Dead Ink launches open call for northern crime fiction

Dead Ink Books is launching an open call for short literary crime stories from northern authors ahead of a new list focused entirely on northern crime fiction. 

The scheme is a collaboration between the indie publisher and literary agencies Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh. Agents from Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh will be reading initial submissions. The winners’ stories will be published in an anthology, Motives Unknown, in addition to a "small fee" and a consultation with a literary agent. 

Dead Ink director Nathan Connolly said: “We’re looking for works in the genre that have that Dead Ink touch – compellingly written, transgressive, bold and daring. We’re on the hunt for new talent as we prepare for a new venture and we want to foreground writers from our home region.

“We want to see everything that the region has to offer from the urban to the rural, from the Tyne to the Mersey. The north is an evocative landscape that can be as beautiful as it is harsh and as forward facing as it is built on deep histories.” 

Alice Lutyens of Curtis Brown said: “Curtis Brown is thrilled to be part of this collaboration between Dead Ink and Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh. We are always looking for ways to reach out to all the incredibly talented writers we know are out there, and by focusing specifically on northern regions, we hope to find some amazing fresh new crime and can’t wait to read the submissions.” 

Submissions will open on 3rd June and close on the 5th of August. The stories must be by authors with strong links to the north of England as defined by Arts Council England. Contributors must be unagented at the time of submission.