Film & audio

In this section you can view and listen to downloads of Northern Writers’ Centre films and podcasts.


  • Ruth Padel

    30.05.2008

    Three poems from Ruth Padel: Mother of Pearl, Pieter the Funny One and The Soho Leopard. Ruth's work has been described as "approachable, contemporary, cool poems, magnificently varied, daring and imaginative, never short of glittering humour, and fabulously rich". Her recent collections include Voodoo Shop and The Soho Leopard.

    Recorded at Culture Lab, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 30 May 2008.

    Listen Online

    Download podcast (21.92 MB)


  • New Fiction: Andrew Crumey and James Meek

    10.04.2008

    Writers Andrew Crumey and James Meek talk about their new novels, Sputnik Caledonia and The People's Act of Love, at this event chaired by Newcastle University professor of poetry and creative writing, WN Herbert.

    Recorded at Culture Lab, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 10 April 2008.

    Listen Online

    Download podcast (21.56 MB)


  • Alice Quinn and Sean O'Brien: The Poetic State of Play: Poetry in the UK & the USA

    03.04.2008

    Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society of America and poetry editor of The New Yorker from 1987-2007, and Sean O’Brien, Forward-prize winning poet, critic and professor of creative writing at Newcastle University, interviewed by CultureCasts' Caroline Beck after a live event at Newcastle's Culture Lab on 13 March 2008.

    At the event, which was chaired by Jules Mann, director of the Poetry Society, they discussed poetry matters in the UK and the USA, looking at the critical state of poetry, the poets who define the current scenes in their respective countries, and how poetry is engaging with critics and with readers.

    Listen Online

    Download podcast (10.60 MB)


  • Brian Turner: Here, Bullet

    19.03.2008

    American poet Brian Turner visits Newcastle to read from his compelling collection Here, Bullet, a harrowing first-hand account of the war. Turner served for seven years in the US army and was an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq. This first collection garnered nine literary awards and a Lannan Literary Fellowship when it was published in the US.

    Recorded at Culture Lab, Newcastle University, on 19 March 2008.

    Listen Online

    Download podcast (12.76 MB)


  • David Almond in conversation with Kim Reynolds

    20.11.2007

    Bestselling author David Almond talks to Newcastle University Professor of Children's Literature Kim Reynolds about writing for children and launches his new book, My Dad’s a Birdman. Produced for the Northern Writers’ Centre by CultureCasts.

    Listen Online

    Download podcast (20.29 MB)