Claire Malcolm
Claire Malcolm is Founding Chief Executive of New Writing North. Established in 1996, NWN aims to support writers in the north of England in fulfilling their creative ambitions. Claire Malcolm started the organisation with only a borrowed office, a telephone and a fax machine and in twenty-three years has grown the organisation to include fourteen staff members.
Claire was the first person in her family to go to university where, although she loved English, she studied Fine Art. This gave her a pivotal strength for setting up New Writing North: ‘a blank piece of paper doesn’t scare me’. The organisation was set up to generate work for writers, a new and speculative endeavour, a complete blank page for Claire to fill with ideas.
'I was told I wasn't the kind of person that should work at the BBC.'
Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to work in the publishing industry?
For a long time, I didn’t talk about my working class background as part of me. In the last few years that has really changed as we become more open about diversity, so it’s something I want to recognise for myself but also publicly. Libraries were so important in my family and my parents read a lot. Through books I got the idea there was a world different to my own – a world where people went to uni and lived in Hampstead – books did that for me.
After I finished studying I struggled to get a job, but I learned to type and then volunteered at the York festival before getting a job at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. I feel lucky to have started in theatre because it is so open and embracing, especially in the regions, it’s a family of creativity. When this newly created role at New Writing North came up, I wasn’t sure whether I should take it. I was hesitant to go further north because all my peers were going to London to work for the BBC. I had an interview there and was told ‘you’re not the kind of person we think should work at the BBC’. That wouldn’t happen now! In the end I moved to Newcastle to take the NWN role, which is where I’ve stayed. The job has changed and I’ve always found something to keep me interested.
'Talent is everywhere but the opportunity isn't.'
Your job at New Writing North encompasses so much, could you tell us about the work that you do and why it is necessary?
There is a lot of untapped talent in the north. The tastemakers who decide what gets published are – often but not always – of a type. Sometimes work is deemed ‘too regional’. That really shocks me because it reveals an unconscious bias, but it shows there is an opportunity. As our mission statement says, ‘talent is everywhere but the opportunity isn’t’. Agencies like ours are those opportunities, those ladders out of a place where an artist isn’t getting where they want to. We are unusual in that we don’t create the art itself but are the connectors who support the originating artist. We support writers whether they are new or experienced, have had some success or are just getting started. We can help people change forms – short stories to novels – and we are quite porous really, as people progress and leave to pursue their next venture.
'We are here to make change happen – for people and society.'
I meet a lot of writers who are too embarrassed to say they are a writer. If you want to be a writer and you are writing you are a writer. Step up, own it, accept what you want to do and take yourself seriously. The work we do helps people to do that. Our agency is also unusual because in some ways we are very commercial – we want to make money for writers – but we’re not just about the commercial side. There are other ways to help build a writer’s career, and often that means raising ambitions. Even with established writers, sometimes they don’t feel they deserve a grant or an award. Lots of our projects involve mentoring, to use our knowledge to help them work out what they want from their career. That’s the beauty of being a small charity organisation, we have freedom to fulfil our purpose. We are here to make change happen – for people and society.
'There’s a sense of urgency to develop the next generation of people who can do a job like ours.'
What has been the proudest moment in your career to date?
The amazing thing about my job is that I have those moments almost every week. We get to be a part of the best moments of people’s lives. We had an amazing project at The Sage recently with young people who produced something called a Hip-Hopera. Eighteen young people on stage singing, rapping, performing. They were so talented. The audience was hugely mixed, some people had never been to a venue like that. Some of those kids are from really challenging backgrounds and there they are, speaking the truth of their lives, performing confidently at one of the finest arts venues in the world.
There’s a sense of urgency to develop the next generation of people who can do a job like ours. I am proud that if I left the organisation, it would still exist. The work would continue, so now we’re looking to the future and our responsibility to build something that lasts, including a physical centre for writing in Newcastle.
'Understand where you have common ground and what the bridge needs to look like.'
You’ve spoken about the importance of building partnerships, what are the skills that are most important in doing this successfully?
Almost every programme we run is built on a complex web of resources. If you have an idea, think about who can help you deliver that. You need to be able to tell your story, both your personal story and the possibilities of the long term benefits of what you’re doing.
You also need to be brave enough to ask for what you need – don’t ever think it’s not valid. Test your request on people and expect that some people will say no. You also need to be really respectful of the agendas of others. At NWN we’re so used to finding out what people want to do and how we can help them get there, and I use the same skills when talking to a commercial partner. Get your interests and goals on the table so you can understand where you have common ground and what the bridge needs to look like. Be open and listen. Then of course you need practical project skills: budgeting, planning, creatively shaping something. For us it’s not our own project, it’s someone else’s, so it’s my role to shape the ambition but not the creative idea, which is a skill in itself.
I’ve learned that it pays to be a bit cheeky sometimes, by which I mean following up with people who don’t think you’re going to follow up with them, making the request they don’t think you’re going to make.
'As women we spend our lives working out how we fit into a leadership role.'
Finally, can you tell us about one other woman working in publishing who inspires you?
I get inspired by people all the time, I’m addicted to other people’s work. Kit de Waal is utterly inspiring because of her commitment to using all the power she has as a published writer to enable real change. As women we spend our lives working out how we fit into a leadership role, we forget we are negotiating as ‘not the norm’ and trying to fit into those structures that were built by men. I really admire Clare Alexander who has just joined the board at NWN. She wears her incredibly impressive excellence and experience very lightly. She represents and has published amazing people, but she wears it so gently which is a professional skill I hope to reflect.
