Literature: Northern Lights Writers’ Conference 2020 goes digital featuring a host of free events

The always inspiring Northern Lights Writers’ Conference is back for a seventh year – but this time it looks just that little bit different. Not lockdown hair, more a shimmy online to the shiny new Diverge hub created by Waterside, where Northern Lights would normally take place. Perfect for emerging and established writers, this year there’s also something for the mere reader among you, namely an evening in with bestselling novelist Heather Morris, whose debut The Tattooist of Auschwitz topped six million copies.

She must know a thing or too about this writing lark, as do the rest of the line-up. Industry experts on hand to divulge their secrets to sweet publishing success include Genevieve Pegg, Publishing Director at Northern Quarter newcomers HarperNorth, literary agent Louise Lamont of LBA Books, freelance editors Tilda Johnson and Melissa Welliver, and award-winning author Okechukwu Nzelu. Creative workshops this year are led by accomplished performers Fat Roland and Aisling Caffrey, while one-to-one advice sessions can be booked with the likes of poet Jazmine Linklater and The Real Story’s Adam Farrer.