Kenaz is a new magazine from the Tees Valley featuring poetry and short fiction accompanied by graphic illustration, along with features and arts listings. Co-founder Bob Beagrie puts Literature North East in the picture.

Why did you start Kenaz and how was the magazine set up?
The idea for the magazine came from a rant I was having one day in a pub. I was flicking through a free glossy magazine that claimed to be about Teesside but all it was was a vehicle for advertising designer clothes and the only feature to do with the area was about a bistro opening up in Yarm. Andy Willoughby and I had been working on various community writing projects and running classes for the University [Teesside], and I'd just finished marking some really exciting work by previously unpublished writers. So I had a whinge about their being no outlet for this kind of work and the lack of any real content in the existing magazines. So I suddenly thought, what the hell - let's do our own, we know enough people and have enough contacts with writers and artists to get enough good work. This issue is a pilot issue and we need to raise some funds for the future issues, but we are confident that we can get it now that issue 1 is looking so good. We want to publish three times a year: January, May and September.

And how about the name?
'Kenaz' is the Nordic Rune for creative fire.

So what's in the first issue?
Its a 48 page magazine with a feature on Andy Croft, articles about Independent Northern Publishers and New Writing North, and the launch of Smokestack Press, there are four short stories by previously unpublished writers, 16 poems, a preview of Three Over Eden's new production of Peer Gynt, an article on Andy Willoughby's cultural trip to Siberia to participate in the Finno-Ugaric Literature Conference, extracts from an autobiography called Fair Friday and several pages of info on Mudfog and other Tees Valley presses and events. And as you can see there is some really progressive and exciting graphic design!

Compared to most other literary magazines, clearly a huge amount of thought has gone into the design of Kenaz. Why did you decide to make it so different visually?
Because we are in residence at the Uni of Teesside we were interested in working with the graphic design students and developing links between the writers and the artists. So we submitted the poems and stories we'd selected for issue one to the third year design students and the lecturers gave them a brief to interpret the poems visually and explore typography and layout and produce spreads for the magazine. Some of the work that came out is really exciting and it was through this process that we identified the size, shape and style of the magazine. I think it is really important to offer a visually exciting product so that people who wouldn't usually pick up a book of poetry or short stories will be attracted to it, and so develop a whole new readership. It also encourages greater participation and involvement from the public.

Do you think there's enough quality writing coming out of the Tees Valley to sustain its own magazine?
There is a stunning amount of good writing coming out of Teesside and has been for a long time. The courses and classes, the writing groups, the local presses like Mudfog, Arrowhead, Smokestack, Vane Women and our other Ek Zuban publications, events like The Hydrogen Jukebox and The Writers' Café, the AnimateUs writing and animation project, Tees Valley Arts' You Are Here refugee writing project… We intend to involve the Cleveland College of Art & Design and showcase the plans for the Middlesbrough Museum For Modern Art (MIMA) and Stockton's Arc; these will all help to feed Kenaz. It will be an ideal way to promote the existing writing and arts scene, which, while being rich and varied is largely an underground scene and rarely recognised outside of the area. Each issue will feature a more established writer by invitation only. Our second issue will focus more on short stories, and we have some interesting ideas for future issues. We'd like the fourth issue to feature the first chapters of three or four unpublished novels by Teessiders or with Teesside connections, and we'll invite readers to vote on which one should be serialised.

Had there been much contact previously between the university and the town with regard to literary projects?
With the withdrawal from Teesside of Leeds University's adult education programme with its strong creative writing strand, there has been a vacuum in the area and no accredited courses running. However, The University of Teesside have recognised the need to engage with the writing community and have begun to offer courses and summer schools, which they hope to build up gradually. The residency is a part of this initiative and their support of Kenaz has been invaluable in making the connections between students and writers and artists who live in the area.

Do you have any plans for a website?
We have a basic website for Ek Zuban which is at www.ekzuban.co.uk and info about Kenaz and our other publications like The Flesh Of The Bear is on there. However, we hope to make Kenaz available online later this year.

How can people get hold of a copy of Kenaz?
We will be distributing it through libraries, arts centres, colleges, bars, cafes, designer shops etc. But if anyone would like to receive a copy through the post they should send an A4 stamped Addressed Envelope to us at Ek Zuban, c/o 52 Carlow Street, Middlesbrough, TS1 4SD.

The Kenaz launch event will feature readings and spoken word performances of work from the magazine, live world music from East Cleveland's Gobble Racket and heavy rock from Middlesbrough's Sex Jail, along with live art and exhibitions from various Teesside artists.

For more information, contact Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby on 07960456550 or 07811547759.

27 January 2005, 8pm-11pm
Upstairs in Student Union
University of Teesside

£2.50 entrance, with all takings donated to the Tsunami Disaster Appeal.

Tickets will be available on the door or in advance from the Students' Union (tel 01642 342249) or Sam's Place Café, Linthorpe Road.