Innehållsförteckning för Novemeber 2022 från Writing Magazine

THE UNCOSY QUEEN Appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, bestselling crime writer Val McDermid revealed that her publisher recently received a letter from the estate of Agatha Christie: ‘They said, “you must cease and desist referring to Val McDermid as the Queen of Crime. We have trademarked this expression. If you call Val McDermid as the Queen of Crime, you will be in breach of copyright and this trademark. You may continue to quote other people calling her the Queen of Crime and obviously you cannot prevent someone calling her Queen of Crime on a platform during the event. But should you use this title elsewhere, in other ways, then you will be in breach and out lawyers will be in touch”.’ This was particularly unfriendly given…

Being both: writing and editing Writing and editing both play big roles in my life, but of the two, the latter comes more easily to me. My experience working at literary agencies and at Cornerstones has given me a greater understanding of what editing can look like and how it can transform a manuscript, and for me, editing is the stage where a novel really comes together. For my own writing, the editing and redrafting stages are my favourite parts of the process. My own writing style is very much that of a ‘pantser’, beginning with very little outlined and seeing where the story goes as I write it. During the editing stages, I’ll outline my character arcs, work out a cohesive structure, and start to identify and cut down…

A creative challenge ‘I find so much inspiration from reallife, real-world events firing up my imagination for so much of my fiction,’ writes subscriber Drew Payne. ‘Often just the bare bones of an event will inspire a story. ‘I am not above using events from my own life to fuel my fiction too. It can be a way for me to write about things important to me. ‘When I was twelve, my grandmother died from cancer. It left a lasting and uncomfortable memory. Even forty years later, I can remember so much from that time. This became the starting point for my book Five Days. It is a child’s eye view of terminal illness. It is about twelve-year-old Byron, whose mother is very ill but no one is telling him…

The crime and mystery writer Graham Smith is one of those authors who is so busy that he needs to have an additional writing identity, which in Graham’s case is the novelist John Ryder. I was looking forward to finding out how Graham manages to combine writing with his equally demanding day job: running a hotel and wedding venue. ‘I also cherish spending time with my son, enjoying the company of friends, and cheering on the often-hapless Carlisle United,’ he says, leaving me wondering when he has time to sleep. ‘I started writing fiction about twelve years ago,’ he adds. ‘This was after tossing aside a number of books I wasn’t enjoying reading, and feeling I could do better myself. I was awful at first, and I don’t think I’ll…

The Jhalak Prize 2023 is inviting entries. The Jhalak Prize and the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize both have a £1,000 prize The Jhalak Prize for writers of colour is now in its seventh year, and the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize is in its third. The Prizes are open to all UK residents of BAME origin, for any book (including self-published books) written between 1 Jan and 31 December 2022. Each winner will receive £1,000 and an artwork by an artist of colour. This year’s judges for the Jhalak Prize are Haleh Agar, Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Monisha Rajesh. The Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize will be judged by Yaba Badoe, Maisie Chan and Irfan Master. Co-founder and director, Sunny Singh said: ‘We’re thrilled to be going into our…

Short stories for Yours magazine, one story published per issue, and Yours Fiction magazine, 26 stories published per issue, have different submission criteria. Popular themes for Yours magazine are romance, families, grandchildren and nostalgia. Stories should be approximately 950 word long and not have been previously published. Occasionally, serialised stories of three episodes, each of 3,000 words, are published with the first two episodes finishing on a cliffhanger. Popular stories for Yours Fiction are romance, murder mystery, historical fiction, ghost stories, sagas and ‘stories to make you smile’. They should be 450-2,700 words long. Stories for both magazines should appeal to a readership of women over the age of fifty and not have stereotypical images of older people as ill, frail and lonely. When submitting, stories must be labelled specifically…

Outcast Press has an editorial team who like to ‘reject sacred cows’. The work the team publish has to be ‘cut from the bone’. They like ‘raw, honest, dark, in-your-face, tales’ and believe that ‘the beauty of literature lies in exploring themes other mediums consider too taboo’. They want ‘transgressive fiction’ because they like its unpredictability. Transgressive fiction is literature about characters who feel or think themselves confined by the norms and expectations of society and try to break free in unusual or illicit ways. The characters rebelling against the basic norms can range from those near normal frustrated by their lives and work right through to the mentally ill, anti-social or nihilistic. Submissions are currently closed for novels, opening again in January 2023. The team want an email pitch…

Fosseway Writers YA Short Story Competition 2022 is for fairy tales updated for a YA audience. Enter original, unpublished stories, 1,500- 2,500 words for readers aged 12-18. Prizes are £50, £30 and £20, with a special £10 prize for local writers with a postcode of NG22/23/24/25.The entry fee is £5, £3 each subsequent. The closing date is 19 October. Website: https:// fossewaywriters. wordpress.com/ competitions/ SF and fantasy specialist Angry Robot Books is launching a new crime fiction imprint, Datura Books, with a focus on titles with a ‘strong sense of voice and place that push the boundaries of the genre, while playing with readers’ favourite tropes’. Website: https:// angryrobotbooks. com Bookshop.org will be running An Evening With Maggie O’Farrell, its first hybrid live and virtual event on 1 December, when…

Bold Types Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition 2022 is inviting stories and poems on this year’s theme of ‘Finding Your Place’. The competition from Glasgow Women’s Library is for short fiction and poems by women born in Scotland or who have lived in Scotland. This inclues trans and intersex women as well as non-binary and gender fluid people. Shortlisted writers will be invited to read their work at an online event on 17 November and the winners will be announced on the night. Prizes include a one-to-one mentoring session with one of the judges, who this year include poet Sheila Templeton, writer Chita Ramaswamy and GWL librarian Wendy Kirk. Enter original, unpublished stories and poems up to 1,000 words on the ‘Finding Your Place’ theme. Writers may submit once to…

PEN America seeks to ‘champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world’ and the PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize aims to support the career launch of emerging writers of any age around the world. Twelve writers will receive $2,000 plus publication in an anthology to be published by the independent publisher Catapult. Entrants’ debut fictional story, of any style, should have been written and published in English in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website publishing on a recurring schedule anywhere in the world in 2022. Submissions must be made by the editors of such publications and they may submit a maximum of four stories of no more than 12,000 words in each award year. The publication’s name or other identification should…

Win a £1,000 first prize in the Café Writers Poetry Competition 2022 The annual contest for single poems is inviting entries of original, unpublished poetry up to forty lines. Poems may be in any style or form, and on any subject. The first prize is £1,000. The second prize is £300, and the third, £200. Five commended poets will each win £50, and there is a special £100 Norfolk Prize for the best poem by a Norfolk resident not winning another prize. The sole judge is poet Jennifer Wong. The entry fee is £4 per poem, of £10 for three and £2 per poem thereafter. One free entry is offered for any writer with a household income of less than £16,000 for whom the cost of entry would be prohibitive.…

Win a $100 prize for a short story told in just six words in the free-to-enter Six Word Wonder 2022 competition, organised by US writer Doug Weller. Enter up to six six-word stories, memoirs, jokes or poems.The winner will receive $100 and publication in a future Six Word Wonder series book.The closing date is 30 November. Website: www. dougweller.net/ contest/ The inaugural shortlist for the Polari Prize’s Children’s andYA category is: Nen and the Lonely Fisherman, Ian Eagleton and James Mayhew; Grandad’s Camper, Harry Woodgate; Not My Problem, Ciara Smyth; The Accidental Diary of BUG, Jen Carney; Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, Adiba Jaigirdar. The winner was due to be announced alongside the adult prize in October. Website: www. polarisalon.com/ polari-prize ‘My generation, when we were first publishing…

‘Why do some writers use pen names?’ is a question I was once asked in an ‘ask the author’ event. I thought back to when I first used one. ‘When you murder your in-laws,’ I said. It sounded flippant but it really isn’t a good idea to have your mother-in-law open a magazine and read about how you murdered her. Then I remembered a friend who wrote under two names and explained how if you were writing erotic novels but also books for young children it makes sense to have two names. If a child enjoys a book and their parent searches the author’s name to see what else they’ve written they could be shocked to discover that the author of Sammy The Sea-lion also wrote Kinky Sex by The…

Original radio plays of any genre from writers around the world are invited by Shoestring Radio Theatre, a San Francisco based nonprofit founded in 1988. Plays broadcast include ‘adaptions of traditional favourites, everything from classic murder mysteries, radio noir and historical dramas to contemporary comedies, thrillers and science fiction’. Plays for the weekly broadcasts should be a maximum 25-28 minutes long. Depending on formatting this will be approximately one minute per page. Plays of 50-60 minutes, to be aired in two parts, and ten-minutes plays are also welcome. There are no restrictions on formatting your play but dialogue, sound effects and music cues must be clear. Although there is currently no payment made for scripts the plays will be aired nationally and on public radio stations across the US and…

History Today magazine is a long-running history magazine credited with the invention of ‘popular history’. It covers all periods of history from the classical world to contemporary, aimed at a curious, wellinformed readership. Contributors are academics and historically literate journalists, and submissions for original, authoritative articles are welcomed. Feature-length articles are between 3,000-3,400 words; mid-length articles are 1,300-2,200 words and shorter History Matters articles (which also appear on the website) as 1,000 words. Send a brief proposal and introductory note about your career/academic background by email. Website: www.historytoday.com/ History Workshop Journal promotes radical history for the digital age and reflects on the contemporary issues shaping the world. Contributions are welcomed for the print magazine on particular archives and sources, and the practice and production of history in education, museums, the…

An international contest for original, previously unpublished short stories of any genre or theme the ServiceScape Short Story Award has a prize of $1,000 for the winner who will also see their story featured on a blog which has a readership of some thousands each month. You must be over the age of eighteen to enter. Stories, written in English, should be no more than 5,000 word long and judges will be looking for the quality of the writing when selecting the winner, who will be notified by email in December 2022. If you are stuck as to what to write about there is a Writing Prompt Generator on the website with 1,153 short story ideas Submit a story before the deadline of 30 November using the application form on…

Enter your best writing tip in the free-entry My Writing Journey 2022 competition. TheWriters College contest is for original 600-word writing advice pieces on the theme: ‘The best writing tip I ever received’.The winner will receive NZ$200 (£100). Entry is free.The closing date is 31 December. Website: www. writerscollegeblog. com/ Tom Doherty Associates, which owns theTor, Forge, Nightfire, Tordotcom, TorTeen, and Starscape science fiction and fantasy imprints has changed its name toTor Publishing Group. Devi Pillai, group president and publisher, said, ‘Although theTor name has always been associated with science fiction and fantasy, our list has included titles beyond that genre since our inception. With this name change and continued growth, theTor name will now stand for quality in various types of genre publishing, with each imprint representing a distinct…

Epiphany is a semi-annual literary journal publishing ‘online essays, fiction, and poetry’ by writers of all levels. It needs work which ‘transcends convention and demonstrates literary mastery’. Download a digital version to get a sense of the great variety of stories, poems, essays, and genre-bending work that is published and note the themes which keep returning. For fiction the team want stories 1,000 words or fewer because ‘A short story doesn’t have to be long to break your heart or change your life.’ They seek devastating short fiction, ‘in any category or genre, that can be read in one giant gulp.’ They want stories which are epiphanies, that pause in time followed by a shift in thinking. exceptional.’ Poetry should ‘celebrate and redefine the possibilities of language and form... explore…

Guernica is looking for submissions of poetry, essays, reportage/journalism, criticism and fiction. Read the guidelines carefully to make sure that the submissions go to the correct section. Global Spotlights is for excerpts of work, 3,000-7,000 words, ‘published outside the Western corridors of literary taste-making and prestige’. Work is accepted in translation, particularly work which ‘retains inflections of the original.’ In fiction, they’re looking for short stories, novel excerpts, and hybrid texts, ‘fiction that is adventurous, unapologetic, experimental’. For non-fiction, it’s essays, reportage, memoir, criticism, and hybrid forms. Submissions in either genre must have been published within the last year by magazines, zines, and independent publishing houses outside the US and Canada, Western Europe, and Australia. Check the guidelines for specific details. General fiction submissions should be 2,000-7,000 words. Poetry, 1-5…

The Mad Duck Coalition is a publishing house aiming to be ‘a haven for the intellectually curious’. The team call themselves ‘A flock of brave mad men and women… interested in unique ideas, excellent observations, and engaging prose.’ Quirky, their imprints are named around the duck theme. What they want is ‘authorial integrity, intellectual rigor, and passionate pursuits.’ Big Ripple Books is The Mad Duck Coalition’s first imprint, ‘the nesting place for quality prose narratives, fiction and non-fiction’. They accept subs of ‘traditionally literary narratives, fiction and non-fiction, of all lengths.’ They also publish ‘memoirs, experiments, and bona fide literature’ but only the best. In The Weeds Provocations is the first half of The Mad Duck Coalition’s academic imprints for leading academic vanguards, the avant-gardes. This is their ‘heart and…

The Fish Short Memoir Prize from Fish Publishing is inviting entries of short memoir writing up to 4,000 words. The winner will receive €1,000. There are runner-up prizes of online writing courses and €300. The ten best memoirs will be published in the Fish Anthology 2023, and their authors will be invited to read at the launch during the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2023. This year’s judge is Sean Lusk. All entries must be original and unpublished life writing. There is no restriction on theme or style. The entry fee is €18 for the first and €11 for any subsequent entries. The closing date is 31 January 2023.   Website: www.fishpublishing.com/competition/short-memoir-contest/…

The 2022 Aurora Awards, for the best speculative fiction published in Canada have been announced as: Best Novel: Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee; Best YA Novel: Walking in Two Worlds, Wab Kinew; Best Novelette/Novella: The Annual Migration of Clouds, Premee Mohamed; Best Short Story: The Mathematics of Fairyland, Phoebe Barton, Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 129; Best Graphic Novel/Comic: It Never Rains, Kari Maaren; Best Poem/Song: Cat People Café, Carolyn Clink, Polar Starlight #3; Best Related Work: Alias Space and Other Stories, Kelly Robson; Best Fan Writing and Publication: Polar Borealis, Issues #17 to #20, edited by R Graeme Cameron.…

Bestselling author Jemma Wayne works school hours. ‘I’m usually at my desk from after the kids are at school until pick-up time,’ she says. ‘Sometimes things flow, sometimes it’s a long slog, so I may write from 500 words to three or four thousand in a day. School holidays are less work intense. One of the great privileges of writing is that it can be flexible and I’m able to grab fleeting moments. When my children are home, I’ll only do a couple hours of writing in the day, and sometimes more in the evening. ‘My children are 11, 8 and 3, so we’re a young family, and at a time in life where we look inwards to that. Most of our social lives seem to be structured around the…

One of the great tropes of publishing is the ‘Harry Potter was turned down by twelve editors’ story. I’ve picked Harry Potter as the most famous (and lucrative) example, but see also under A Confederacy of Dunces or just recently, Bernardine Evaristo. It’s a trope that transcends genre and spans the generations. Its ubiquity and enduring popularity is not hard to understand given how much rejection even the most talented writers have to endure and if even modest success still eludes one, there is comfort in the reassurance that none of us agents and publishers really know what we are talking about. I have been thinking about this because for the first time in my tenplus-year career as an agent an author I had worked with, who I eventually turned…

‘I’ve always read widely and voraciously so narrowing five of my favourite books has been a tricky task to say the least. It has really brought home how much of an influence my favourite books have had on my own writing, particularly in my latest release, It Was Always You. TAP HERE To read an extract from It Was Always You ‘It Was Always You has a little time travel in it, as well as moments where (hopefully!) the reader will laugh and cry and, as with all of my books, there is a deep sense of family. ‘The inspiration for this book came as I was washing up (all my best ideas come when I’m doing something mundane). I remember spotting a magpie and thinking to myself what a…

Anyone who has attended any of my Story Godmother workshops will know I am ever-soslightly excited about antagonists. Ever since I was small, I have been fascinated with ‘baddies’ and found them significantly more interesting than the ‘heroes’ that everyone else wanted to be in our playground games. I adored being the Wicked Witch of the West, or Mrs Hannigan. They were gifts of characters to explore. As the submission window for the Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize is open, it’s the perfect time to consider chapter book antagonists. They are tremendously good fun to explore. Here are five top tips to creating an outstanding baddie for young readers: 1 CHOOSE WISELY Why does this particular antagonist appear in this particular story? What is it about this character which pits…

Narratively is a US website which publishes, ‘original and untold human stories’. Deputy editor Jesse Sposato says, ‘The stories Narratively publishes (personal and reported) are immersive and cinematic. They take readers inside another world, another life, through vivid scenes, colorful details, and compelling narrative arcs.’ The site is looking for big, ambitious features, exhaustive deep-dives that impress readers with in-depth, immersive storytelling, or else one-of-a-kind glimpses into unique lives, worlds, or subcultures. While many Narratively stories are US-based, the site will feature a story from anywhere in the world. Examples include The Obsessive Life and Mysterious Death of the Fisherman Who Discovered the Loch Ness Monster, Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother’s Life, and an exploration of The Wild West Outpost of Japan’s Isolationist Era. Rates start at…

The Other Stories award winning podcast has some 10,000 daily listeners and invites original sci-fi, horror and thriller stories which can ‘terrify, scar and haunt’. Checkout the website to listen to stories broadcasted. The selected stories will be narrated and an editor will ‘sparkle some magic pixie dust on the track’. Stories which have been entered and published elsewhere are welcome and when and where this has happened should be mentioned when submitting. Stories, based on set themes, should be 2,000 words long although there is a 10% tolerance either side of this. Format your work using a 12pt Times New Roman font in a MS Word document which has a 1-2 sentence logline at the end and includes your name and email address. Also mention the preferred narrator accent/gender…

Scratching Shed Publishing is a Yorkshirebased independent press that specialises in non-fiction with a strong regional identity. ‘We publish any genre of non-fiction that has a link to the north of England, be that the author, subject matter, location, etc, and hence the name – it’s where all the most passionate supporters stood at some sports grounds in the north,’ said co-director Phil Caplan. Scratching Shed was founded by Phil and co-director Tony Hannan in a pub in Blackburn. ‘In 2008, we’d known each other for years, are both writers – principally on rugby league – and met up on a local radio station promoting our latest works,’ said Phil. ‘In the pub afterwards we got on to discussing how the publishing industry was southerncentric in terms of marketing, promotion…

Arts & Letters is a well established literary journal with a long list of literary awards and credits of which its editorial team is rightly proud. Part of the MFA programme in Creative Writing at Georgia College, USA, it is published biannually, with Spring and Autumn issues. Under the direction of the editor, Laura Newbern, students of the programme edit and publish the magazine. The team seek ‘work that guides it toward the human voice and its perpetual struggle into language.’ The team have catholic tastes and are ‘open to both formal and experimental fiction, nonfiction, and poetry… and open to work that defies classification. Above all, we look for work in which readers can feel writers surprising themselves.’ The team have extra ways of promoting their authors using Twitter…

War Monkey Publications are opening submissions for their next anthology, From The Yonder Volume IV. This is to be a ‘horror, short-story collection of regional legends and tall-tales from around the world.’ The team want short story submissions, 1,000 to 7,500 words, which are based upon ‘a regional/cultural legend or tall-tale from any location or culture in the world.’ They define regional as a specific place (eg Loch Ness) or a larger area (eg Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest). Stories must be in the horror genre. ‘Inclusion of elements of other genres is welcome, so long as, overall, the story is an horror story.’ They will accept ‘Ghosts, hauntings, alien abductions, monsters, demons, spirits, witches, etc, as long as the subject is based on an actual legend or tall-tale.’ Don’t…

The £1,000 Barbellion Prize 2022 is a book prize for a work that has best represented the experience of disability or chronic illness The Barbellion Prize, now in its third year, is given for a book in any genre – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, critical nonfiction – that represents the experience of disability or chronic illness. Books may be traditionally, independently or self-published, and may be submitted by authors, agents and publishers. Entries may be works in translation. To be eligible for the 2022 Barbellion Prize, books should have been published between October 2021 and Octobr 2022. The prize is named after the writer WNP Barbellion, who wrote about his experience of living with multiple sclerosis before his death in 1919. Submit the book, preferably as a digital copy or pdf,…

Wandering Wave Press is a publisher of ‘unconventional genre fiction’. They are currently closed to book subs, but they have short but frequent windows of submissions. Short stories are wanted for their next anthology, An Anthology of Unconventional Stories. They want ‘genre authors who cross boundaries. Authors whose stories twist the tropes to showcase in a cross-genre anthology of stories that entertain, but read fresh and new.’ They like stories ‘that can’t be classified, the story that can’t be pigeon-holed into a single subgenre, or that pushes against a genre’s boundaries.’ For example: ‘Witches in space, or a romance that flip gender roles, or alternate [sic] histories set in the near-future, even medical thrillers set in the distant past.’ How about fairy tales that start after the ‘happily ever after,’…

The BBC’s Open Call for Drama and Comedy Drama scripts opens on 9 November and closes 7 December for submissions of scripts written for film, TV, radio, stage or online, including children. The call is open to writers over the age of eighteen living in the UK or republic of Ireland. This scheme aims to find writing talent rather than scripts to be developed and produced for BBC broadcast: ‘We see all scripts as a calling card to showcase a writer’s talent, ability and voice.’ Shortlisted writers will be offered a variety of opportunities including Drama Room, a one-year writer development scheme, and a place on one of the Voices development groups around the country. What is being specifically sought in scripts are a writer’s distinctive voice, an original take…

The Indigo Autumn Poetry Prize 2022 is inviting entries is for original, unpublished poems up to forty lines, in any form and on any subject. First prize is £250, and second and third prizes are £100 and £50. Winning poems will also get magazine publication. The entry fee is £5 per poem, £9 for two or £12 for three.The closing date is 30 October. Website: www. indigodreams publishing.com/ competitions The winners of the 2022 Creative Futures Writers Awards are: Poetry: Platinum: Lerah Mae Barcenilla; Gold: Helen Price; Silver: Karen Downs- Barton; Bronze: Nnadi Samuel; highly commended: Oluwaseun Olayiwola; commended: Jay Farley. Prose: Platinum:Yvonne McLeod; Gold: Hannah Caitlyn Lee; Silver: K. Devan; Bronze: Alex Joynes; highly commended: Anne Elicaño-Shields; commended: Olivia Mark. Cambridge Literature Festival’s Winter Festival will take place between…

The Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize from Galley Beggar Press is an international competition inviting entries of original, unpublished short fiction from published and unpublished writers anywhere in the world. The winner of the 2022/23 competition receives £2,500 and each shortlisted author gets £200. Longlisted authors receive £50 and a fourbook subscription to Galley Beggar Press. This year’s judges are Meena Kandasamy, Jarred McGinnis and Jon McGregor as well as the directors of Galley Beggar Press.  Enter short fiction in any style or genre, up to 6,000 words. Entry costs £10 per story. 225 free entries are being offered on a firstcome, first served basis for writers unable to afford the entry fee. The closing date is 16 October. Website: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize…

Although closed to novel submissions, Dragon Soul Press need submissions for their many anthologies. Upcoming with deadlines of 30 November are Union and Beastly Tales, both R rated. • The Union anthology wants science fiction romance stories, 3,000-15,000 words. Outer space and aliens are accepted. All heat levels are accepted. • Beastly Tales needs ‘monster romance’ short stories, 3,000-to 20,000 words. Erotica is preferred. • With a longer deadline of 30 April, 2023, Soul Ink: Volume 1 has an overall limit for poetry and prose of 1,000 words, eg one of 1,000 words or two or three adding up to 1,000 words in total. More anthologies with later deadlines are listed on the website. For prose, two submissions per anthology are permitted. Response time is no more than thirty days…

A playwriting competition organised by the award winning California based Green Room Theatre Company is for writers aged 12-19 years on 24 March 2023. Three winning plays will each earn their writers $200 and their plays will have a staged reading performance at the Coachella Valley Festival for Young Playwrights which takes place on 25-26 March 2023. Green Room Theatre Company is a non-profit organisation founded thirteen years ago. It directs its education programme towards young people and underserved communities. All submissions must relate, either literally or figuratively, to the Angelo Hernandez’s Walk in My Shoes artwork on the website. Plays should be 10-50 minutes long and have no more than six characters. They must have a title page and numbered pages and there is a title page and script layout…

The Drift, founded in 2020, has been described by the New York Times as ‘The lit mag of the moment’. Editors Kiara Barrow and Rebecca Panovka say the print and digital magazine, ‘aims to introduce new work and new ideas by young writers who haven’t yet been absorbed into the media hivemind and don’t feel hemmed in by the boundaries of the existing discourse.’ Published three times a year, The Drift features longform essays and cultural criticism, short fiction, poetry, interviews, dispatches, and ‘extremely abbreviated reviews’. You can read free articles here to get a sense of the magazine at www.thedriftmag.com/issues/ Recent features have included, A Little Spectrum-y – What the Autism Diagnosis Says About You, and Truth and Consequences – Documentaries and the Art of Manipulation and, “Determined to…

Prole Books are inviting entries for their 2022 Prole Laureate poetry competition, for poetry on any subject that engages, challenges and entertains the reader. First prize is £300 with two £75 runners-up. Winners will be published in Prole 34.This year’s judge is Ross Wilson. The entry fee is £3, £2 each subsequent.The closing date is 5 November. Website: https:// prolebooks.co.uk/ The Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize has unveiled its largest ever award to celebration its twenty year anniversary, with Can$130,000 on offer for a single book of poetry. Website: https:// griffinpoetryprize. com The shortlist for this year’s BBC National Short Story Award is: And the Moon Descends on the TempleThat Was by Kerry Andrew; Flat 19 by Jenn Ashworth; Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water by Anna Bailey;…

The East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished poems up to 45 lines, on this year’s theme, which is ‘My Wonderful World’. In the adult category, there is a Jubilee Prize of £500, an East Riding Gold Prize of £200, and and East Riding Silver Prize of £150. There are also two £25 highly commended prizes. The entry fee is £4 per poem. There are two free-entry competitions for school-age children. The East Riding Primary competition and the East Riding Secondary competition both have prizes of £75 and £50, and two £25 highly commended prizes in each age category. The judging panel of Yorkshire poets includes James Nash, Wendy Pratt and Matthew Hedley Stoppard. The East Riding Festival of Words takes place between 18…

The Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition 2022 The annual contest from Munster Literature Centre has a €2,000 first prize. The competition is for single poems up to forty lines. Poems may be on any subject and in any style. All entries must be original, unpublished and unbroadcast. The first prize is €2,000, a featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival including a four-night hotel stay with full board, publication in Southword and being featured on the Southword Poetry Podcast. the second prize is €500 and publication in Southword, and the third prize is €250 and publication in Southword. Ten runners up will each get €50 and publication. This year’s judge is Suji Kwock Kim. The entry fee is €7 per poem or €30 for a batch of five. The closing…

Creative Mind’s Travel Writing Competition is for short stories up to 1,500 words and poems up to forty lines exploring the ‘travel’ theme from any angle. Prizes are £50, £30 and £20 in each category. All entries may be considered for an anthology. The entry fee is £3 or £5 for up to three pieces.The closing date is 26 October. Website: https:// creativemind.co.uk/ creative-writingcompetition-2022/ The shortlist for the 2022 Mo Siewcharran Prize, with a focus on crime and thrillers this year, is: Incarnations of an English Subject, Kalbinder Dayal; The Search for Othella Savage, Foday Mannah; Arranged Murder, Faaiza Munir; Their Unseen Truth, Kingsley Pearson; The Labelled Bones, Felicity Yeoh. Due to be announced on 28 September, the winner received £2,500, editorial feedback, introductory meetings with agents and Quercus’s rights,…

Win a £500 first prize in the Flash 500 Novel Opening 2022 contest for the beginning of a novel manuscript plus synopsis. Submit the first 3,000 words of an unpublished novel manuscript in any genre, plus a synopsis no longer than 750 words. Novelists entering the competition may by unpublished, published or self-published, but the manuscript must never have been published in any form. The competition will be judged by Headline Publishing. The winner will receive £500 and there is a £200 prize for the runner up. The entry fee is £10 for one novel, £18 for two, and £26 for three. The closing date is 31 October. Website: https://flash500.com/novels/…

Indie publisher Quill & Crow has announced its first flash fiction and poetry contest. Tales of Toys & Terror is a competition for horror flash fiction and poetry no longer than 250 words involving toys and dolls. The winner’s piece will be featured in The Crow’s Quill magazine’s November ‘Toy Box’ issue and in the Quill & Crow newsletter, and the winner will receive two Quill & Crow titles. The runner up’s piece will be included in the newsletter and they will get one Q&C book. The third-placed piece will be included in the newsletter. Send original, unpublished work. Entry is free. Each writer may enter one piece. The closing date is 14 October.  Website: www.quillandcrowpublishinghouse.com…

Robert Harris is, without a doubt, the master writer of political thrillers of our times – the author of contemporary classics like Fatherland, Enigma and Pompeii. His latest, Act of Oblivion, is a stunning story of a divided nation – England in the wake of the English Civil War, the Protectorate and the Restoration of the Monarchy. It’s the story of a historical manhunt, with two of its central characters, Puritan colonels Edward Whalley and William Goffe, who were signatories to the death warrant of King Charles 1, pursued across America by an obsessed Royalist determined to bring them to justice. It’s a novel that brings the complex history of a country torn about by extreme political and religious factionalism to thrilling life, making it a story that seems relevant…

'My dad, a decorated Spitfire pilot in "My WWII, gave me a passion for fighting the important fights. My mum, a terrific writer who met dad when she was writing her thesis on his father (my grandfather was the first Māori Bishop of New Zealand), gave me a love of words and an awe for their power. ‘When I was ten years old, my big brother Bruce was doing psychology at university, and in the holidays after his first year, he brought home The Clinical Textbook of Abnormal Psychology. I have no idea why anyone let a ten-year-old read this deeply disturbing book – but I devoured it, cover to cover. When Bruce went back to university, I hid it so he couldn’t take it. The curiosity provoked in me…

R Kennedy-Escott works as a personal assistant, while completing their Creative Writing degree with The Open University. They enjoy writing short stories and they are working on their first novel. This extract comes from a domestic thriller. They can be found at www.rkennedy-escott.co.uk, where they post updates about short story competitions, university and general life. Michael winced as he unstuck his shoe from the tacky floor1 of the bar and made his way2 back to the dance floor.3 As he stepped onto the flashing arena4 of party goers,5 the atmosphere changed as the DJ hit play6 on James Blunt’s You’re beautiful.7 Couples fused together across the room,8 and Michael was stood9 awkwardly on the side-lines10 watching romance wash around the club.11 It was impossible to watch12 the embracing lovers and…

SPOTLIGHT ON... Verulam Writers St Albans has always been stuffed full of literary talent. So, 68 years ago, the local writing community formed Verulam Writers, and we’re always keen for new members to join, writes Steven Mitchell. Taking our name from the name of the Roman town where St Albans is now located, we meet in person every two weeks and on Zoom in the alternate weeks. Our evenings include manuscript nights, competitions, workshops, social events, and guest speakers. This season crime writers Howard Linskey and Kate Griffin, romance novelist Lesley Eames, and renowned astronomer and writer Stuart Clark have all visited us. All have been inspirational. Our forty-strong membership includes writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and screenplays. In fiction, our members write in genres including crime, fantasy, sci-fi, historical,…

Win a £2,500 first prize in the new Chimera Fantasy Awards 2022. The inaugural Chimera Fantasy Awards are inviting entries of unpublished and self-published fantasy novel manuscripts. The winner will receive £2,500. There is a second prize of £1,500 and a third of £600. All twelve shortlisted entries will be featured online and their authors will receive feedback. To enter, send the first 10,000 words plus a one-page synopsis. All manuscripts entered must be at least 50,000 words. Shortlisted writers will be asked to submit their full manuscript. Entry is £6. The closing date is 1 December. Website: https://writ.rs/chimera…

Editor CB Droege, of the Manawaker Studio, seeks stories for his anthology, with a working title Project Briar Rose. This anthology focuses on SF stories ‘about specific character traits’. The core of the anthology is an SF retelling of the first half of the Briar Rose or Sleeping Beauty story in the Brothers Grimm version: ‘In Galilean Space, a Spincity administrator is bringing a new android online. It is his plan that this android, codenamed Briar Rose and in a mechanical body resembling a young woman, will succeed him one day in running the city. He invites the most accomplished AI experts from twelve of the spincity’s thirteen districts to a dinner party in celebration of Briar Rose; leaving out the expert from the thirteenth district because she is an…

The Writing District Prize is an international competition inviting entries of unpublished short fiction on any subject or theme and in any genre, up to 3,000 words. The winner will receive $1,000 and there are two runner-up prizes of $100. The entry fee per story is $15.The closing date is 28 November. Website: https:// thewritingdistrict. com/the-writingdistrict-prize-2022/ The shortlist for the £25,000 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding is: The Invention of Miracles, Katie Booth; Aftermath: Life in the fallout of the Third Reich, Harald Jähner, trans Shaun Whiteside; Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village, Marit Kapla, trans Peter Graves; Horizons: A global history of science, James Poskett; When Women Kill: Four crimes retold (AliaTrabucco Zerán, trans Sophie Hughes; Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu. ‘My seven-year-old niece said the…

Set up to support UK early career working class writers the White Pube Writers’ Grant is a one-off amount of £500 awarded each month. The award is open to individuals, collaborations and groups for all forms of writing. The award is funded by the London and Liverpool based Creative Debuts which has a focus on ‘shining a light and supporting artists and designers from underrepresented communities that may otherwise go under the radar’ whilst also giving creatives the opportunity to showcase, and sell their work. To apply, writers should email a brief introduction to themselves with contact details and an example of their writing. Check out the website for details of previous Award winners. There is also a month long web homepage residency on offer. Submit an email giving an…

Banbury Writers’ Café writing group is running a free-entry competition for stories inspired by one of a number of picture prompts. Writing may be up to 1,500 words and may be fiction, poetry or shorter pieces of writing. Work must be original and may have been previously published in blogs or online publications, self-published or independently published. There are prizes of £50, £30 and £20, and all winners will be published in the Banbury Writers’ Café anthology. Entry is free. The closing date is 30 November. Website: https:// banburywriterscafe.wordpress.com/…

A New Chapter – Freedom from Torture Competition 2022 is inviting entries. The theme of ‘A New Chapter’ celebrates the hope and optimism it takes for refugees to build a new life. Freedom from Torture’s annual poetry competition is part of its literary festival. Winners will be invited to read their poems at a live event at the London Library. To enter, send original poems on the theme, of any length. This year’s judges are eminent author Alan Hollingsworth and Ambit editor and author Kirsty Allison. The winning poem will be published in Ambit and all winners will have their work published on Freedom from Torture’s website. Entry is a £5 donation to Freedom from Torture. The closing date is 28 October. Website: https://a-new-chapter-poetry-competition. raisely.com/…

The Jacobin (tag line ‘reason in revolt’) is a US quarterly print magazine now in its twelfth year, which with 75,000 subscribers describes itself as a leading voice of the American left. It offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture, and its website has over three million visitors a month. The editorial team welcome unsolicited essays, preferably under 2,000 words with a left wing political focus. Examples of recent pieces include, War and Instagram in Ukraine, Making Ends Meet in the Cinematic Apocalypse, and a look at Germany’s Funny Money. Check out the Jacobian at https://jacobin. com/issue/inflation then send your completed feature as an email attachment, together with a short abstract introducing your piece in the body of your email to submissions@ jacobin.com The editors try to respond as…

I suspect I am like many writers – when I have finished something then I want to see it published as soon as possible. I want to put a book on my shelf, show it to people and, hopefully, sell some copies and receive payment for them. But there are reasons not to rush. After all, a book is new only once (though maybe hardback and paperback?) and there are things to organise for its launch. These may involve collaborating with a publisher or, with self-publishing, going it alone. Many promotional things need to be ready to go on or around publication date; and remember that getting a news item in, say, a monthly magazine may mean sending something many weeks ahead. Timing needs considering carefully. In advance. You do…

The winners of the world’s most prestigious speculative fiction awards, the Hugo Awards, were announced in September at the 80th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. The winners were: Best Novel, A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine; Novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers; Novelette, Bots of the Lost Ark, Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, Jun 2021); Short Story, Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021); Best Series, Wayward Children, Seanan McGuire; Graphic Story or Comic, Far Sector, NK Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell; Best Related Work, Never Say You Can’t Survive, Charlie Jane Anders; Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, The Expanse: ‘Nemesis Games’, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren…

Kithe is a hybrid literary and art journal published by an editorial team who believe ‘that all creative endeavours are an effort to be made known’. They feel that people ‘show through… language and… art what and who they are,’ and in doing that ‘reveal and make known one to another.’ What the team like are ‘the kind of stories they haven’t heard before’ or old stories told in new ways. They like to ‘feature art and writing that holds the undiscovered and engages revealing author to reader. Submissions are currently open for prose, under 4,000 words, poetry up to three pages in total, visual art, three pieces per submission, and graphic narratives, no more than five pages total. Format prose in a docx or pdf file and poetry as…

Flexible Press is a US traditional book publisher with an editorial team ‘dedicated to supporting authors, communities, and mission-driven non-profits through story’. As well as full-length books the team publish charity anthologies where the profits go to a designated charity. Currently the team seek submissions of novels, specifically literary fiction. Do read the guidelines and get a feeling for the team’s tastes. Look at their list and read some of their books. This team ‘will do whatever we can to make you successful’ but they do expect an author will ‘bust tail to sell their books’. If they feel the submission has wider potential than their small press they will recommend trying to get an agent. However if an author has been rejected several times but knows their book has…

Flash Frontier is published quarterly and although some issues are open only to writers in New Zealand, the December issue with a deadline of 30 November is open to writers worldwide. Founded in 2012 the magazine features stories of 250 words. Editors are looking for variety and originality and invite you to ‘Tickle us, haunt us, gobsmack us. Choose your words carefully and leave our readers wanting more’. Check out the website to read content. The theme for the December issue is ‘Wonder’ and all pieces submitted must be previously unpublished in print or in an electronic journal. Work published on a writing workshop site is eligible. The magazine awards four prizes each year for selected stories and also nominates a selection of their published stories for anthologies and prizes…

Small independent publishers of non-fiction books, Pugmill Press have strong ethics and say they ‘ensure that a fair share of any profit made from a book goes directly to the author’. All their books are published in countries which respect workers’ rights and there is ‘an emphasis on health and safety for those working in the printing industry’. The publisher is open to proposals of concise nonfiction proposals of 35,000-45,000 words which are not academic or technical books. Initially send a 300 word summary and you are advised to think about images for your proposed book as it will be your responsibility to source and clear copyright for the images. For guidance on this check out a copy of a blog on the website ‘How to Successfully Incorporate Photographs and…

Publishers Wiley, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Hachette Book Group, are accusing the popular website the Internet Archive of ‘willful [sic] mass copyright infringement’ arguing that the site’s practice of lending digitised versions of books is blatant copyright violation. Maria A Pallante, CEO of The Association of American Publishers said, ‘Outrageously, IA has wrapped its large-scale infringement enterprise in a cloak of public service, but that posture is an affront to the most basic principles of copyright law. We hope and expect that the court will uphold established legal precedent, including by recognising that formats are neither fungible nor free for the taking, but rather a key means by which authors and publishers exercise their copyright interests, develop new markets, and contribute to public progress.’ The case is expected to…

Ipswich Institute has announced its literary prizes for 2022/2023. The New Angle Prize for Literature, which was set up in 2009, is a biennial award given for a book of literary merit that is set in or influenced by the region of East Anglia. Books entered for the New Angle Prize 2023 must have been published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022, and may be fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Books may be submitted by authors, agents or publishers. The winner will receive £2,000 and there is a £500 prize for the runner-up. The Creative Suffolk Award from the New Angle Prize and University of Suffolk is for outstanding writing that contributes to Suffolk’s creative output. The winner will receive £2,000. Entries may be full-length works of fiction and…

Acting features director and membership content editor for Women’s Health magazine, Georgie Lane-Godfrey, is accepting pitches for ‘health, fitness and nutrition-based ideas for long read features’. You must be UK based. Rates for the web version of the magazine start at £150 per post. Familiarise yourself with the content at www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/ then send your pitch to email your pitch to georgie.lane-godfrey@hearst.co.uk Recent articles have included, What to know about Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, Study shows we don’t get happier as we get older, “Poo transplants” to be offered via the NHS, and 6 simple tennis elbow exercises to soothe pain. Follow on Twitter @GeorgieLGodfrey / @UKWomensHealth…

Win a £1,000 prize for a story set in a randomly assigned period of history in the Globe Soup 2022 Historical Fiction Short Story Challenge.  The competition is for original, unpublished short stories up to 4,000 words. Each entrant will be randomly assigned a historical period on entering. Stories must be set in that period, and may use real or completely fictional characters and events. It is up to the writer how much the history influences the plot. The winner will receive £1,000. The entry fee is £15 for each story (early entry £12). The closing date is 28 October. Website: www.globesoup.net/historical-fiction-challenge…

US indie publishes mainly science fiction and fantasy novellas and novels. They will consider other genres, but not children’s and erotica. Subs are open until 31 December for novels and novellas, 25,000-80,000 words. Check out their guidelines and publisher’s list. They also publish anthologies and currently need submissions for a charity anthology, Tails From the Front Lines 2, in aid of the El Paso County Sheriff ’s Office K9 Unit. Submit stories, 1,000 to 7,000 words, involving ‘four-legged peace officers’ in any genre and any setting throughout history, the present or future. Flash fiction is allowed. Stories should be positive about police dogs and law enforcement in general. The deadline is 15 March. Response time is ‘slow’. Payment is $20 for the anthology, with additional profits going to the charity.…