A fresher’s bookish guide to Durham
By Stella Fenwick
Durham is full of opportunities that I cannot wait for you to get stuck into. But so many creative opportunities can feel overwhelming, or may never appear in your inbox like serendipitous little omens. I have collected here all the experiences and opportunities that I discovered in my first year at Durham that are absolutely unmissable, experiences that you should begin collecting like precious shiny marbles in a magpie’s nest. Starting with large local organisations offering work experience, I will then go on to round up smaller, local businesses to hunt out, and finally some student publications you can start writing for.
I have collected here all the experiences and opportunities that I discovered in my first year at Durham that are absolutely unmissable, experiences that you should begin collecting like precious shiny marbles in a magpie’s nest
New Writing North
New Writing North is a charity based in Newcastle with many free and exciting opportunities for book lovers. They create internships, visits to publishing houses, young writers awards, volunteering opportunities, and much more. One scheme to pay particular attention to is Turn Up For The Books, a program which mentors a group of Durham locals and students through the process of carrying out an event at the Durham Book Festival.
Durham Book Festival
As soon as you land in Durham you will see the colourful advertising, the Gala morphing into a hub of excitement, and a wave of bookish events sparking up around the city. The book festival is helped by a group of volunteers that keep the weekend running. This would be an amazing opportunity, not only to have the chance to meet an author you love, but also to get some experience working in the industry of book events. As an events volunteer, you will act as a central point between authors and the public, ensuring both have the best experience possible.
https://newwritingnorth.com/durham-book-festival/
https://www.instagram.com/durhambookfest/
Durham Fringe
If you are planning to sacrifice your summer to a little more of Durham, you shouldn’t miss this opportunity to volunteer with the Durham Fringe, to review a show for a local publication, or even to join a student theatre or comedy group and write something yourself. Keep an eye out for emails calling for students to review Edinburgh Fringe in January, too.
https://www.instagram.com/durhamfringefest/
The People’s Bookshop
This year, this small Community Benefit bookshop was hidden in an attic which looks shyly down on to Vennel’s courtyard. My elbow was trained in a sloping familiarity with the wall that surrounds its spiral staircase. I wouldn’t be surprised if very few Durham students have stumbled upon it. However, summer 2024 nudged the business from its tiny bird house to the main street of Prince Bishops’ Place. The bookshop has been run entirely by volunteers for over ten years, and they often have authors, musicians, book clubs and political speakers appearing in their shop for events. Joining the ‘Collective’ as a volunteer will not only help this small business continue to sell inspiring and radical books about the underrepresented in society, but it will also be a great springboard for you to collect bookish work experience to add to your CV.
https://www.instagram.com/peoples_bookshop/
The bookshop has been run entirely by volunteers for over ten years, and they often have authors, musicians, book clubs and political speakers appearing in their shop for events
Collected Books
A cosy bookshop café perched on the edge of Riverwalk, Collected is a perfect heartbeat of literature to keep a finger pressed to. You may be one of the lucky few to land an internship or job here, but if not, they never fail to have an exciting stream of events for book-lovers to attend. Highlights of this year include a talk by Eliza Clark, a book club social discussing Yellowface, and an upcoming event with the Book Festival deliciously named ‘translation slam’.
https://www.instagram.com/collecteddurham/
BookWyrm
When you brave the labyrinthine trip around Durham’s indoor market, you might be lucky enough to break through a curtain of plastic knick-knacks to stumble on BookWyrm’s little corner of bookish heaven. Working to promote local, self-published, and LGBTQ+ books, as well as occasionally doing talks for students, this indie bookshop is sometimes a forgotten stop on a surprisingly lengthy book-shop crawl around the town.
https://www.instagram.com/bookwyrmdurham/
Palatinate
Writing for the student newspaper is the holy grail for students with a creative passion. Keep your eye out for vacancies within the publication and relentlessly submit your articles, creative pieces, and ideas to their sections for a chance to have your own work read by thousands of Durham students, whether in print or online. Palatinate publications are a bi-weekly celebration in my flat, and we all huddle around the paper like an episode of Love Island. Don’t miss this chance to have your opinion out there (especially because I send the best gossip from it to my mum).
https://www.instagram.com/palatinateuk/
https://www.instagram.com/indigo.palatinate/
The Bubble
This online student magazine is home to such nuanced and inspired writing that it would be a shame not to make the attempt of getting your own writing here. I am yet to have any luck publishing something here, but it is worth a shot! This magazine is a hub for everything you can think of: recipes, political journalism, book reviews, news and poetry. They also have regular vacancies to join the team!
https://www.instagram.com/thebubbledurham/
From The Lighthouse
Durham’s creative journal publishes regular issues with themes that will certainly inspire your poetic side. Watch their socials for updates on calls for submissions, and you may be lucky enough to see your writing on their beautiful website alongside atmospheric photography and exquisite poems from your peers. Feedback and edits from their editors are invaluable and insightful. We are very lucky to have this journal at Durham!
Societies
Looking for something more laidback to dip your toes into a creative community? Whether you want something to inspire your writing and reading, or to give you a weekly bar crawl social to procrastinate your poor little neglected Word document sat at home, Durham has many bookish societies for you to choose from. From the weekly meetings of the Creative Writing society, to the glitzy events of the English Literature society (DUELS), to the workshops ran by the Poetry society, and finally, if you are one of the lucky few to have enough time to read for pleasure after all that, the Durham Book Club.
https://www.instagram.com/du.els/
https://www.instagram.com/ducreativewriting/
https://www.instagram.com/dubookclub/
Image credit: Summonedbyfells via Flickr
