Passionate Storyteller Shares How Artist of the Year Award Has Opened Up Stellar Year

A passionate storyteller and one of the five Tees Valley Artists of the Year has talked about early boost the award has given both her and wider talented people in our region.

Lisette Auton is a disabled, neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist working in literature as a novelist, dramatist, activist, filmmaker and performer.

As one of the five Artists of the Year, Lisette is receiving £30,000 support over a 12-month period which includes a real-living wage bursary and a professional development budget, mentoring, and tailored business support. She is using this time to develop two pieces of work for adults: a novel and a live multimedia performance with creative access at their heart, which are daring odysseys that began with an old book of nautical tables through which she will try to decipher her extraordinary, fractured brain.

Based in Darlington, Lisette is the author of three novels published by Puffin/Penguin Random House; The Secret of Haven Point, The Stickleback Catchers, and Lights Up which have been shortlisted for five major awards.

“It’s mainly the only thing I’m good at – doing stuff with words,” she said.

“It’s definitely an amazing thing when you find the thing you’re good at and love, and you’re able to transform it into the thing that pays the bills.

“I still pinch myself every day that seems to be the case.”

When she’s wearing her “children’s author hat”, Lisette goes into some of region’s schools and helps inspire young people to pick up a pen, note down thoughts and make the most of their imaginations.

“That was how it began for me.

“I realised that, even though nobody in my family did anything like that, I could, possibly, do it. I met an author at school and that made me go ‘oh wow’.”

Lisette went to Mowden Junior School and used the library loan system to feed her love of literature.

And it was there she met a legend of children’s books.

“My own books were really precious,” she added.

“I was given a book and then this woman asked me what my name was, which I thought was weird, and I didn’t know who she was.

“When I told her, she wrote it down in her notebook and said: ‘That’s a really interesting name, I’ll keep that’.

“I asked her what she was doing – she said she wrote down names for characters. That made no sense to me at all!

“She then wrote her name in my book which I thought was atrocious because it was my book. It turned out to be Anne Fine!

“Because of my dad’s job, I thought everything was made in factories. I knew books were made in factories, but I’d assumed stories were too.

“I didn’t realise all the stuff I was making up in my head could live in a book – and that’s what she did as a job.

“It took millions of years to get there, but that was the first time I went ‘oh wow, imagination can be a job’.”

Since becoming one of the five award winners, Lisette has launched her new book Lights Up, at the Hippodrome – where she took to the stage and signed copies for fans.

“The feedback has been absolutely lovely, and it was full of loads of people I didn’t know which is always brilliant,” she added.

“My lovely friend works at the library, and she sent a message saying there’d been lots of people coming to the library afterwards asking for my books.

“That’s the bit that feels amazing. There was a queue of people for a book signing which meant I had to stay for an hour-and-a-half extra, but the fact people have gone to the library and asked for the book is even better.”

The support provided through the award has allowed Lisette to hand on some of the time-consuming admin, which can drown artists. She’s also built up some new contacts and, in turn, helped nurture the wider pool of rich talent in the region.

She added: “It’s allowed me to come full circle, and if there have been little bits of work which, in the past, would have taken up lots of time and brain power, and some money, I would have had to take it on.

“Now, I’m able to say thanks for the offer, this is my amazing colleague/artist/person who is up-and-coming, and they can have that work – like other people did for me in the past when I was starting out.

“To be able to pass that on is great. It’s also so I’m able to do the kind of work which isn’t as commercial.”

All five Artists of the Year are supported by an NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) through the year.

Lisette has a monthly check-in with Anna Disley at New Writing North.

She added: “I’ve always admired her but I’ve never worked closely with her before – and there’s always a bit of nervousness over whether we’ll get on, or whether we are going to see a project from the same point of view.

“Not only do we get on, and it’s great, but she also challenges me and she’s also starting to understand how my brain works.

“There are quite a few forms which I just don’t understand, and she translates them for me.

“And we have a brilliant system we’ve worked out together to look back at what has happened in the past month, a look over what is still outstanding, and then at how to plan a week-by-week for what I need to do.

“In a year-long project it can be really easy to think you’re doing stuff but then come to the end of it and think: ‘Oh I don’t think I’ve done anything’.

“But this is really keeping me on track and pushing me forward.

“I’m a lot further forward with both the performance piece and the writing than I thought I would be. It’s a technique I’ll use until the end of time.”

The Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority funded the award with money from the UK Government and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “We’ve long known Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool is a hotbed of cultural and artistic talent – and we’re proud this award is allowing five of our very best to take their careers to the next level by dialling into industry-leading support.

“I wish Lisette and our other winners well for the rest of the year ahead.”