Plans are underway for the upcoming Centre for Writing due to open in Newcastle.
£5 million was awarded to Newcastle by the government from the Department of Media, Culture and Sport. Newcastle city council have recently added a further £1 million to this pot in order to help the purchase of The Old Post Office as a building for the centre.
Created in a partnership between the charity New Writing North and Northumbria University, the goal is to “develop the next great generation of northern writers, become a hub for the publishing industry in the north, and be a place where residents of the region can discover their writing potential.”
The centre will contain space for writing groups and commercial publishing as well as a dedicated floor for Northumbria University, especially for their MA in publishing. New Writing North have also stated that there will be a café and independent bookshop.
Cllr Karen Kilgour, head of the city council has said that the Centre for Writing will have “a huge economic boost to the economy of the entire city region” as well as a huge positive “impact on the cultural heartbeat.”