The Writer as Editor: Conversations with Writers from the Royal Literary Fund | Tuesday 3 August, 7.30pm

Susan Sontag said she cut anything that is simply not alive and the novelist and poet Helen Dunmore said reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If that still doesn’t work, throw it away. How do we know when something written in the heat of inspiration is edited to the point of being truly finished? Is a piece of writing as Paul Valéry once said never finished, only abandoned?

To discuss these questions and more are three writers from across the North East: the poet and editor Jo Clement, novelist Zoë Marriot and playwright and poet Harry Man. Drawing on the archive of screenwriters, novelists and poets talking about their process for the Royal Literary Fund, all three writers will consider what we cut, what we keep and when to put the scissors away.

If you’re curious about how writers marshal their ideas, or want to get insights into the editing process for your own work-in-progress, this event is for you. A light-hearted discussion full of insights from across the worlds of novels, plays, short stories and poetry followed by a Q & A.

---

Dr Zoë Marriott is a multi-award winning novelist and author of 11 novels including writing for both young adults and grown-ups in the genres of both fantasy and historical fiction. Her most recent novel is The Moonlit Maze (Headline, 2025).

Dr Jo Clement is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University and the author of Outlandish (Bloodaxe Books 2022) and editor of Poetry Newcastle (formerly Butcher’s Dog).

Harry Man is a poet, playwright and translator and he teaches Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. He is also author of impressions (If a Leaf Falls 2026) and Popular Song (Nine Arches Press).