Welcome
Catherine Cookson told the stories of the North East like no one else: its dockside streets and pit villages, its hard lives and its fierce loves. Her books sold more than 100 million copies around the world. For a generation of viewers, her dramas were essential Sunday-night television.
In May 2027, her stories return home. The Catherine Cookson Festival brings her work to life in Newcastle's historic Assembly Rooms, with three major theatre productions, plus screenings, talks and special events to be announced.
Whether you've loved her novels for decades or you're discovering her for the first time, this is a celebration of one of the most-read writers Britain has produced, in the region that shaped her.
The Productions
The Fifteen Streets
Her classic novel of love across the class divide, set among the dockside terraces of the Tyne. Rob Bettinson's acclaimed stage adaptation comes to the Assembly Rooms for a strictly limited run.
Tilly Trotter
A brand-new one-woman show adapted by actor and theatre-maker Jamie Brown. Tilly is a young woman branded a witch by her own village, and her story is one of Cookson's best-loved tales of courage, endurance and survival.
Nancy Nutall and the Mongrel
A new family adaptation of Cookson's much-loved children's story by writer and producer Craig Wilde and actor and theatre-maker Jamie Brown. It comes to the stage with a very special, larger-than-life four-legged star. It's the perfect first Cookson for younger audiences, and a treat for the grown-ups who bring them.
Catherine Cookson:
A North East Story
Catherine Cookson was born in 1906 in Tyne Dock, South Shields, and grew up in poverty. She left school at 14 and later moved south to work. She came to writing late: her first novel, Kate Hannigan, was published in 1950. More than a hundred books followed, and for years she was the most borrowed author in Britain's public libraries.
Her novels drew directly on the world she knew. They depicted working-class life on Tyneside, the struggles of women, and the gulf between rich and poor. In the 1980s and 1990s, a run of television adaptations filmed across the region brought her stories to millions more.
She returned to the North East in her later years and spent her final years in Newcastle. She was made a Dame in 1993 and died in 1998. She gave generously to causes across the region, and her legacy lives on in her books, her screen adaptations and the readers who still treasure them.
The Assembly Rooms
The Assembly Rooms opened in 1776. For 250 years they have been at the heart of Newcastle's social and cultural life. This Grade II* listed Georgian building has hosted balls, concerts, celebrations and performances across three centuries.
In 2027 the building becomes the home of the Catherine Cookson Festival. Two great North East institutions meet in a celebration of storytelling, heritage and the region they share.
More to come
The stage is only the start. Keep an eye out for screenings, talks, workshops and special events celebrating Catherine Cookson from page to stage and screen. We'll be announcing more in the coming months.
Ticket Alerts
Tickets go on sale on Friday 16 October 2026, and some performances are expected to sell fast. Sign up for ticket alerts and we'll let you know the moment booking opens.
You'll also hear about new events as they're announced.
The Catherine Cookson Festival is presented with the kind permission of The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust.