Durham Book Festival is about to kick off with a packed and extended line up of events across the county. There are more than enough events to keep a writer entertained and inspired, which you may browse in the full programme here.

Of particular interest will be the Cuckoo Pop Up Shop for Young Writers, which will be running throughout the whole festival. During this year’s festival the Cuckoo Young Writers are taking over Empty Shop  HQ and turning it into the Cuckoo Shop, a festival base for young people aged 14-25.

During the day, The Cuckoo Shop at Empty Shop HQ on Framwellgate will be a place to take a sideways look at the book festival. You can meet inspiring writers, find a quiet corner to do your own writing and blogging, or strike up a conversation with another book lover. And if your writing’s in need of a bit of TLC, there will be regular advice surgeries from professional writers such as Benjamin Markovits (Sat 19) on writing hints and tips and Matt Haig on his latest book The Humans (Sun 13) plus many, many more. All events are for 14-25 year olds unless specified otherwise.