Northern writers celebrated in Read Regional campaign

New Writing North, the literature development agency for the North of England, has released its list of ‘12 new books by northern writers you must read in 2019’, part of the Read Regional campaign that it began in 2008.

The Read Regional campaign, funded by Arts Council England, sees the 12 new titles stocked in libraries across the North, while the authors take part in 85 events around the region between March and June 2019.

In the Fiction category it includes Devil’s Day (John Murray), the second novel by Lancashire-based Andrew Michael Hurley. His debut The Loney (John Murray) was named Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards in 2016.  

Hurley joins Cumbria-based Amy Arnold, Slip of a Fish (And Other Stories); His Dark Sun (Moth) by Sheffield's Jude Brown; Liverpudlian Catherine Isaac's You Me Everything (Simon & Schuster); Manchester-based Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's Kintu (Oneworld); What Falls Between the Cracks (Allison & Busby) by Robert Scragg; and Northumberland-based Tony Williams, Nutcase (Salt).  

Under Nature, Karen Lloyd’s account of the wildlife in the South Lakes landscape, the Solway coast and the Hebridean islands of Mull and Staffa,The Blackbird Diaries (Saraband) is selected, while in poetry Burnley-born Clare Shaw’s Flood (Bloodaxe) and Newcastle University research associate John Challis’ The Black Cab (Poetry Salzburg) is chosen. Completing the list in Children’s and Young Adult are Berwick-upon-Tweed's Laura Steven’s The Exact Opposite of Okay (Egmont) and Hebden Bridge-based Mark Illis’ The Impossible: On the Run (Quercus Children’s Books).

Read Regional is produced in partnership with 22 library authorities, where authors take part in book group events, school visits, readings and workshops. 

Claire Malcolm, chief executive of New Writing North, said: “The North is bursting with literary talent and this list reflects a wide range of genres and subjects, from courageous YA to an extraordinary Ugandan epic, so there really is something for everyone. At a time when libraries are increasingly under threat, we would encourage readers to make use of this precious public resource. Visit your local libraries, borrow our must-read titles, and come and meet the Read Regional authors in person this spring.”