A Writer's Guide to Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle City Library is the city's main library. It has public computers and printing, and a Business and Intellectual Property Centre on Level 3. Writers researching the North East should go up to Local Studies on Level 6, which has study space and family history resources. Meeting rooms can be booked through the council's room hire site. The library is closed Sundays.

Gosforth Library shares its building with Newcastle City Learning's Learning Centre. It has public computers and printing. It closes on Mondays and Thursdays as well as Sundays.

Newcastle University's accredited archive holds the Bloodaxe Archive and the archives of poets such as Sean O'Brien and Selima Hill, along with material from the IRON and Flambard presses. The Gertrude Bell Archive and medieval manuscripts are here too. Request items ahead for the Reading Room, or use the Virtual Reading Room; libraryhelp@ncl.ac.uk can help you plan a visit.

Tyne & Wear Archives keeps documents and photographs on the industrial and maritime past of the North East, with an online catalogue. Book through TicketSource before you go. The searchroom opens Tuesday to Thursday.

The bookshop at Seven Stories specialises in children's books, from picture books up to young adult titles, and keeps a small selection of poetry and plays. It shares its space with a coffee shop. Author events and a Writers' Salon run here, and book clubs can arrange to meet through bookshop@sevenstories.org.uk.

NewBridge Books is the bookshop and event space of The NewBridge Project. It stocks hard-to-find books and zines from independent and radical publishers and from self-publishing artists, and its subjects include photography and poetry. Its reading circles take up print and publishing. Launches and talks happen here as well.

1b Books sells new and second-hand books near Heaton Park, with a whole room of preloved books. Its owners champion working-class and LGBTQ+ writing along with translated fiction. The shop runs book groups for young adults and for babies and toddlers. It is closed Mondays.

The Sinful Spine on Heaton Road sells only romance. Book clubs and author signings run here, and themed events and quizzes fill out the calendar.

The Lit & Phil is an independent library of over 200,000 books, free and open to all. Members borrow books and work in the Committee and Reference Rooms. Wifi is free for members. It is closed Sundays.

Pink Lane Coffee roasts its own coffee and runs a café across the road from Central Station. It has wifi and a vegetarian and vegan-friendly menu. The café calls itself a good place to work and asks anyone using it as a workspace to be considerate at peak times. It opens daily.

Central Bean is an independent coffee house in Bealim House with plenty of tables, and students settle in here to work for hours. It opens early on weekdays and closes Sundays.

Live Theatre offers artists free creative space in its writers' rooms and studio. Its Hot Desk initiative gives creatives free workspaces.

Baltic Kitchen is the café inside Baltic, a free-entry centre for contemporary art. It serves toasties and sausage rolls from locally sourced menus. The building also holds a specialist library on contemporary art and visual culture. Baltic is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

The Factory Kitchen is the café at The Biscuit Factory, an independent art gallery showing work by artists and makers. The gallery runs craft workshops too. It is open daily.

Tyneside Bar Cafe serves food and drinks inside the independent Tyneside Cinema. The cinema's second eatery is Vicolo, a cocktail bar and coffee shop, and its programme includes NT Live theatre screenings.

The Cumberland Arms is a pub overlooking the Ouseburn Valley. Its events mix poetry and comedy with live music. Weekly Irish music sessions run in the back bar.

New Writing North is the writing development charity for the North, based at Northumbria University. It runs the Northern Writers' Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize and produces Durham Book Festival for Durham County Council. Its programmes include A Writing Chance and groups for young writers.

The Lit & Phil describes itself as the largest independent library outside London. It is a registered charity, and its collection holds 20,000 CDs and LPs alongside the books. Readings and book launches fill the calendar, with talks and workshops in between. Members get priority booking.

Seven Stories is a free-entry museum of children's literature in Ouseburn. Its collection holds work by more than 250 authors and illustrators, with a book collection of over 36,000 texts. Search the online catalogue first. Collection visits are free and by appointment, at Newcastle City Library on weekdays.

Live Theatre produces new plays on the Quayside. Its artist development programme offers playwrights writing courses and bursaries, and LIVE PLAYWRITING is aimed at emerging playwrights. Live Writes showcase events put out open calls for North East writers.

Mslexia is a quarterly magazine for women who write, based in Newcastle. Each issue carries prose and poetry alongside writing advice and industry news. Its competitions range from the novel to the poetry pamphlet, and writing surgeries and Q&As run in its online Salon. Mslexia also publishes the Indie Press Guide.

NCLA is Newcastle University's home for creative writing and literary events. Its events bring poets and fiction writers to the university. Hundreds of past events are free to watch online in the NCLA Archive, and NCLA also runs the James Berry Poetry Prize.

The Humanities Research Institute supports collaborative and interdisciplinary research in Newcastle University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Its Institutes Research Fund backs exploratory work, and Challenge Labs bring people together for co-research.

The Institute of Advanced Study is Durham University's interdisciplinary research institute, on Palace Green in Durham. It hosts scholars from Durham and around the world as IAS Fellows and Visiting Scholars. Sir Harry Evans Global Fellows work in investigative journalism.

Bloodaxe Books is a poetry publisher based in Hexham, west of Newcastle. Its list runs from British poets to international poets in translation. The Bloodaxe Archive is held at Newcastle University.

Environment and History, published by The White Horse Press, brings scholars in the humanities and the natural sciences together to build long, well-founded perspectives on present-day environmental problems. Its editor, Leona Watson, is at Northumbria University. Preparing an article for Environment and History

Archnet-IJAR is an Emerald journal that bridges theory and practice in architecture and urban design and publishes research on buildings and urban environments. Chief Editor Professor Ashraf M. Salama is at Northumbria University's School of Architecture and Built Environment. Preparing an article for Archnet-IJAR

International Political Sociology publishes transdisciplinary, critical work at the meeting point of sociology, international relations, and sociopolitical theory, drawing on historical, legal, cultural, economic, and political sociology as well as anthropology and human geography. Its editors-in-chief are based at Newcastle University and Université Laval, and it is published by Oxford University Press for the International Studies Association. Preparing an article for International Political Sociology

New Writing North runs the Northern Writers' Awards for writers living in the North of England, with Arts Council England and Northumbria University as major supporters. Categories run from poetry and fiction to scripts and television writing. Two awards have a focus of their own: the Sid Chaplin award for writers from a working-class background and the Tempest Prize for LGBTQ writers.

New Writing North runs the Gordon Burn Prize with Faber and the Gordon Burn Trust, and Newcastle University sponsors it. The prize recognises published fiction and non-fiction in English that experiments with style or reshapes real people and events into vivid narrative.

Newcastle University runs this prize for unpublished UK-resident poets of colour over 18, and Bloodaxe Books funds it. Winners receive a year of mentoring toward a debut collection published by Bloodaxe. They are also asked to read at Newcastle University.

Live Theatre runs this award as part of its artist development programme. It is open to writers over 16 who are from the North East or who live or work there.

Arts Council England's Developing Your Creative Practice programme supports individual creative and cultural practitioners as they focus on their career development.

Editors For Students gathers grants and writing support for Newcastle University students on one page.

Durham University students have their own page of grants and writing resources on Editors For Students.

NewBridge Print Studio is a printmaking studio at The Shieldfield Centre and the home of Overlay Press. Its editioning service prints promotional material and publications for the creative sector, and it tailors classes for organisations. Write to newbridgeprint@gmail.com.

Northern Print is a printmaking studio and gallery in Ouseburn. Studio members get professional equipment and materials with technical support. Classes and workshops run here too. The shop sells original prints.