John Dean – Crime Writer

New Writing North has named the writers who will take part in this year’s ADAPT development programme supporting writers from any creative background to adapt their work for the screen.

Three writers in the North East have been selected to receive 1-2-1 script development support, participate in workshops on the fundamentals of screenwriting, story and adaptation, have their work read through with actors at an industry feedback session, and be supported in taking next steps to progress their screenwriting career.

They are, pictured from left, Sam Honour, a writer and theatre maker hailing from Gateshead. His first produced play was a rehearsed reading at Live Theatre’s Short Cuts event in 2009 when he was 17 and he has continued to be involved in theatre in the NE since then. He graduated from Northumbria University’s Drama and Scriptwriting course in 2012 and has since produced work at Alphabetti Theatre, Laurels and Newcastle Fringe Festival. His writing was also included as part of the 24/7 Festival in Manchester and has been shortlisted for several writing awards including the Papatango prize, the Northern Writers Writing for Television award, The People’s Play and was a finalist for the North East Playwriting Award with Live Theatre. His short film, The Hairiest Man in Newcastle, was awarded Best Film at the Witchflix Film Festival in Newcastle in 2023.

Lee Mattinson is a playwright and screenwriter based in County Durham. His most recent play Steel won a UK Theatre Award and was published by Nick Hern Books. His short Fist won a Royal Television Society Award and screened on the closing night of New York’s SOHO Film Festival. His stage work has been performed at Young Vic, Bush Theatre, Paines Plough, Royal Exchange, Traverse Theatre and The Yard. He has written extensively for BBC Radio and story-lined for the cobbles of Coronation Street. Lee is currently adapting Billy Liarfor the stage, developing several original projects for television and his feature The Seagull (& Other Poems) is under option with Elevator Productions. 

Afidi Nomo, known onstage as Radikal Queen, is a Newcastle upon Tyne–based poet, performer, multidisciplinary artist and cultural activist whose work is rooted in liberatory African Indigeneity and a personal ethos: “bring the margins” to the centre. An Indigenous African of the Mbatu Nation, she has built a wide-ranging practice across poetry, theatre, music, film, installation and immersive performance. Her notable achievements include receiving an Immersive Arts Explore Award to develop JazzWitch, being shortlisted for the 2025 Creative Future Writers’ Award, publication in Routledge’s Whose Heritage?, and winning entries in both Disability Arts Online’s Right to Thrive audio anthology and the Scottish Black Poets of Colour Writers Network audio anthology. She has also been commissioned by Apples & Snakes, Poets in the City and the Anti-Apartheid Legacy, with residencies at ARC Stockton and The Glasshouse.