West End writers in celebration spotlight
How New Writing North sessions change lives
Sandra had been on her way to shop at Lidl, creative writing far from her mind until her curiosity was aroused by someone putting a poster up outside the church.
Denise, after retiring and then losing her husband, had determined to stay positive and was looking for something to get absorbed in – and not something physical this time, like dancing or pilates.
Eddie… well, Eddie’s had his demons to fight.
“I fell into this group by accident although some might say it was fated,” he says.
“I came back to Newcastle on the recovery programme and was looking for something to do outside of recovery because your life can often be consumed by it and then it doesn’t always work.
“That’s how I stumbled across the group.”
And now here they are, sitting with others at a big table preparing the pieces they’ll read aloud at a public celebration of the work done over the past three years under the banner of West End Writes.
The drop-in session at St James’ Church, Benwell, is just one of the creative writing initiatives established in the West End of Newcastle by New Writing North (NWN).
At its offices on the Northumbria University campus, Tess Denman-Cleaver, a senior NWN programme manager, had explained the evolution of its work in the West End, a diverse part of the city alive with stories.
It had started in schools, 10 years ago at Excelsior Academy, where it’s likely more languages are spoken than subjects taught, and latterly also at Callerton Academy, and with sessions for young people in libraries.
“But in 2021 we got a grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to establish community programmes for people of all ages,” said Tess.
“Through working in schools we had got to know the communities and some of the challenges they faced, and also what we could provide that wasn’t otherwise available – creative writing programmes.”
The grant was to run for three years and it meant NWN was able to tailor a programme sensitive to the needs and wishes of local adults.
Its climax will be the West End Writes Spring Celebration for which Sandra, Denise, Eddie and others are preparing - a creative writing showcase that anyone can attend as audience member.
“It’ll be the most public presentation of the work they’ve been producing and we’ve invested quite a lot in it in terms of production quality,” said Tess.
“We wanted to make sure all the participants were engaged in a really professional process and we hope it’ll get more people involved.”
The celebration will also feature the screening of Our Voice, a film made by members of the West End Writes group for South Asian women aged 50 plus, and contributions from another 50 plus group, Remembered West.
Three years may be up but this won’t be the end of New Writing North’s commitment to the West End, according to Tess, who said funding was being sought to keep the work going.
Another of five participating groups will be World Writes, brainchild of Mymona Bibi who is regarded as a bit of a star at NWN.
Tess said she had joined the group called Brown Girls Write (to be renamed the Neela Moon Collective, ‘neela’ meaning ‘blue’ in Hindi and other Indian languages) for South Asian women writers in the West End.
“That was one of the first we set up and it’s been massively successful. Members have been nominated for national awards, they perform, they’ve done a book and some have creative associate roles with us.
“They’re now all writers doing their own thing and it’s happened much faster than we’d imagined possible.”
Mymona credits Brown Girls Write with helping her to develop her creative practice after she, her mother and her brother moved from London to Newcastle shortly after lockdown.
“I’d always written but it was during lockdown that I started to take my writing more seriously,” she says. “It wasn’t until I joined Brown Girls Write that I started performing and sharing poetry.”
But she was also keen to set up her own multi-lingual creative writing group for people for whom English was not their first language.
“I had the idea because I come from a multi-lingual household and the way we told stories was never just in one language. I wanted to see how that would work for other people as well.”
Along with English, Mymona speaks some Bangla and Arabic. Her family come from Bangladesh but she also lived in Dubai and various London locations before coming to Newcastle.
Her World Writes group, according to the NWN website, encourages members to think and write creatively “whilst developing their existing English language skills and enjoying multilingualism”.
Mymona, as a day job, teaches ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) but what can be taught is Government-defined and functional, geared towards employment and assimilation.
Tess explained: “There’s not a bit that invites you to be creative and share your story.”
Into that void stepped Mymona and now… well, according to Tess, World Writes is “one of the most artistically exciting parts” of the West End Writes programme.
Mymona speaks proudly of a recent online initiative, a month of World Writes sessions involving people in the room and others from all over the world on screen.
“We had about 22 different languages represented and some people who spoke five.
“In our regular sessions we have people who might be able to write in a particular language but not speak it and others who can speak it but not write it.
“But people are really helpful. There might be two people who speak Spanish and one of them knows English and they’ll just work together on things.
“Some people just want to write in English and some in their mother tongue. For those who want to experiment, World Writes offers a chance to play around with ideas.”
Mymona will introduce World Writes at the celebration and work produced will be displayed in book form. She thought it unlikely any members would be able or available to read.
Because many have been refugees or asylum seekers, or simply people on the move, this has been a group in constant flux.
“At its peak we had about 12 people but we’re at a low point now with four regular attenders and some who drop in and out,” says Mymona.
For those (the majority) with no prior experience of creative writing, it’s nice to imagine that their Newcastle experience has enriched or even changed their lives, as it has changed Mymona’s.
In St James’ Church, meanwhile, the drop-in writers are reading their entertaining responses to the task set them by facilitator Jasmine Plumpton, a poet from South Shields.
Many here, it’s clear, are deeply rooted in the area. Denise and Jill have lived in their current homes for 40 years and Isabel, originally from Argentina, has been here for 55.
They relate missed opportunities, Sandra whose ambition to be a journalist was dashed when an encouraging English teacher left her school, and Denise whose previous attempt at creative writing ended when a course lost its funding.
But they’re making up for lost time, and none more so than Eddie who entertained the group with his talent for rap. At 45, he is back on track, writing a book, developing a script and taking GCSEs.
For all of them, the sky’s the limit.
The West End Writes Spring Celebration is at 4pm on May 8 in Studio Deco at the John Marley Centre, Newcastle NE15 6TT. Tickets are free but book via the New Writing North website.