Right to Read Programme Aims to Get the North East Reading
New Writing North has launched Right to Read, a year-long programme of activity for readers across the North East, to celebrate the National Year of Reading in 2026.
Sir Alan Hollinghurst (The Line of Beauty), Maggie O’Farrell (Hamnet), Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain) and Max Porter (Grief is the Thing with Feathers) have won numerous awards between them including two Booker Prizes, and the David Cohen Prize, sold over 5 million copies of their books and had their work turned into award-winning productions on stage and screen.
They are just four of the writers heading to Newcastle in the first half of 2026. Each will be part of an author event, produced and managed by New Writing North in partnership with national and regional organisations including Tyneside Cinema, Northern Stage, Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts and English PEN.
In addition to these major events: the Gordon Burn Prize 2025 ceremony saw Maria Reva win for Endling at Northern Stage on 5 March; and eight writers (Brian Groom, Marcia Hutchinson, Sheena Kalayil, Sarah Mellor, Sally O’Reilly, Caroline Roberts, Robert Rutherford, and Daniel Tawse) will take part in intimate readings of their writing in libraries across the North of England.
Confirmed programme up to June 2026
· 25 February, 6-7pm, Celebrating Alan Hollinghurst at Tyneside Cinema, chaired by writer Tom Crewe.
· 5 March, 8pm, the announcement of the Gordon Burn Prize 2026 at Northern Stage, with live music and in-conversation with the writers.
· 29 April, 6-7pm, the PEN Lecture with Max Porter at Newcastle University, chaired by writer Preti Taneja.
· 28 May, 6-7pm, Douglas Stuart discusses his new book John of John at Tyneside Cinema, chaired by Val McDermid.
· 9 June, 6-7pm, Maggie O’Farrell discusses her new book Land at Tyneside Cinema.
Aside from the celebrated authors heading to the region to meet their readers, the Right to Read programme launches a long-term strategy by New Writing North to address the fact that the North East has some of the lowest literacy levels for children and adults in the country.
Reading for pleasure is the single biggest predictor of a child’s future life chances - more than family circumstance, parents’ education, or income. It impacts academic results, mental health, wealth, communication skills and ambition.
According to National Literacy Trust: Almost 20% of adults in the North East have very poor literacy skills; 20% of children aged 5 to 8 in the North East don't have a book of their own at home; 27% of children in the North East are already struggling with their literacy levels by the age of 5; and 1 in 5 state primary schools in the North East do not have a library compared with only 1 in 20 in the South.
Over the course of the year, we will be delivering:
· Balance the Books - a selection of books chosen by young people to reflect their lives which will be gifted to partner schools.
· Sessions with family literacy groups in four primary schools in Newcastle and Gateshead in areas of significant deprivation.
· A 'Creating a Reading School' course which will give (primary/secondary) teachers the skills, resources and confidence to get their students reading more.
· A 'Being a Reader-Leader' course to give anyone the skills, resources and confidence to set up book groups and book initiatives in their communities and/or workplaces.
· A volunteer-led shared reading sessions in the dialysis ward in the RVI Hospital in Newcastle.
Featured image: 2024 author photo © Dasha Tenditna
