NEW Writing North are currently running a series of Crime Story events with Northumbria University where audiences can learn from the experiences of criminologists, forensic scientists, police officers and lawyers to inform people who are interested in crime writing.

A two-day event last year has blossomed into a series of talks which takes place up to the end of May.The sessions are relevant to crime writers and readers alike. If you are wondering how to make your plot true to life, or you have ever shaken your head in disbelief at a particularly contrived storyline, these seminars are for you. And just sometimes, the truth will be stranger than fiction.

The next talk on Wednesday, April 22, is about expert evidence and miscarriages of justice featuring Adam Jackson, senior lecturer in law. On April 29, senior lecturer Jacky Collins will be in conversation with author Valerie Law and publisher Sheila Wakefield.

All sessions take place from 5pm-7pm at Northumbria University, Newcastle. Sessions cost £8/£6 for students and concessions or £20/£15 for a block of three. Book seats at eventbrite.co.uk

* Meanwhile David Almond and Alison Light will be talking about new books at a New Writing North event at the Culture Lab, Newcastle University: on Thursday April 30 at 7.15pm

Almond has won the Carnegie Medal, two Whitbreads and a Hans Christian Andersen award for his many children’s novels. He will discuss The Tightrope Walkers, his second book for adults. Light's Mrs Woolf and the Servants was highly acclaimed and her Common People: The History of an English Family, was shortlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize.

* Tickets: £6/£4/£2 from the NCLA webstore or by contacting melanie.birch@ncl.ac.uk or calling 0191-208-7619.

Viv Hardwick