Apologies for arriving a little late this Sunday – I (Sam) spent yesterday in the emotional centrifuge that is Freshers drop off. Enough said.
Onwards, then – and happily there’s plenty to make us smile in this week’s newsletter.
We catch up with Alex Woolley and Hendrika Seguro-Bigg, two screen and stage creatives who are making things happen – and making people laugh. One directed her teenage pals in a DIY Jeremy Kyle Show, the other dressed hers as old ladies and told stories about piles. We like them a lot.
Simon Rushworth looks ahead to the week-long Mercury Fringe, which will build towards the Mercury Prize itself on October 22, while there’s news to say cheese for with details of a new food festival coming to Newcastle.
With the Turner Prize 2026 preparing to open at MIMA, Dr Laura Sillars considers how art can interrupt familiar stories about Middlesbrough and make different futures imaginable, while David Whetstone flicks through the brochure for Newcastle festival, Books on Tyne.
Our friends at Collected Books in Durham leave the real world behind with this week’s reading recommendation from North East author Laura Steven.
We’ve also got a bonus Sunday Prize Draw, with tickets up for grabs for one of the concerts making up The Glasshouse’s celebration of composer Steve Reich at 90.
And finally, we’re introducing Get Stuck In, a new Sunday strand pointing towards opportunities to make, learn, join in and have a go.
Happy Sunday!
Making it happen: the pair getting their ideas off the page
When Alex Woolley and Hendrika Seguro-Bigg first met, they did what people working in the creative industries do all the time: swapped numbers, promised to stay in touch – and then didn’t.
They’d both been judges for the RTS Student Film Awards and vaguely knew of each other, but it took a chance encounter at Live Theatre a while later, where Hendrika was enduring what Alex remembers as “the most terrible shift of her life” behind the bar, to give things another nudge.
This time they actually went for that drink and quickly discovered a shared love of Victoria Wood and French and Saunders.
They also made each other laugh a lot and realised they were both at a point where they didn’t just want to talk about being creative. They wanted to make things.
A lot of things, as it turns out.
In little more than a year, a working relationship has become a friendship and an increasingly productive creative partnership – one which neatly illustrates something else happening across the North East at the moment.
There’s a growing network of writers, directors, performers and filmmakers who aren’t waiting for the traditional industry machinery to find them. They’re writing things, filming things, putting on shows, swapping skills and calling on each other when they need a hand, or four.
Alex and Hendrika are very much part of that.
As MIMA prepares to open Turner Prize 2026, Dr Laura Sillars considers how art can interrupt familiar stories about Middlesbrough and make different futures imaginable
Artists invite us to look again at the world around us and to ask: what if? What if things could be understood differently or imagined anew?
There is a media image which I cannot forget. The camera pans slowly across the body of a woman, a body made large through exhaustion, poverty and unequal access to health. She is with her children and they too are filmed. Starting from behind, the camera surveys her body before it reaches her face. Only then is she invited to speak.
By that point, the story has already been told for her. Her body has been made into evidence. She herself has become evidence. Her children have become examples. She is not a credible witness but a character in a piece of theatre with a pre-determined plot.
This is Middlesbrough as it is too often presented: stripped of complexity, observed from the outside. Across media coverage, government policy papers and academic research, Middlesbrough is reduced to data rather than heard and recognised as a voice. As a place, it is seen, measured and explained, but rarely allowed to speak.
When places become trapped inside these repetitions, deprivation begins to look like an innate characteristic instead of a consequence of political choices, economic structures and unequal investment. People are invited to perform their suffering for the attention of others, elsewhere. Complexity is edited out.
We need to change these hard-wired stories because they do not simply describe a place. They shape what its people, and everyone else, believe to be possible.
Libraries join forces for bookish beanfeast
The Books on Tyne brochures are out with a foretaste of what’s to come when Newcastle’s big libraries – the old and the new – join forces for their annual celebration of the written word.
As ever, the action is split between the venerable Lit & Phil and its upstart neighbour The City Library.
Kay Easson, from the former, and Derek Tree, from the latter, offer a welcome to the 14th festival which runs from November 19-28.
They promise “subjects as diverse as smells, anger and The Smiths” and, for the first time, a day dedicated to science fiction.
It’s not the biggest of book festivals but its eclectic programme offers something for most tastes – and even a performance of a Dickens favourite by one of his descendants in the place where he once entertained.
Here’s a skim through the programme according to venue…
Founded by Emma Hamlett, Collected Books is an independent bookshop in Durham, with two floors of books to browse as well as coffee, wine, and cake to enjoy. They specialise in writing by women but stock all genres of fiction and non-fiction as well as books for kids, YA titles, poetry, and classics.
Emma says: We’re leaving the real world behind this time; our recommendation from resident fantasy fan Frankie is L.K. Steven’s dazzlingly vibrant Silvercloak. Prepare to be transported to Ascenfall, a lush, vibrant place where magic is fuelled by pleasure and pain, and where an obsessive mage must use any means necessary to infiltrate a gang of dark mages.
This is a fascinating world with a sophisticated, thorough magic system, which Steven cleverly puts to the test in this story of divided loyalties, espionage and forbidden romance. Silvercloak is perfect for both new and seasoned fantasy fans; Steven has a way of folding her world-building into the plot that feels essential yet subtle without overloading the reader with excessive detail or complicated fantasy lore.
Ultimately, this brilliant story is a fun, intelligent, sexy fantasy that delivers equally on pacy plot, high-stakes politics and believably steamy romance. And what’s more, Laura Steven is a North East local, penning her multiple award-winning books from her home in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
In the novel, orphan Saff is hellbent on revenge, lying her way into the elite Silvercloak Academy of detectives with a single goal: find a way to bring the Bloodmoons who killed her parents to justice. But on the eve of her graduation, her deception is exposed, and she’s given only one option: go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.
Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, but also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, and a curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saff’s hand.
Ending on a huge cliffhanger, Silvercloak had Frankie on tenterhooks waiting for the second book. Thankfully, Turncloak was published on the 17th September and has been flying off our shelves.
You can grab Silvercloak, now in paperback, online here or in store. Turncloak, the brand-new sequel, can be ordered here and Independent Bookshop Signed Exclusive editions can be picked up in store while stocks last.
Culture isn’t just something to watch from the sidelines. Get Stuck In is our new way of highlighting opportunities to get involved – from workshops and courses to clubs, classes and one-off events where you can learn something, make something or simply have a go.
This week: Discovery Nights - Made at the Museum
Newcastle’s Discovery Museum is making a persuasive case for swapping the pub for something a little more hands-on the last Friday night in September.
Its adults-only Discovery Nights returns on September 25 with Made at the Museum, an after-hours mix of craft, culture, music and socialising.
Visitors can dip in and out of activities including Japanese calligraphy and origami with Newcastle University’s Japan Foundation, bobbin lacemaking with Northumbria Lacemakers, Gelli plate printing, sustainable gift wrapping and collage badge making.
There’s also the chance to explore material from Tyne & Wear Archives, have a go at Victorian-inspired braided dress embellishments or join in with Musical Bingo.
And if all that making gets a bit much, you can grab a drink from the licensed bar before Newcastle teenage folk duo Coled Lore round off proceedings with a live performance at 8.30pm.
The event runs from 6-9pm and is for over-18s. Tickets are £10 plus booking fee, with all activities included. Food and drinks are extra. Booking here
Got something for Get Stuck In?
We’re looking for more ways our readers can get involved in culture across the North East. If you run workshops, courses, classes, clubs or one-off activities – or you’ve signed up for something you think other people should know about – we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch and tell us what we should be getting stuck into.
Welcome to our bonus Sunday newsletter prize draw - offering our subscribers an extra exclusive chance to win tickets to see or do something great.
We’ve got a pair of tickets for the opening concert of The Glasshouse’s Steve Reich at 90 festival on October 2: Steve Reich: The Desert Music, Clapping Music, Double Sextet and Runner.
One of the most influential composers of the past six decades, Reich helped pioneer minimalism, using rhythm, repetition and shifting musical patterns in ways that have influenced everything from contemporary classical music to electronic and club culture.
Colin Currie Group and Royal Northern Sinfonia launch the celebrations with works including Clapping Music, Runner and The Desert Music.
Across the wider festival, Bryce Dessner, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and others join performances, installations and free events marking Reich’s 90th birthday. Look out for David Whetstone’s full preview in the coming days.
HOW TO ENTER:
To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: ‘Ninety years of Steve’ by 5pm on Thursday, September 24.
The winner, who will be selected at random, will be notified within 48 hours of the entry deadline.
Terms and conditions: Only subscribers to the Cultured. North East newsletter are eligible to enter the Newsletter Prize Draw competition. Prizes are as stated - subject to availability - and non-transferable. No cash alternatives will be offered. You must be over 18 years of age to enter. The Editor’s decision is final.