The North has always been an outward-looking and open-minded place, as Martin Wainwright will show. And today, immigrant communities are playing an important part in regenerating cities.

Martin travels to Sheffield, recently associated with tensions between immigrant communities, but - in fact - a very long established haven for newcomers. Martin will find out why the first 'City of Sanctuary' still lives up to its name.

And how have newcomers helped to shape the image of the North? Originally from Ukraine, the novelist Marina Lewycka has now been a Sheffielder for much of her life. Many of her novels have Northern characters and settings. She speaks to us about her identity as a Northerner and how it influences her writing.

And in Manchester, Martin meets Peter Kalu, artistic director of the writers' development organisation Commonword. Together they discuss how Northern writers from ethnic minority backgrounds have represented the North in literature.

Producer: Isabel Sutton
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4. Show less