Northern Lights Writers Conference 2024
CIT presents its acclaimed Northern Lights Writers’ Conference - a full day on the craft and business of writing, helping writers to develop their storytelling in new ways and through new platforms.
Our 2024 event features sessions with screenwriter Lisa Holdsworth, poet Oliver Sykes, literary agent Monica MacSwan, award-winning writer & creator Emma Nuttall and publisher Kevin Duffy (Bluemoose Books), plus many others.
Tickets £35 / £25. To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.
Now in its ninth year, the Northern Lights Writers’ Conference at Waterside is a significant event in the region for established and emerging writers, screenwriters, poets and authors. Hosted by Ric Michael, the full-day event features a mix of inspiring talks from leading writers and authors, experienced publishers and literary agents along with creative workshops on writing development and one-to-one advice sessions for writers of all kinds.
The panel talks will take place in the theatre. In The State of The Art writers Lisa Holdsworth (TV writer & former Chair of the Writers’ Guild) explores the landscape for writers in 2024, alongside author and screenwriter Danielle Jawando and poet and children’s author Oliver Sykes.
Following this session, independent bookseller Ayesha Ansari (Mirror Me Write) will be discussing the importance of representation in literature in Diversity in Literature.
Other panel talks include Monica MacSwan (Aitken Alexander Agency) and Kevin Duffy (Bluemoose Books) giving practical and up to date guidance for writers on how the representation and publication process works plus a talk on routes into the publishing industry with Imogen Davies and Caitíe Woolridge from the Society of Young Publishers (North) who’ll discuss the SYP mentorship scheme, explaining different aspects of the publishing industry and provide insights/resources for job seekers.
A series of creative talks will take place concurrently in the Chambers space. The first - How to Develop Your Writing Voice – is with award-winning author Oliver Sykes and is an in-depth look at finding and maintaining your voice as a writer. Eleanor Pilcher – author and fiction marketer – leads a session on Marketing & Social Media for Writers - a guide to marketing and developing social media content for writers, and business consultant Phil Birchenall delivers a practical session on AI for Writers, looking at how writers can use AI tools to help develop new projects.
Drop In Advice Sessions
Running throughout the afternoon in Waterside’s ‘Sup Bar and Coffee House will be a series of 15-minute drop-in advice sessions, ideal to writers with next steps in both creativity, signposting and career advice. Advisers for these sessions are writer and editor Adam Farrer, children’s author, book editor Dr Liz Flanagan, poet & writer Jazmine Linklater, writer & performer Fat Roland and literary agent, Monica MacSwan.
Schedule
The conference takes place in multiple spaces throughout the day. Following lunch, you can choose from a range of options about which sessions to attend.
Panel Talks (Robert Bolt Theatre)
09:30 - arrival and registration
10:30 - introductions
10:45 - Panel 1: The State of the Art
11:45 - Diversity in Literature
12:30 - lunch
13:15 - Panel 2: The Dos & Don’t of Approaching Agents & Publishers
14:15 - break
14:30 - Panel 3: Routes into Publishing with Society of Young Publishers
15:30: Creating Branched Narratives - Emma Nuttall In Conversation
Creative Talks (Chambers)
13:15 - How To Develop Your Writing Voice with Oliver Sykes
In this workshop session you will explore the craft of creative writing by focussing on your voice.
You will have fun, build confidence, explore your imagination and creativity, learn why having a unique writing voice is such an asset, and discover how to find and develop your voice as a writer.
14:30 - Marketing & Social Media for Writers with Eleanor Pilcher
A guide to marketing and developing social media content for writers, including a look at the BookTok phenomenon, to help writers build their profiles across the different platforms.
15:30 - AI for Writers with Phil Birchenall
A practical session looking at how writers can use AI tools to help develop new projects.
As creatives, we're programmed to be wary of AI tools: they could take our jobs, couldn't they?
But in reality, originating material using AI is out of the window: you'll know why if you've ever asked Bard or ChatGPT to draft a script or tell an original joke. The smarter money is on how we apply our creative chops to these tools to pilot and build entirely new experiences.
AI enthusiast and creative business strategist Phil Birchenall walks through a series of interactive experiences he's developed using ChatGPT-4, including an educational resource that immerses students in the role of Macbeth and a play-along version of - perhaps - the dullest daytime TV of them all, Homes Under The Hammer.
Drop In Advice Sessions (Sup Bar)
15 minute sessions with Adam Farrer, Liz Flanagan, Fat Roland and Monica MacSwan taking place from 13:15 - 16:15.
About The Speakers
Lisa’s TV writing career started with a 50-minute stand-alone episode for Fat Friends. She was then part of the Emmerdale writing team for several years before going on to write numerous episodes of dramas including New Tricks, Robin Hood, Midsomer Murders and Waterloo Road, as well as radio and stage work. She won the Writer of the Year award in the RTS Yorkshire Awards 2011 for her 90-minute opener for Series 4 of Waterloo Road. More recently she’s written episodes of Call the Midwife, All Creatures Great and Small and A Discovery of Witches (on which she was co-showrunner on Series 3). She created, executive produced, and wrote several episodes for Channel 4’s upcoming series, Dance School.
Twitter: @WorksWithWords
Danielle Jawando is an author and screenwriter. Her debut YA novel, And the Stars Were Burning Brightly, won best senior novel in the Great Reads Award, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, the Branford Boase Award and was long-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Her previous publications include the non-fiction children’s book Maya Angelou (Little Guides to Great Lives), as well as several short plays performed in Manchester and London. Danielle has also worked on Coronation Street as a storyline writer. Her second novel, When Our Worlds Collided, won the 2023 Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize, the YA Book Prize and the 2023 Diverse Book Awards. Her third YA novel, If My Words Had Wings, will be published in May this year.
Instagram @danielle_jawando
Oliver is an award-winning author, poet, writer/performer and producer. His debut children’s novella, Alfie’s First Fight, won Best Illustrated Young Reader at the 2023 Children’s Literature Festivals‘ Book Awards. When he isn’t writing, Oliver can usually be found performing his stories and poems at theatres, libraries and schools all across the world. He is also Lead Artist & Producer at Stories Of Care, an award-winning outreach and writing organisation based in Manchester.
Instagram @Oli_Sykes89
Ayesha is a Teaching Assistant, mother of two and the founder of Mirror Me Write, a Manchester online indie bookshop, promoting inclusive books and authors from underrepresented backgrounds.
Mirror Me Write is community of individuals who all share common interest, to normalise representation in literature and it grew from Ayesha’s deep commitment to representation and desperately wanting to see more books with multiple narratives being promoted. Ayesha’s goal is to promote books that all children can see themselves in, whilst promoting tolerance, empathy and a better understanding of the world.
Instagram @mirrormewrite
Kevin Duffy has worked in publishing for over 35 years setting up his own publishing company in 2006 in Hebden Bridge with his wife, Hetha. The Guardian - 'Bluemoose Books is a small but mighty literary hit factory.'
Bluemoose’s authors include Benjamin Myers, Colette Snowden, Heidi James, Rónán Hession and Devika Ponnambalam whose novels have been short listed and won major literary prizes. The company’s books have been translated into 14 languages and feature both national and international bestsellers.
Instagram @bluemoosebooksofficial
Monica MacSwan
Monica joined Aitken Alexander in 2018 and is now an Associate Agent. She started her career in publishing at Felicity Bryan Associates and Profile Books, and then went on to work in translation rights at United Agents and Aitken Alexander.
She is actively building her own list of authors, which includes the poet Belinda Zhawi; CEO of the dating app Feeld, Ana Kirova; Novara Media journalist Moya Lothian-McLean; and Peter Apps, whose book Show Me The Bodies won the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
In fiction, she represents novelist Nicola Dinan, whose debut work Bellies (Doubleday) was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and optioned by Element Pictures in a television deal after a major auction. She also works with poet, novelist and essayist Aea Varfis-van Warmelo; Divya Maniar; and Lorenzo Mandelli, who has been shortlisted for The White Review Short Story Prize and the Desperate Literature Prize.
Twitter @MonicaMacSwan
Imogen Davies
Imogen (she/they) is a content marketer and copywriter working for a York-based digital marketing agency, and the Chair of the northern branch of The Society of Young Publishers. Driven by the need for northern representation within the creative sector, they hope to advocate for underrepresented groups within the publishing industry via SYP North’s work.
Twitter @imhidinginabook
Caitíe Woolridge
Caitíe is an Events Officer for SYP North 2024 and currently works as a Project Support Assistant. She also volunteer for The Publishing Post and has recently graduated from the MA Publishing course at Northumbria University.
Twitter @CaitieWoolridge
About The Advisers
Adam is a memoirist, the editor of the creative nonfiction journal The Real Story and the Writer in Residence for Peel Park, Salford. His first book, Cold Fish Soup, won the NorthBound Book Award and was published by Saraband in the UK and the US in 2022. His writing has featured in The Guardian, Lunate, Hinterland, Test Signal (Dead Ink Books/Bloomsbury, 2021) and North Country (Saraband, 2022) and he has performed at a number of festivals, including the Manchester Literature Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival and the Edinburgh Book Festival. He has taught memoir writing at the University of Lancaster and The Garsdale Retreat.
Instagram @adamjfarrer
Dr Liz Flanagan
Dr Liz Flanagan is an award-winning children’s author. She teaches Creative Writing in many different settings including schools and universities, and she has previously worked as a book editor.
Twitter @lizziebooks
Jazmine Linklater
Jazmine Linklater is a poet and writer based in Manchester where she works for Carcanet Press and edits the art journal Corridor8. Figure a Motion (Guillemot Press, 2020) is her most recent poetry publication.
Instagram @jjhlinklater
Fat Roland
Fat Roland is a performer and writer based in Manchester. He's created three solo shows, the latest of which was alternative record shop comedy Seven Inch, which involved over 200 cartoon props and was commissioned by The Lowry Theatre as part of their Developed With artist programme.
He writes short stories and has produced two collections, long sold out. He has been commended in the Manchester Fiction Prize.
Twitter @fatroland
About The Trainers
Oliver Sykes (see above)
Eleanor Pilcher
Eleanor is the Head of Fiction Marketing at Bonnier Books UK and a published author of commercial fiction, based in South London. She is also a freelance journalist, public speaker and founder of #MarketYourMarketing. You'll find her on TikTok @eleanorpilcher, or writing in a cafe.
Instagram @ellesbellesnotebook
Phil Birchenall
Phil Birchenall is a business consultant who has worked hands-on with creative, media, and digital businesses for over two decades. He works with founders and company executives to understand what makes them tick, their ambitions, and the issues holding them back. Then, he works with them to build pragmatic solutions to help them grow.
Phil’s been obsessed by technology’s impact on creative production and consumption for many years and uses this obsession to justify spending far too much of his time mucking around with AI. He is co-founder of Manchester’s AI Cafe and delivers talks and training about the practical uses of AI in business.
Twitter @PhilBirchenall
Emma Nuttall
Emma Nuttall, hails from the North and writes stories across multiple platforms including games, extended reality (XR), theatre, and screen. Her collaborative projects include working with the BBC on an interactive story for "His Dark Materials," partnering with Megaverse to develop "Game Changers," an interactive live-streamed show, and creating "NEST" for LEEDS 2023 in collaboration with the National Youth Theatre. Recognized for her work, Emma has been selected for Screen Yorkshire's 'FLEX' programme, Box of Tricks Theatre's 'Accelerate', BAFTA Connect, and the Future of Film cohort.
Instagram @emnuttballa
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Tickets £35 / £25. To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.
If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org
