Projects
BOOK APOTHECARY
The festival is proud to be co-producing and launching the Book Apothecary, a travelling book museum created by artists Yvette Hawkins, Aidan Moesby, Theresa Easton and Stevie Ronnie, and a team of young people. They have worked together to share skills in book binding, printmaking, sculpture, drawing, audio and writing to create a unique travelling vessel designed by furniture maker Nick James. Book Apothecary is inspired by the idea of book and botanical categorisation systems. Catch the Book Apothecary on its travels and you will be able to explore hidden and unusual handmade books. Find out more at www.bookapothecary.co.uk.
Where to see the Book Apothecary
Durham City Food Festival: Sunday 23 October from 10am-12 noon / 2pm-4pm (FREE)
Book Apothecary will be around and about on Palace Green throughout the day. Drop into the Pemberton Rooms on Palace Green for drop-in bookmaking sessions with the Book Apothecary team of artists. For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com.
County Durham venues: 24-28 October (FREE)
Book Apothecary will be on the road travelling around to libraries in County Durham. Drop into your local library, meet the artists and explore the books in the apothecary.
Monday 24 October
Willington Library (10am-12pm) and Bishop Auckland Town Hall and Library (2pm-5pm)
Tuesday 25 October
Seaham Library (10am-12pm) and Murton Library (2pm-5pm)
Wednesday 26 October
Consett Library (10am-12pm) and Chester-le-Street Library (2pm-5pm)
Thursday 27 October
Newton Hall Library (10am-12pm) and Peterlee Library (2pm-5pm)
Friday 28 October
Wolsingham Library (10am-12pm and Chilton Library (2pm-5pm)
Book Apothecary is part of NE-Generation and is funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural and sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK. The project is supported by New Writing North and Durham Book Festival.
THE BRASS BOOK
As part of a special project that will unite Brass: Durham International Festival and the Durham Book Festival, digital artist and writer Stevie Ronnie will be undertaking an original and innovative exploration of the possibilities for literature in the digital age. Stevie will create a multimedia artefact that both retains the physical characteristics of the traditional book and embraces the latest in digital technology. He will work with singers and a composer from The Sage Gateshead and with community groups from County Durham to create multimedia content for the Brass Book. The final work will be unveiled at the Brass: Durham International Festival in July 2012.
At this year’s Durham Book Festival you can see an exhibition of work by Stevie Ronnie, exploring his journey developing the brass book. With work that fuses traditional book-making techniques with cutting edge technologies, this is an opportunity to see the development of the project and learn how you can get involved with the activity. The exhibition runs from 1-31 October in the foyer of the Town Hall in Durham.
Produced and commissioned by Durham City Arts, in collaboration with Culture Lab at Newcastle University.
BOOK FESTIVAL INSIDE
This year the festival is continuing its relationship with Low Newton Prison in Durham and during October many writers featured in the festival will be visiting the prison to undertake readings and workshops with the prisoners to create a parallel book festival 'inside'.
YOUNG WRITERS' COMPETITION
Can you take a scientific theme or idea and magic up a short story or poem inspired by it? From Frankenstein to Harry Potter, many great books and stories have been inspired by nature, scientific experiments and science-fiction. Why not have a go at writing your own story and enter it in our competition?
The entries will be judged in two categories: for 7-11 year-olds and 11-16 year-olds. The competition will be judged by Linda Gillard, the Celebrate Science Festival’s Author in Residence.
Winners will receive a special bundle of fiction and science books from Waterstone's, our competition sponsors.
Rules of entry
Stories must be no more than 1,000 words long in total and must be typed. Unfortunately we cannot accept hand-written entries.
How to enter
Please make sure that your entry is clearly marked with your name, address and telephone number. Please also state your age on your entry. The deadline for entries has now been extended to Wednesday 12 October. Entries to the competition can be dropped off at Waterstone's in Durham or sent by post to:
Celebrate Science Writing Competition
Waterstone's
69 Saddler Street
Durham
DH1 3HP
Winning writers
The competition winners will be notified a week before the public announcement. The public announcement of the winners of the competition will take place at 12pm on Tuesday 25 October in the Celebrate Science Festival tent on Palace Green. This event is free.
This competition is supported by the Beacon project at the Universities of Durham and Newcastle and the Celebrate Science Festival