Weardale WordFest was established in 2018 in association with NorthPens Writers.

Our aim is to give regional writers a voice and to provide a forum to celebrate the great wealth of local talent. While our focus is community involvement and participation we are always absolutely delighted to welcome visitors to our special corner of the world.

We strive to improve our programme year on year, to be accessible and to reach out to isolated rural areas and groups in our community.

All festival events are free, and we are supported by the Weardale Area Action Partnership, the County Durham Community Arts Team and the Lakes and Dales Co-op.

NorthPens is a community writers’ group based in Weardale. They meet weekly, have published anthologies of their work and run a number of writing projects with community groups and organisations as well as open masterclasses with professional writers.

www.northpens.wordpress.com

Meet the Team

WordFest is now managed by a small steering group:

Jo Rendall

Phil Mews

Chris Powell

Jamie Tucknutt

Graeme Rendall

Blogs

Visit our blog for news, information and advice.

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My Life In Books – Phil Mews

Where to begin? The task of choosing eight books that have had an impact on [...]

Theatre Writing Project for and About the North Pennines

Want to get involved in an exciting new writing project and create some theatre for [...]

Preparations for 2023 are underway

The snowdrops have been and gone, ditto the crocuses. Spring is poking her sleepy head [...]

Weardale WordFest 2022

2022 saw WordFest spread its wings and become what we’d hoped for from the beginning, [...]

The Loss of Hilary Mantel – Writer in the Shadows

Here at the Weardale WordFest we are shocked and saddened to hear of the death [...]

My Life in Books – Jamie Tucknutt

As part of our Life in Books series, we are delighted to welcome, Wordfest team [...]