Hexham Book Festival commission programme 2021-22

As part of our Hexham Book Festival and Gillian Dickinson Trust Young People’s Festival 2021-22.

Hexham Book Festival is delighted to offer three writers and an illustrator, from across the North of England, the opportunity to create new pieces of work.

Writing Commissions: Writers are invited to propose ideas for new commissions that will celebrate the diverse and fascinating county of Northumberland, its inhabitants, its agricultural Heritage and historical connections with particular emphasis on Hadrian’s Wall and its upcoming celebration of 1900 years. We welcome reflections on the landscape and diversity of the people who worked on the Wall as well as on the existing communities of today.

The purpose of the commission is to produce new pieces of prose or creative non-fiction, (guideline between 3,000 -5,000 words) that respond to the above brief. The final work will be showcased at the Gillian Dickinson Young People’s Festival in the Spiegeltent in 2022.

Author/Illustrator Commission

The Festival would like to offer an author/illustrator (or an illustrator in partnership with a writer) the opportunity to produce a piece of work for children/young people linked to the above themes, we welcome partnership applications for this - ie a writing commission and illustrator commission together. Applications could incorporate text illustration and different approaches to the written/typed/printed word, we also welcome applications from graphic novelists.

 There is a fee attached to these commissions, for more information on how to apply please get in touch here

This project is supported by funding from Arts Council England