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| Northern writers join protests against library cuts in Newcastle | Northern writers join protests against library cuts in Newcastle |
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| Several of the north's of England's leading writers are pitching in to help the campaign to save Newcastle's libraries from closures threatened by the city council. Ten of the city's 18 branch libraries are like to shut down if proposals reluctantly suggested by the council are agreed next month. | Several of the north's of England's leading writers are pitching in to help the campaign to save Newcastle's libraries from closures threatened by the city council. Ten of the city's 18 branch libraries are like to shut down if proposals reluctantly suggested by the council are agreed next month. |
| New Writing North, the Newcastle-based writing and reading development agency for the north, has approached five writers and asked them to "adopt" one of the threatened libraries. David Almond, Michael Chaplin, Ann Cleeves, Lee Hall and Mari Hannah have all agreed to take part, and each will be publishing an article on their experiences in 'their' library on the website www.letstalklibraries.com next week. Each is very clear that libraries played | New Writing North, the Newcastle-based writing and reading development agency for the north, has approached five writers and asked them to "adopt" one of the threatened libraries. David Almond, Michael Chaplin, Ann Cleeves, Lee Hall and Mari Hannah have all agreed to take part, and each will be publishing an article on their experiences in 'their' library on the website www.letstalklibraries.com next week. Each is very clear that libraries played |
| a pivotal role in their development as young readers and in their careers as writers. | a pivotal role in their development as young readers and in their careers as writers. |
| Newcastle City Council's Leader, Councillor Nick Forbes, says: | Newcastle City Council's Leader, Councillor Nick Forbes, says: |
| We face massive financial challenges which have just got bigger following further announcements of Government cuts. I have written to the Prime Minister to warn him that the northern cities with higher levels of deprivation are being most severely hit by the Government's austerity programme - but I fear that they are not listening. | We face massive financial challenges which have just got bigger following further announcements of Government cuts. I have written to the Prime Minister to warn him that the northern cities with higher levels of deprivation are being most severely hit by the Government's austerity programme - but I fear that they are not listening. |
Ann Cleeves, a Tynemouth-based crime writer whose works have been translated into 20 languages, spent time in Cruddas Park Library, in a deprived part of Newcastle's west end. She writes: | Ann Cleeves, a Tynemouth-based crime writer whose works have been translated into 20 languages, spent time in Cruddas Park Library, in a deprived part of Newcastle's west end. She writes: |
| We shouldn't be planning to close Cruddas Park but to develop it. In communities like this, libraries provide people's only access to the arts. So let's use these safe, welcoming spaces to introduce people to poetry, music and drama as well as to books | We shouldn't be planning to close Cruddas Park but to develop it. In communities like this, libraries provide people's only access to the arts. So let's use these safe, welcoming spaces to introduce people to poetry, music and drama as well as to books |
| Michael Chaplin, who recently adapted Chris Mullins' diaries for the stage, will be writing about Jesmond Library – described by Pevsner as "typical of the best of its date". He reminisces about his early memories of the threatened building: | Michael Chaplin, who recently adapted Chris Mullins' diaries for the stage, will be writing about Jesmond Library – described by Pevsner as "typical of the best of its date". He reminisces about his early memories of the threatened building: |
| Jesmond Library opened in 1963, when I was 12, at which point I transferred my book-borrowing from Heaton. I loved this new library from the moment I saw it, perched on a corner between another haunt, Jesmond Baths, and the Methodist Church. I was beguiled by its shape, like an upended drum, or if you prefer culinary allusions, an outsized Brie cheese. You stepped past the lime sapling by the front door, planted your feet on the green Westmorland slate floor, approached the desk, around which the book shelves radiated like the spokes of a bicycle, and a nice lady, usually with spectacles, would smile and asked if she could help. In the years ahead, she and her colleagues always did. Thanks to them I discovered the wonders of too many books to list: from Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water to Robert Graves' I, Claudius. The librarians, I discovered, had the key not just to a lovely building, but also to the much bigger space of a child's imagination. | Jesmond Library opened in 1963, when I was 12, at which point I transferred my book-borrowing from Heaton. I loved this new library from the moment I saw it, perched on a corner between another haunt, Jesmond Baths, and the Methodist Church. I was beguiled by its shape, like an upended drum, or if you prefer culinary allusions, an outsized Brie cheese. You stepped past the lime sapling by the front door, planted your feet on the green Westmorland slate floor, approached the desk, around which the book shelves radiated like the spokes of a bicycle, and a nice lady, usually with spectacles, would smile and asked if she could help. In the years ahead, she and her colleagues always did. Thanks to them I discovered the wonders of too many books to list: from Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water to Robert Graves' I, Claudius. The librarians, I discovered, had the key not just to a lovely building, but also to the much bigger space of a child's imagination. |
| The Save Newcastle Libraries Coalition has organised a rally to protest against the proposed library cuts. It takes place this evening at 7pm at the Assembly Rooms on Fenkle Street, near Newcastle Central Station. Lee Hall and Ann Cleeves will both be speaking. | The Save Newcastle Libraries Coalition has organised a rally to protest against the proposed library cuts. It takes place this evening at 7pm at the Assembly Rooms on Fenkle Street, near Newcastle Central Station. Lee Hall and Ann Cleeves will both be speaking. |
| Save Newcastle Libraries' Twitter account is @SNLcoalition | Save Newcastle Libraries' Twitter account is @SNLcoalition |
| Alan Sykes has been walking 1000km (621 miles) from Seville to Santiago e Compostela, but is now back on his regular arts beat for the Guardian Northerner. He Tweets here. | Alan Sykes has been walking 1000km (621 miles) from Seville to Santiago e Compostela, but is now back on his regular arts beat for the Guardian Northerner. He Tweets here. |
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