British Isles

North East

Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire

What We Do

Our Critique groups

We currently hold critiques, skill-shares, workshops and socials in Newcastle and York. We share work via Dropbox before our critique sessions, where you will also find advice on how to critique and how to respond to a critique. Non-members are welcome to join our critique group once to see if they wish to join the SCBWI. We are very friendly, we know what it’s like being a nervous newbie. A warm welcome will be there, whichever group you visit.

Trafalgar Bay Pub, Nunnery Lane, York

A critiques and skills share group. Natalie Yates and Michael Cail organise the York group. We meet every two months approximately. Please get in touch via Natalie at northeast@britishscbwi.org.

Seven Stories, Newcastle

Marie-Claire and Claire O’Brien hold monthly critique/skill-sharing sessions at Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books. Contact Natalie Yates at northeast@britishscbwi.org if you have any questions regarding the Seven Stories group.

Who’s Who in the North East

Natalie Yates is NE Area Coordinator and also organises the York critique and skill sharing sessions. She writes for YA and is a member of the GEA North contingent. You can find her occasionally blogging and more often on Twitter.

Michael Cail is co-organiser for our York group. He writes YA novels about the darkness that lurks at the edge of the every day, and he is hoping that one day he can give up the day job and write full time.

Marie-Claire Imam-Gutierrez leads our Newcastle critique group at Seven Stories. She has been writing MG and YA sci-fi and fantasy for eight years, inspired in part by her work as a primary school teacher.

Claire O'Brien

Claire O’Brien writes and draws picture books and comics. Her interest in children’s books began while she worked at Seven Stories in the early 2000s. Read her blog about writing and illustrating children’s books and check out her Instagram for daily sketches.

Welcome to our group. We aim to bring together children’s authors and illustrators living and working in the North East. Our area covers East Yorkshire to Northumberland but members from other areas are welcome to join us for our events.

If you are published or unpublished, member or non-member then we would love to meet you.The NE Local Networks Organizer is Natalie Yates Contact Natalie via the contact form below or via northeast@britishscbwi.org

The illustration for our header was kindly provided by Kate Pankhurst from her Mariella Mysteries books.

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