DR LOUISE POWELL

Caption: me (R) with Richard Benson (L) at the ‘North East Now’ panel, Durham Book Festival 2024.
Image credit: New Writing North.

Since I discovered that January takes its name from the two-faced Roman deity ‘Janus’, the start of a new year has been less about setting goals, and more about taking stock. With its early, endless nights and lightless mornings, I see January as a time for thought as to how the previous year unfolded – and how I may try to mould the year to come.

When I turned my attention to my professional life, I was struck by how little time I took to acknowledge the projects that I’d worked on. As a full-time freelance writer who can often be working on 3-5 projects at any given time, I have to keep my nose so close to the next commissioning brief, word count or deadline that I can easily forget to look up. To look away from the work that needs doing, and let my eyes rest on the work that’s been done for and with some brilliant people, organisations and communities.

My main goal for 2024 was to work with my fantastic literary agent Elise to get my novel-in-progress to the point of going on submission. Also known as being ‘on sub’, this is the point when the full manuscript is sent out to editors who work for a variety of publishers. It’s a highly emotional process, as I found out when my novel went out ‘on sub’ on 13th November 2024. It’s also quite a mysterious process, as it’s one which writers tend not to talk about as much – so when the time is right for me, I’d like to share more about my experience in the hope of helping others.

I was very fortunate to work on two huge community-based projects during 2024, too. The first of these was DOGPEOPLE, a combined arts project which explored the social history of ‘flapping’, or independent greyhound racing, in County Durham. As I grew up going flapping at the likes of Easington and Wheatley Hill, this Arts Council funded project was very close to my heart. I interviewed over 80 people who were part of the flapping scene, and wove their stories into an 8 episode podcast series which was edited beautifully by the wonderful Bridget Hamilton. There was also a QR Code Story Trail and Community Exhibition at Wheatley Hill Heritage Centre, as well as a project blog which featured posts from some Dogpeople, and community events. The project was featured in The Racing Post, The Northern Echo, The Evening Gazette and BBC Radio Tees, among others, but I took the greatest pleasure from speaking to the brilliant people who participated in the project, and preserving their stories for future generations.

L-R: Bridget Hamilton, my lovely retired greyhound Right Paddy and I.

The second community-based project of 2024 was COAL FACE, which tells the stories of Washington’s and Sunderland’s collieries. It began life as a pilot project in 2023, when I worked alongside Sunderland photographer Andy Martin to document the stories of 13 of the last men to work among Washington’s mines. I was awarded Arts Council funding to continue to work in creative partnership with Andy, but this time expand the project to include the families of Washington’s miners, and people who worked in Sunderland’s collieries.

In September 2024, Andy’s photography and my verbatim poetry showcasing the tales of 15 people people with Washington mining heritage was exhibited at Washington F-Pit Museum. We then turned our focus to Sunderland coalfield communities, with the results of this work due to open at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens in less than a week. The Coal Face Exhibition runs from 1 February – 15 March, and features a series of 15 verbatim poems which I wove together from over 32 hours’ of interviews, alongside Andy’s stunning film and tintype photography. Running alongside the exhibition are six 20 minute podcast episodes which I have written and narrated, with one released every week. We also have a Study Day Q&A style event at the Museum, and have produced two publications of our work, which I hope to discuss in a future blog.

3 exhibits from ‘Coal Face’ at Washington F-Pit Museum, September 2024, featuring 2 excerpts from my poetry and 3 images copyright to Andy Martin / Martintype.

I was also honoured to be commissioned by Durham Book Festival 2024 for their ‘North East Now’ essay series, which invited 12 Northern writers to explore the opportunities which devolution offered the region. My resultant essay, ‘If Someone Falls, We’re There for Them: Stories from Sacriston’, celebrated the extraordinary community spirit of the former colliery village – in incredibly challenging circumstances. My piece was published in full on New Writing North’s website, with an abridged version for The Journal, and I was also invited to participate in a fascinating panel discussion alongside Arlen Pettitt and Richard Benson at Durham Book Festival.

2024 also saw the publication of other commissions, such as my piece ‘Born Flapping’ for the Betting and Gaming Council, and the release of my TVCA commissioned report into playwright talent development, ‘First Stage’. I completed my residency at Josephine Butler College, Durham University, and embarked on projects which I hope to develop throughout 2025. Projects across a range of forms, which tell a range of stories – so after this period of ‘looking up’, it’s time to fix my eyes on the page again.