.
During the evening Nicola will take you behind the scenes to reveal how she uses her real life experience to bring her archaeological crime thrillers to life.
Co-incidental Chapbook Launch
Location: Middlesbrough Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Cost: £5
Join us for the launch of the new Co-Incidental chapbook from The Black Light Engine Room Press featuring Jessamine O’Connor, one of Ireland’s best up and coming poetry stars. p.a.morbid and Harry Galligher will also read from their Running Parallel book.
Winning Words – Writing Competition Standard Short Stories
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 10.00am - 12.00pm
Cost: £5
Back again for 2019, the Crossing the Tees Short Story Competition offers writers the chance to see their fiction in print. But what does it take to craft a successful competition entry? Join author and creative writing tutor Tracey Iceton as she guides budding story writers through the art of producing fiction that aims to impress competition judges.
Through practical tips, writing exercises and drawing on winning entries of previous Crossing the Tees competitions, this workshop seeks to help writers create masterful short fiction that will, hopefully, end up in the third Crossing the Tees Short Story Competition Anthology.
Where To Start… Poetry Workshop with Poet-in-Residence Lisette Auton
Location: Acklam Community Hub
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5 + £0.10 booking fee
Sometimes creating a wealth of new material to draw upon is the hardest part of being a poet. This session will show you quick fire exercises to develop new ways of looking at the world and creating new work. You’ll write a wealth of new beginnings within the session, and also take away a unique toolbox of techniques to use at home. This workshop is suitable for someone who has just begun writing poetry or has been doing so for years.
Empire of Booze: British History Through the Bottom of a Glass
Location: Middlesbrough Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £8
Henry Jeffreys looks at 800 years of British history told through the medium of drink including the Gin Craze, famous port drinkers of the 18th Century, boozy misadventures in the tropics and the Royal Navy.
It will be based on Henry’s book Empire of Booze: British History Through the Bottom of a Glass. Henry is a respected journalist, wine and drinks critic and public speaker, who regularly contributes to the Guardian, Spectator, The Lady, The Oldie and Radio 4, amongst others, on the subjects of books, drink and popular culture. Ticket price includes a glass of port.
Teesside Poetry Connexions: Branchlines
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: Free
A fun creative writing workshop to encourage new teenage writers aged 16-19. Working with internationally known performance poets and playwrights Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby and members of their Teesside Poetry Connexion Group with lots of inspirational writing games and exploration of how to create a poem or story then take it from page to stage.
Participants will be encouraged to follow up with a performance of their work at an Electric Kool-Aid Cabaret event at Middlesbrough Central Library on 22 June.
Teesside Poetry Connexions: Branchlines
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 6.15pm - 7.15pm
Cost: Free
A fun creative writing workshop to encourage new teenage writers aged 16-19. Working with internationally known performance poets and playwrights Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby and members of their Teesside Poetry Connexion Group with lots of inspirational writing games and exploration of how to create a poem or story then take it from page to stage.
Participants will be encouraged to follow up with a performance of their work at an Electric Kool-Aid Cabaret event at Middlesbrough Central Library on 22 June.
In Conversation With The Yorkshire Vet: Julian Norton
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £8
Julian has been working as a vet in North Yorkshire for over twenty years, most of that time at James Herriot’s old surgery in Thirsk. The last three and a half of these years has seen his involvement in the popular Channel 5 series “The Yorkshire Vet” following his work and that of his colleagues. Julian has written four books and contributes a weekly column to the Yorkshire Post.
Pen Power: Writing for Wellbeing
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5
Writing is a great way to clear the mind, address any worries and bring you into the moment. This taster session will guide you through a range of activities designed to help you become more expressive and self-aware, connect with other people and cope better with life’s problems.
You don’t need to be a ‘writer’ to take part, and you don’t have to share your writing. This session is about process not product. All you need is a notebook and pen, and a willingness to give it a try! Facilitated by published poet and experienced practitioner Dr Natalie Scott.
Pen Power: Writing for Wellbeing
Location: Acklam Community Hub
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Cost: £5
Writing is a great way to clear the mind, address any worries and bring you into the moment. This taster session will guide you through a range of activities designed to help you become more expressive and self-aware, connect with other people and cope better with life’s problems.
You don’t need to be a ‘writer’ to take part, and you don’t have to share your writing. This session is about process not product. All you need is a notebook and pen, and a willingness to give it a try! Facilitated by published poet and experienced practitioner Dr Natalie Scott.
History Wardrobe Presents: All Writers Great and Small
Location: Redcar Library
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Cost: £8
History Wardrobe Presents “All Writers Great and Small”. A celebration of Northern authors, from the Brontës to James Herriot (and a lot of other good ones in between). Historian Lucy Adlington links costumes and stories in this lively literary show featuring many favourite writers, poet and dramatists.
An Evening With ‘Scandibrit’ Crime Writer Quentin Bates
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 6.30pm - 8.00pm
Cost: £5
Quentin Bates, (or Graskeggur ‘grey beard’ as he’s affectionately known in Iceland) author of six crime fiction novels and the translator of Ragnar Jónasson and Lilja Sigurðardóttir novels, made his escape from suburbia at the end of the 70s as a gap year turned into a gap decade spent in the north of Iceland. He lived there when there was no internet; there weren’t even faxes. If the weather was bad, there were no flights, and no flights meant no post and no newspapers.
He worked ashore and at sea before returning to England and, once finally ashore for good, drifted by accident into journalism and fiction.
Quentin’s protagonist, Sergeant Gunnhildur and the series of novels she features in have their origins in a deep affection for Iceland and its people, and an intimate knowledge of Icelandic society and its language, customs and quirks.
Today Quentin divides his time between the north of Iceland and the south of England.
Suspense and Intrigue: An Audience With Lisa Jewell and T.J. Stimson
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
Come along and enjoy an exciting evening with bestselling psychological thriller authors Lisa Jewell and T.J. Stimson.
Lisa Jewell is the author of fifteen novels, starting with Ralph’s Party, the breakout debut of 1999. Her latest novel is the bestselling psychological suspense thriller, Watching You. Her new book, The Family Upstairs is due out this Summer.
T.J. Stimson is the author of twelve novels, including top-ten bestseller The Adultery Club, which between them have been translated into dozens of languages. Her new novel, Picture of Innocence is a dark and gripping psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages.
Where To Start… Poetry Workshop with Poet-in-Residence Lisette Auton
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5 + £0.10 booking fee
Sometimes creating a wealth of new material to draw upon is the hardest part of being a poet. This session will show you quick fire exercises to develop new ways of looking at the world and creating new work. You’ll write a wealth of new beginnings within the session, and also take away a unique toolbox of techniques to use at home. This workshop is suitable for someone who has just begun writing poetry or has been doing so for years.
Where To Start… Poetry Workshop with Poet-in-Residence Lisette Auton
Location: Redcar Library
Time: 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Cost: £5 + £0.10 booking fee
Sometimes creating a wealth of new material to draw upon is the hardest part of being a poet. This session will show you quick fire exercises to develop new ways of looking at the world and creating new work. You’ll write a wealth of new beginnings within the session, and also take away a unique toolbox of techniques to use at home. This workshop is suitable for someone who has just begun writing poetry or has been doing so for years.
An Evening With Crime Author Stephen Booth
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
The mountain of Kinder Scout is one the most iconic locations in the Peak District National Park – but also one of the most dangerous. The spectacular landscape turns into a death trap for an ill-prepared walking group, when one of its members fails to make it back down alive. But did she fall, or was she pushed?
Crime novelist Stephen Booth talks about the latest bestseller in his award-winning Ben Cooper and Diane Fry series, Fall Down Dead – and the importance to readers of his real-life Peak District locations.
Bannocks and Blood: Murder Mystery Night
Location: Guisborough Library
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Cost: £5
Join us for a traditional murder mystery evening, written by ‘Sheland’ and ‘Vera’ author Ann Cleeves. A body has been found, but as Detective Jim Perez has been called away its down to you to work out who dunnit!
Door-to-Door Poetry (The Show) with Rowan McCabe
Location: Stockton Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
What do you think would happen if you knocked on a stranger’s door and offered to write them a poem? Rowan McCabe is the world’s first Door-to-Door Poet. Through a funny and thought-provoking mix of spoken word and theatre, find out about his adventure around the North East of England, from his visit to a council estate in Stockton, to his appearance on BBC Breakfast.
An Evening Of Song With Lee Maddison
Location: Community Hub Central
Time: 7.30pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
Lee Maddison is a singer songwriter. His background as a Mental Health Nurse has given him a privileged insight into people’s lives and associated emotional journeys, and this is evident in the lyrics and feel of his music.
Lee’s lyric’s resonate with emotion, with a common thread of questing that weaves its way through an earthy acoustically driven soundscape. His music will appeal to fans of the conscientiously crafted songs of Paul Simon, Richard Thompson, and Cat Stevens. Join him for an evening of song and musical chat.
An Audience With LJ Ross
Location: Crown Street Library, Darlington
Time: 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Cost: £5
LJ Ross is the author of the international #1 best-selling mystery series featuring DCI Ryan, which have sold nearly three million copies worldwide in the last three years. Her debut, Holy Island, was released in January 2015 and reached number one in the Amazon Kindle UK bestsellers chart. Since then, she has released a further nine novels, all of which have topped the charts. Her eleventh novel, The Infirmary, is a prequel story and is available as a major Audible Originals drama starring Tom Bateman, Kevin Whately, Hermione Norris and Alun Armstrong.
Louise was born in Northumberland, England and is a former barrister. Now, she writes full time and enjoys reading all manner of books, travelling and spending time with family and friends.
The Electric Kool-Aid Cabaret Crossing the Tees Special
Location: Middlesbrough Central Library
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Cost: £5
A Crossing the Tees special from The Electric Kool-Aid Cabaret – Middlesbrough’s legendary long running spoken word and music Cabaret night MC’d by Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby featuring poetry in a fast moving variety format from the rising stars of the Teesside Poetry Connexion, one or two special guests and original music from local singer songwriters. Plus limited Open Mic (arrive early to sign up as places are limited).
Also as part of Crossing The Tees...
