I am delighted that The Companion has been selected as one of the 12 books for this years New Writing North Read Regional campaign.

From March to June each year, Read Regional celebrates selected new books – fiction, poetry, children’s books and non-fiction – from the North of England. At libraries and literary festivals across the North, authors take part in events where you can hear about their writing and talk to them about their work.

My tour of the North will take me to Northumberland, Tyneside, East, West and South Yorkshire, Teeside, Sunderland, Cumbria and Merseyside. I will be giving author talks in libraries, taking part in literature festivals and World Book Day, leading a writing workshop and hosting one or two quizzes!

All the details can be found on the New Writing North website, which also has information about each of the books and their authors, and handy stuff such as reading guides and suggested discussion points for reading groups. If you visit a library in one of the participating authorities you will be able to pick up one of these lovely brochures, which also includes interviews with each of the writers.

I have also listed all my Read Regional dates on my Events page

It’s going to be an exciting year!