Building on the success of our previous Routes to the Page event, this panel brings together writers living and working in the North to explore how place, class, and identity shape the stories we tell – and the paths we take into publishing. The discussion will consider the idea of the “outsider” in contemporary literature, from characters and world building to the realities of being a writer outside traditional literary centres. Alongside conversations about craft, the panel will reflect on the opportunities and challenges of publishing today.

The Panel will feature Novelists Caroline Hardaker and Louise Powell.

Caroline Hardaker is an award-shortlisted novelist, poet, librettist, and occasional puppeteer. Her most recent novel, Mothtown, was published in 2023 and was illustrated by Chris Riddell.

Louise Powell is an award-winning working-class writer from Middlesbrough. She won the Sid Chaplin Northern Writers’ Award in 2023 and her debut novel is called Underdogs.