The £5.2m bespoke building in Newcastle upon Tyne will include a performance space for live literature events and workshop space for projects with adults, young people and children, as well as office space for writers, independent publishers and new literary businesses.

The launch of the NWC project is the result of an eight-year collaboration between New Writing North, the development agency for literature for the north east of England, and the School of English at Newcastle University.

‘Writing is booming in the North East, with more of the region’s writers starting to make a name for themselves and creative writing courses over-subscribed. A lack of elbow room has become painfully evident,’ says Claire Malcolm, director of New Writing North.

‘Since 1996 the region has changed dramatically in terms of cultural venues but more and more we find ourselves borrowing space in places that were not built for our artform but for, say, theatre or visual arts.

‘We have felt increasingly that we should create a place designed specifically for literature and writers.’

The ambitious plans for the NWC were unveiled at special events at the Houses of Parliament and the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne in September 2007. Key literary figures already supporting the project include Seamus Heaney, Val McDermid, Andrew Motion, Ali Smith, Peter Flannery, Tony Harrison and Pat Barker.

‘The Northern Writers’ Centre builds on the enviable literary strengths of the north east of England and on the talents of New Writing North and the expertise of Newcastle University,’ says Pat Barker. ‘It will create a unique centre of excellence for writing and be welcomed by myself and other writers with open arms.’

Professor Linda Anderson, head of the School of English at Newcastle University, says education will also play a big part at the centre.

‘The School of English now has more than 100 creative writing students, which shows its investment in literature, and seven staff including the likes of Sean O’Brien and Jack Mapanje, who are both up for this year’s Forward Prize for best poetry collection,’ she says.

‘The Centre will help make the university even more of a unique place to study creative writing and literature with resources for PhD students and lecturers and the development of new writing fellowships, teaching posts and research projects.’

More than half of the cost of the £5.2m development is being met by Newcastle University and a further £2m will need to be raised over the next 18 months if the centre is to open as planned in 2010.

But projects relating to the venue are already being planned with a view to making the centre a reality long before the building is finished.

‘The idea is that the Northern Writers’ Centre will already exist by the time we come to move into the building,’ says New Writing North’s Malcolm. ‘That’s why literary events, education and community programmes, courses and creative projects are starting now. The centre is not just a building – it’s about people.’

The Northern Writers’ Centre will form part of Newcastle University’s Cultural Quarter, which is home to Northern Stage, the Hatton Gallery, Culture Lab and the new Great North Museum.