Lambs update, Joanna Nadin on the Booky podcast & why young people need a hand

The Northern Weird Project, Peter James joins Theakston Old Peculier crime festival line-up, new leadership at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Channel 4 'bootcamp' & ITV news traineeships

This picture has no relevance to this newsletter, I just liked it!

My dear wordsmiths, if not already please…

How are you all? I feel like I’ve not a chance to breathe this week so this newsletter is strangely therapeutic (and also quite brief). We now have five baby lambs in the field - at 5pm each evening they get the zoomies and leap into the air and chase each other. It’s adorable. Strangely enough their mums look tired but I find watching them calming after staring at screens all day. They love chasing pheasants and I even saw MrPheasantMcPheasantFace forced to fly the other day - something he can rarely bothered to do.

Talking of flying, I’m off somewhere exciting next week. Watch this space..

Two big projects at work are now full steam ahead, including of course the BOOKY podcast which had an absolutely fantastic reception last week. Thanks so much if you listened via your fave podcast provider or watched via Daily Motion. In exciting news it’s also also being screened as a podcast series on Freeview TV channel 276 - Shots TV. That’s me with the mad hair in a room lined with books (obviously) as I recorded from home where it’s quiet. I’m not going to lie - although I love audio and don’t mind filming - looking on yourself on TV/video is never not cringey. Who can relate?

A big thanks to Milly Johnson for being our inaugural author on the series. She was, as always, a consummate professional and a fascinating person to chat to. An absolute inspiration -go and buy her books everyone! If you missed it the episode is here and you can watch her via Shots TV here.

This week’s guest is the amazing Joanna Nadin who has an astonishing back story - she wrote her first book in the basement at Number 10 Downing Street. In this audiogram she shares her biggest, cringes, fail - and you can listen to the full new BOOKY podcast episode HERE (via Podfollow).

On next week’s WRITE REJECT REPEAT we will hear from author and journalist (editor of North West Insider mag) Simon Keegan who has a remarkable story to publication of his five books involving The Stone Roses and King Arthur. You literally couldn’t make it up..

Project Peter Pan

You may remember I mentioned this project we are working on across our news titles to help give young people a voice. I have written a piece for Beyond Local News you may be interested in. READ HERE VIA BEYOND LOCAL NEWS (ALSO ON SUBSTACK)

News, events and opportunities for writers and journalists

Graphic via Wild Hunt Books

The Northern Weird Project/Wild Hunt Books: Wild Hunt Books are seeking short novellas from writers living in the North of England who are also engaging in the North as setting, subject, character or any way that highlights this part of the country. For clarity, they define the North based on the Arts Council England boundary map. The weird aspect of this project asks writers to twist expectations. They are looking novellas in the range of 20-25K words. More info via the link.

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival: Harrogate International Festivals has announced Peter James as the final Special Guest for festival, taking place 18-21 July. He joins authors Chris Carter, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Dorothy Koomson, Shari Lapena, Abir Mukherjee, Liz Nugent and Richard Osman in an all-star lineup of Special Guest headliners curated by 2024 Festival Chair Ruth Ware. One of the biggest names in the crime genre, Peter James is a globally bestselling author and the creator of the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, now a smash-hit ITV drama starring John Simm.

Peter James said: “This year I am celebrating my 20th Roy Grace novel and where better to do this than at Harrogate, the jewel in the crime festival crown. I had a wonderful time as Programming Chair in 2016 and I look forward to returning as a Special Guest this year, spending a delightful summer’s evening with my fans and fellow authors! I’ve no doubt a pint or two of Theakston Old Peculier might be involved.” The full programme will be announced on 14th May.

The Scotsman talks to Edinburgh’s new book festival director: My National World colleague Brian Ferguson at The Scotsman talks to Jenny Niven, who will lead Scotland’s flagship literary event the Edinburgh International Book Festival into a new era. She warned Scotland is at risk of losing arts events “every other week” without more public funding for culture and revealed that she would have had to scale back its programme if it had severed links with investment firm Baillie Gifford. Read all about it (link in headline).

ITV academy new traineeship: This paid nine month programme will see 12 ambitious individuals join national and regional news teams as a trainee journalist, to pick up all the skills in one of the multi-media news operations. Starting on Monday 30th September 2024, you might find yourself in: one of the regional newsrooms across the UK, the network newsroom in London to the Jersey office for ITV Channel (St Helier).

Channel 4 production training scheme: Designed for entry level talent, it offers opportunities across the UK - in Belfast, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, and Manchester. Trainees get to work in paid, full time roles for independent production companies for 12 months alongside support and training. Starts with one week TV ‘bootcamp’.

Thanks so much for reading! Nicola x