Part of the Northern Writers Studio programme.

Explore new ways to find three of the things writers need most: inspiration, motivation and routine.

Have you ever struggled to find the time or the energy to write? Do you need help to rediscover your creativity?

Join me for this two-hour interactive workshop with Northern Writers Studio that will explore new ways to find three of the things writers need most: inspiration, motivation and routine. During the session, you’ll have the chance to engage with fun exercises designed to get you thinking about your writing process and barriers, as well as tips and tricks for building routine and finding creative inspiration. Amy will also share some prompts and processes that you can use to build a regular writing practice.

Book your place now.

Three different writers who have written three very different books! Marie is an author, photographer and documentary film-maker whose first book, Sunderland Industrial Giant, was published in 2017. Amy is a writer, blogger and digital marketer. Her debut , The Disappeared, is an award-winning dystopian novel about a young woman who uses banned books to fight back against an authoritarian regime, after the arrest of her father. Pauline’s book, Only Dead Fish go with the Flow, is a very personal account of her journey through change, challenges, divorce, bereavement and much more. Hear them talk about what inspired them to venture into print.

Find out more here.

Join two local authors who have both been shortlisted for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize as they discuss their award winning novels.

Join both of these North East writers as they talk their books and give a readings before taking part in a Q&A session and sign copies of their books for the audience.

Book tickets

Authors Amy Lord, Gemma Koomen, Mari Hannah, Chloe Daykin & Matt Wesolowski will be signing copies of their books at Forum Books as part of Bookshop Day.

Poetry and prose from emerging and published writers.

The Riff Raff is an event for aspiring authors and lovers of new writing. Each month we hear from five debut authors with a recently published book.

August's event will be co-hosted by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan - author of Harmless Like You and Starling Days. On the night we will be joined by the following five debut authors....

Zeba Talkhani, author of My Past is a Foreign Country - a memoir charting Talkhani's experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia amid patriarchal customs reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale, and her journey to find freedom abroad in India, Germany and the UK as a young woman.

Lara Williams, author of Supper Club - Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag meets Nora Ephron's Heartburn in this savagely funny and perceptive tale of rage and joy, hunger and friendship, bodies and the space they take up in the world.

Ian Maleney, author of Minor Monuments - a thought-provoking and quietly devastating essay collection meditating on family and loss.

Temi Oh, author of Do You Dream of Terra Two? - a tightly wound, emotional epic that asks important questions about humanity, goodness, belief, technology, love, friendship, and duty.

Amy Lord, author of The Disappeared - an unflinching tale of resistance set in a near-future Britain in dark political times.

Image credit: Alice Lubbock

Join author Amy Lord for the launch of her debut novel, The Disappeared. Find out how the book came to be written and published, after a successful crowdfunding campaign with publisher Unbound.

There will also be readings from poet Lisette Auton and music from singer songwriter Elaine Palmer. Plus cake and refreshments.

Book tickets

Join me for this talk on my award-winning debut novel The Disappeared and why I chose to work with the world's first crowdfunding publisher, Unbound, on the book's release.

Plus the ups and downs of crowdfunding, what makes a successful campaign and why crowdfunding might be the future for publishing.