'What happens when a small-town kid dreams of big things while growing up on a diet of indie and alternative rock? Stand Up Comic Jake Donaldson takes you on a hilarious journey through his love of guitar bands, comic books, the ups and downs of teenage ambition, and the awkward but heartwarming realities of chasing your dreams. This brand-new stand-up comedy hour from 2024 BBC New Comedy Award Finalist Jake Donaldson is packed with nostalgia, punchy jokes, and stories about finding your place in the world-all set against the background of the 2000s. Whether you're a fan of indie rock, comic books, a 2000s kid, or just someone who's ever dared to dream big, this show will strike a chord.

An airing of brand new material by the most powerfully wistful comedian in Scotland. Co-host of the podcast Here Comes the Guillotine with Frankie Boyle and Susie McCabe. As seen on his 800 Pound Gorilla Media stand-up special “Oh No”, BBC Two’s New World Order, BBC Scotland’s Up For It, and Comedy Central Live. #1 Streamer on Twitch of the Playstation 3 video game adaptation of Disney’s Ratatouille (2007).

FORUM Books favourite Diana Henry returns to Newcastle to celebrate the launch of her latest books Around The Table: 52 Essays on Food & Life. Around the Table is a selection of some of Diana's very best essays, handpicked from more than two decades of her beloved cookbooks. Moving, funny and incisive, together these pieces form a memoir through food and who wouldnt want a seat around Dianas table? A table is where we eat and talk, where we connect...What and how we eat remains a source of constant fascination to me, as is how particular ingredients spread across the world. I want to make links and trace patterns. Food is about history, geography, our habits, imagination and how we relate to each other. "Diana Henry Diana will be conversation with Anna Hedworth, owner and cook at The Cookhouse and Long Fridays.

There isn't a timescale for how you should heal Your bad days are valid, your heartache is real But so is the day that your smile will return That fire within you continues to burn You will overcome this and continue to thrive You are here, you are loved, you are whole, you're alive. A formidable follow-up to her award-winning debut poetry collection, Len Pennies Poyums Annaw is just like her: defiant, angry and trailblazing and we cant welcome Len back to Newcastle to celebrate this latest collection These poems are a call to arms, confronting ideas of patriarchy, gender-based violence and societal injustice with equal parts tenderness, quick-wit and righteous fury. Incisive and fiercely honest; Poyums Annaw firmly underscores Len's place as a defining voice in contemporary poetry.

We are delighted to welcome the award winning crime writing legend Val McDermid back to the North East to celebrate the latest in her Karen Pirie series - Silent Bones. When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiance when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why. Meanwhile in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets? Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one which connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . Val will be in conversation with fellow crime writer and North East resident Trevor Wood.