Novelist to join University freshers

Award-winning novelist Jonathan Tulloch is to join students at the University of Teesside. However, he has not enrolled on a degree course. For Jonathan has been appointed as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow and will work with students from all subjects to give advice on essay writing.

Jonathan, 36, lives near Thirsk and has four published novels. His 2000 debut, The Season Ticket, detailed two teenage boys’ struggle to get tickets for Newcastle FC and won the Betty Trask Award for first novel. The Season Ticket was later made into the film Purely Belter. It was followed by novels The Bonny Lad and The Lottery. Jonathan’s first three novels have been described as ‘the Gateshead trilogy’.

Jonathan’s current novel Give Us This Day moves from the Tyne to the Tees, describing the life of a Roman Catholic Priest in South Bank, Middlesbrough. He recently completed a children’s novel, I am a cloud, I can blow anywhere, written with his wife Shirley.

In 2003 Jonathan was nominated by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the UK’s 20 best young novelists. In the following year he received the Royal Literary Fund’s JB Priestley Award, given annually to the year’s most promising young writer. The Royal Literary Fund Fellowship scheme places professional writers in the UK’s higher education institutions to offer writing support. Jonathan will work one-to-one with students. Jonathan said: “I leapt at the chance to do this. I was offered the opportunity to work in a number of Universities and chose Teesside. I’ve always liked the area and the University is flourishing. I’m looking forward to reaching out to Teesside’s diverse student population at all levels and subjects, from part-time to postgraduate, from electronics to physiotherapy. “I can remember agonising about how to write an essay when I was at University. You have all the information but need to put it together, within a time limit. It took me many years to learn how to avoid the pitfalls; hopefully my experiences will benefit the students.” Rachel Carroll, Section Leader for English Studies said: “I am delighted to welcome Jonathan to the University as our Royal Literary Fund Fellow. He will be joining a dynamic creative community in the School of Arts and Media. I am sure that students will benefit tremendously from Jonathan's experience and insights as a professional novelist.”

Jonathan is originally from Cumbria and studied Philosophy and English in York. Before becoming a full-time novelist he worked as an actor and then taught English to Secondary pupils in Gateshead for three years, which provided the inspiration for The Season Ticket. He has also lived in South Africa for a year, where he wrote a play about South African history. This play was performed by teenagers and toured the South African townships.

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