Course closure could spell blow for 'not London' journalism
Bookish news, Cambridge Book Festival & the book bound in the skin of a murderer (no, really)
My dear wordsmiths,
Welcome new and old subscribers - thanks for signing up and don’t be shy. I love to hear from you. If we’ve not met - I’m Nicola - day job journalism leader, weekend job radio presenter, always querying author and part-time watcher of local pheasants in the Lancashire countryside. It’s short and sweet this week as I have to dash off.
I’m starting with a journalism aside (not reported elsewhere yet). In a blow for the north in an already London-centric media landscape, I’ve learned via my network of moles that the Manchester News Associates course is to be discontinued after this year, coinciding with the end of the office lease in the city. The London and remote courses will continue and News Associates and it’s associated news agency will remain up and running.
I consider this a real shame as the excellent New Associates courses bring a particularly industry-relevant and diverse pot of journalism talent into the industry - and the placement of a course in the north of England has been incredibly useful for many of us recruiting north of Watford.
Of course you can still train as a journalist up north in many places - universities including University of Central Lancashire (where I did my own post grad decades ago) and Salford University amongst others all provide excellent journalist training options and these days there are many on the job/ apprentice options too - away from traditional routes. Nonetheless, at a time of extreme London-centric media, any northern anchorage is a loss and I know many northern journalists who started their career at News Associates in Manchester.
EVENT Cambridge Literary Festival is on next week:
With events from Wednesday April 23 until Sunday April 27, The Cambridge Books Festival event schedule is selling out fast. You can attend events with writers from across the literary spectrum from Tessa Blackstone to Abi Dare and Kit de Waal. Anthony Horowitz, Jacqueline Wilson and Richard Ayoade amongst those already sold out.
NEWS A book was bound in human skin - erm, yuk (read via BBC)
A book bound in the skin of one of the UK's most notorious murderers is to go on display after being found in a museum's office. The work is understood to be made using the skin of William Corder, the man convicted of killing Maria Marten in the Red Barn Murder in 1827, and will go on display alongside a similar item at Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Read via BBC (linked in headline)
NEWS Residents of town in US work together to move 9,100 books in human chain (read via Guardian)
Residents of all ages in a small Michigan community formed a human chain and helped a local bookshop move each of its 9,100 books – one by one – to a new storefront about a block away. The “book brigade” of about 300 people stood in two lines running along a sidewalk in downtown Chelsea on Sunday, passing each title from Serendipity Books’ former location directly to the correct shelves in the new building, down the block and around the corner on Main Street.
NEWS Community bookcases removed from London underground station (read via The Independent)
Labour MP for Walthamstow, Stella Creasy, has said that it “seems incongruous” to remove community bookcases from London Underground stations due to the fire risk when newsagents selling paper products remain. Blackhorse Road station in Walthamstow was one of several London stations with a little library for commuters to swap second-hand books.
NEWS Hustings held ahead of elections (Read via Lancashire Post)
In a very successful local media collaboration, almost 100 people gathered to see senior politicians put on the spot ahead of next month’s Lancashire County Council elections. Leading figures from the five political parties currently represented on the authority were invited to take part in a hustings debate, during which they were quizzed by the public and local media on the big issues facing the county. Staged by the (BBC funded) Local Democracy Reporting Service, Lancashire Post, Blackpool Gazette, Lancashire Lead and Blog Preston, the ‘Lancashire Decides’ event was held at the MacDonald Tickled Trout Hotel, on the outskirts of Preston, on Wednesday evening. Watch the video HERE
That’s it for this week as I have places to be. Please share the Write Reject Repeat love! N
