We're delighted to come to Culture House Sunderland to offer insight and guidance for new and emerging writers of fiction.

New Writing North is delighted to host the Northern Writers' Awards Fiction Roadshow at Culture House Sunderland. The speakers will offer insight and guidance for new and emerging writers of fiction, who may be considering applying for the Northern Writers' Awards 2027. Please arrive at 6pm for a 6.10pm start. Tea and coffee provided.

Our first panel, Writing Genre Fiction, will feature Molly Crawford, Publishing Director at Orion Fiction and judge of the 2027 Great Northern Read Award, and Katja Kaine, author of YA fantasy novel Blood of Gods and Girls (2026) and previous Northern Promise Award winner.

Our second panel, Writing Humour, will feature Gráinne O'Hare, author of Thirst Trap (2025) and Northern Debut Award winner, and James Harris, author of The Unbelievable Biscuit Factory (2021) and Hachette Children's Novel Award winner.

The event will end with a Q&A featuring New Writing North's Talent Development team, who will be able to answer any questions you might have about the awards.

The roadshow will be of interest to new and aspiring writers who are keen to develop their writing practice, gain insight into the workings of the publishing industries, and hear advice on entering the Northern Writers' Awards.

Awards open or soon to open include: Hachette Children's Novel Awards, Great Northern Read Award, Bridget Jones Prize, Northern Debut Awards, and the Northern Writers' Awards. See here for more: https://newwritingnorth.com/northern-writers-awards/awards/ (https://newwritingnorth.com/northern-writers-awards/awards/)

More about the awards

The Northern Writers’ Awards are the largest writing development programme of their kind in England. They are free to enter, with support, mentoring, placements, publication, and cash awards on offer to new and established writers. Submissions open throughout the year, with awards for poetry, fiction, children’s and YA fiction, narrative non-fiction, comedy, short stories and writing for television. They are produced by New Writing North and supported by Northumbria University, Arts Council England, and a range of partners. Find out more here: https://newwritingnorth.com/northern-writers-awards/ (https://newwritingnorth.com/northern-writers-awards/)

About the speakers

Molly Crawford is Publishing Director at Orion Fiction, where she specialises in commercial and book club fiction. She previously worked at Simon & Schuster, where she published authors including Colleen Hoover, Hannah Grace and Holly Hepburn. She was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the 2023 and 2024 British Book Awards.

James Harris is an author, filmmaker and performer. He writes funny picture books and middle grade fiction. His first book, The Unbelievable Biscuit Factory, won the New Writing North/Hachette Children’s Novel award in 2019. His first picture book was published in 2024 by Little Tiger Press. James lives in Middlesbrough and is a mentor and workshop leader for Writers Block North East.

Gráinne O’Hare is a writer from Belfast based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She received a Northern Debut Award for Fiction from New Writing North in 2022, and was awarded funding by the Arts Council in 2023 for the development and completion of her first novel. She has also been shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story Competition and the Bridport Prize, and came in the top three of the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition in 2021 and 2022. She is Media Sub-Editor of Criticks reviews for the British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, and is currently completing a PhD on eighteenth-century women's life-writing at Newcastle University. Thirst Trap is her first novel.

Katja Kaine is a Yorkshire-based writer of fantasy novels. She is also the creator of the Novel Factory software for writers and the Novel Writing Roadmap. She has won multiple awards for writing, including the Northern Writers Northern Promise Award, the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition and been shortlisted for the Bath Children's Award and the Write Mentor Novel-In Development Award. Katja is half Singaporean and half German and when she's not writing can be found cooing over forest fungi, bending into pretzel yoga shapes and raging against the patriarchy.

Description supplied by the event organiser.