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Talks

Northern Bookshelf Live!

19 Sep 2026

11:00am

Presented by New Writing North and Culture House Sunderland

Book tickets

Quick summary

Price
£12 | Concession £10
Running time
11am - 2pm
Venue
  • Culture House Sunderland

Additional information

Your ticket price includes access to both events and refreshments. 

Event description

Celebrate the opening of an exciting new arts and cultural venue in Sunderland City Centre with a day of events featuring best-selling Northern authors, Robert Rutherford, Sarah Mellor and Brian Groom and book signings from local independent bookshop, Featherbed Books, as Northern Bookshelf Live comes to Culture House Sunderland! 

Come and hear all about what’s going on at Culture House, meet the authors and fellow book lovers in this beautiful new space right in the heart of Sunderland.

View what’s on

What’s On

Northern Crime Panel with Robert Rutherford and Sarah Mellor

11am – 12pm

When your family member is wrapped up in a twisted web of secrets, how far would you go to help them? Join Robert Rutherford and Sarah Mellor to discuss how they explore family ties, loss, and the Northern landscape in their new crime novels, The Missing Hour and The Silent Places. 

Robert Rutherford is an award-winning author and scriptwriter, whose books include The Missing Hour and the Sunday Times bestseller, Seven Days. He lives on the North East Coast with his wife, children & overly needy dog, and is a founding member of the Northern Crime Syndicate crime-writers group. 

Sarah Mellor is a novelist and psychotherapist based in Liverpool, where she has lived for nearly 30 years. She kickstarted the process of writing her debut novel by attending an Arvon crime-writing course and taking part in the Literary Consultancy’s mentoring programme. The Departed was published by HarperNorth in 2025 and Sarah’s second novel, The Silent Places, was published in March 2026. 

Brian Groom: These Isles

1pm – 2pm

Brian Groom, author of the bestselling Northerners, delves into the colourful and often-contested story of the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans and others who have occupied the British Isles throughout our history, and the influence their culture, languages and passions still have on our lives today in These Isles: A People’s History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 

Brian Groom is a journalist and a leading expert on British regional and national affairs. His career was spent mainly at the Financial Times, where he was assistant editor. His first book, Northerners, was a Waterstones History Book of the Year and his second, Made in Manchester, was a Financial Times Book of the Year. These Isles was published in February 2026. 

This event is presented by New Writing North and Culture House Sunderland.

Culture House Sunderland