The Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/) is in the process of developing a listing of scientists who might be interested in talking to writers and providing them with information and inspiration to incorporate science ideas into their fiction, scripts or poetry.

In order to start the process of introducing scientists and writers to one another in Newcastle University and to demonstrate the new social media site, dedicated to conversations between scientists and writers, the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts invited us to a working lunch on the 24th April. The meeting was quite successful, and the general framework of the collaboration has been decided. The plan is to pair up writers and scientists to conduct a series of informal interviews about our work here at the IGM and at the university, which will hopefully inspire a work of literature/art. The final output will be a book containing short stories related to scientific breakthroughs and ideas, although your work can also inspire a video, a poem or even an installation. You can have a look at the initial outcomes and join the initiative on http://scitalk.ning.com/

There will be two more meetings within this project, next one will take place 6th of June at 1pm in the G.02 lecture theatre at the IGM. Everyone is welcome to attend, please pass  this invitation on to your colleagues and PhD students who might be interested in getting involved or drop us an email at IGMengagement@ncl.ac.uk.