Creative Industries Trafford (CIT), in partnership with Manchester Literature Festival and Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, and supported by Arts Council England, is running a third Northern Lights Writers’ Conference, on Saturday 14 November, 10am-5.30pm, at Waterside Arts Centre in Sale. The one-day event for emerging and established writers this year focuses on the craft of writing, and keynote speaker Louise Doughty and other guests will explain how to tell a story across different mediums – page, radio, theatre or screen.

Described by Chris Hamilton-Emery of Salt Publishing as “A brilliant writers’ conference”, Northern Lights includes two panel discussions: ‘Storytelling across different platforms’, with award-winning authors Kerry Hudson and Emma Jane Unsworth and writer and theatre-maker James Varney; and ‘The Path to publication’, with literary agent Juliet Pickering and editor Susannah Otter. Delegates can choose from three hands-on workshops: ‘Writing for radio’ with Made In Manchester director Ashley Byrne and BBC Radio 4 writer and producer Gary Brown; ‘Writing a successful blog’ with award-winning blogger Len Grant, and ‘Performance and the spoken word’ with DaDa Award Performance Artist of the Year Rosie Garland. The day closes with a networking session when delegates can meet the speakers and writers.

Tickets cost £30 for the day (£25 concessions), and can be booked in advance by calling the Waterside box office on 0161 912 5616 or by emailing info@creativeindustriestrafford.org. Full details of the Northern Lights Writers’ Conference can be found on the CIT website: www.creativeindustriestrafford.org.

(Photo: © Jason Lock Photography)