Lisette Auton will be Darlington’s Writer In Residence in July 2023.
She’ll undertake a roving residency across town, with a pack of writing prompts for anyone who wants to have a go, or just chat about what a writer does and about Darlington.
Lisette will explore ideas about what makes a place your home. Sometimes we stay in the town where we’re born; sometimes we move to new places for various reasons. But what makes a place your home? Is it family? History? Community? Time going by? What connects you most to where you live?
Look out for Lisette at:
Sat 1 July
- 11 am-1 pm – Darlington Market
- 2-4 pm – South Park cafe
Wed 5 July
- 11 am-1 pm – Waterstones café
- 2.30-4 pm – Hippodrome
Thurs 6 July
- 11 am-1 pm – Hippodrome
- 2-4 pm – Dolphin Centre café
Thurs 13 July
- 10.30 am-1 pm – The Hullabaloo
- 2-4 pm – Cockerton Library
Sat 15 July
- 11 am-1 pm – South Park
- 2-4 pm – Darlington Market
Fri 21 July
- 11 am-4 pm – Darlington Train Station & on the train (Bishop Auckland to Saltburn)
Mon 24 July
- All around town–see if you can spot her! (She’ll be wearing the cape.)
Lisette will also be facilitating six writing workshops for adults at any level at Friends Meeting House—all are self-contained and open to all. Click here to find out more and book the workshops.
About Lisette
Lisette Auton works with words in all their forms: as an author and playwright, a film and theatre maker, as a solo artist, with collaborators, and alongside wonderful humans as a creative practitioner and mentor. Disabled, neurodivergent and northern, some say she’s a word artist, she says she does stuff with words.
She is the author of two middle grade novels, THE SECRET OF HAVEN POINT and THE STICKLEBACK CATCHERS. She is also an award-winning poet and performer. You’ll find Lisette’s work in galleries, online, in theatres and bookshops, as well as random places such as laundrettes and railway station waiting rooms.
About the 2023 Writers In Residence
From 2016-2020, we supported five early career, underrepresented writers with unique residencies at Brighton’s Preston Park Recovery Centre. Due to the pandemic, we put the residency on hold for 2021 and 2022, but for this year we decided to bring the residency to the writers—allowing them to explore their hometowns, communities and unique places.
The residency is part of the 2023 Creative Future Writers’ Award programme. Lisette will also write a reflective blog and a new piece for the award anthology inspired by Darlington and her residency. She’ll share this new work as part of the award showcase at the Southbank Centre as part of the London Literature Festival.
This residency is made possible with the generous support of Arts Council England, Copyright Licensing Agency and Amazon Literary Partnership.
