Newcastle has the Write Stuff

• Richard T Kelly, an author born in the North East, decided to return to his native Newcastle to pen his accomplished debut novel, Crusaders.
  
  He researched the novel by hanging around Newcastle's streets, soaking in the culture and sense of community. Indeed, Kelly spent much of his time sitting in pubs and libraries gathering thoughts with his Dictaphone and notebook. “It was fascinating,” he said. “I am sure I feel, like everybody else from the North East, there is something so culturally rich about the place.”
  
  Kelly was inspired to set Crusaders in the North East after he stumbled across a few interesting news articles about the area. The first was thought to be about church planting, which is when churches are started in non-church buildings. The second story detailed the killing of Viv Graham in 1993, while the third talked about County Durham MP Tony Blair becoming the Labour party leader. The combination of these three factors made Kelly decide to make the Crusaders a diverse novel that dealt with politics, religion and crime.
  
  The book is written in the Geordie dialect, which also roots it firmly in Newcastle. Kelly decided to do this, as he felt the dialect was still ‘alive.' He explains: “Geordie is very much alive in the culture with things like the writing of Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais and Viz. Theres a currency in the culture even if you just listen to Ant and Dec.”
  
  The novel is an epic one, which he found a “tall order” until he started mapping out the complicated story on paper. The tale, which is set in Newcastle in 1996, follows an Anglican clergyman in Newcastle, as he plants a church in a very deprived area. The novel follows his progress and the interesting characters he meets.
  
  Although this is Kelly's first novel, he has written a number of non-fiction books such as Sean Penn: His Life and Times and the Christmas hit, Ten Bad Dates with De Niro: A Book of Alternative Film Lists.
  
  Source: BBC