Writing Magazine - April 2022

consider Ray Bradbury’s The Emissary a much wider range of readers. who are usually very willing to accept
one of the greatest horror shorts ever something a little off-the-wall.
written, and the ending scene of it Make the reader feel it – one
has stayed with me since I read it 25 way or another Horror is a genre that can call
years ago. Think about it ahead of Often the advice for horror authors upon a long and storied canon
time – what visual, what moment, is that characters should feel afraid, of authors and works, and the
what effective scene can I wrap up and there is a clear argument there – tradition continues in fine fettle
with that the reader is going to take if the lead of the story isn’t terrified, today. While the magazine scene
away with them? Leave nothing to or at least unnerved, by what’s going may be a long way short of what it
chance – very little ever happens by on, then why should I be? This is was at its absolute height, there are
accident in writing! something you can absolutely employ a huge range of opportunities for
in horror stories, probably even authors in the field for publication in
Use the five senses more so at the ‘confronting’ end of anthologies, with many small presses
The Emissary provides a perfect segue the genre’s spectrum. However you putting out a varied range of story
into the next point, because the main can absolutely use dramatic irony to collections on certain themes. That’s
focus of that story is a boy who is too great effect in the short form – your one of the things I love about genre
sick to leave his bed and his dog, who character may be blissfully unaware writing – the challenge of creating
wanders the world freely and returns that they are being stalked by some something to match a theme can
with the smells and feel of the outside dangerous entity, or blithely be about really take your creativity in new
world. There’s very little visual within to wander into a location we as directions, and produce the sort of
the story, and the focus is on smell, readers know is filled with nothing work that you might not have done
sounds and texture – a brilliant but death and pain. It can be every otherwise. And of course there are
touch that’s always a good one to bit as heart-thuddingly intense to still some very fine magazines out
echo in horror short stories. We may know something is coming that your there, so that scene is anything but
not always have time for lengthy, reader is clueless about – a fine device closed off to aspiring authors in this
verbose visual descriptions, but what for horror in this medium. area – Black Static and Shadows and
we do have in our palette is a host Tall Trees are two very good examples.
of smells and sounds (in particular) Scope for experimentation
which readers will often be intimately This does exist to some extent in But writing a horror short is not like
familiar with. I don’t need to say any novels – I’d once again flag up Mark writing a horror novel, or any other
great deal about the smell of sweat, Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves as a kind of horror – nor is it like writing
or of decay, for it to leap into your premium example of a horror that a short piece in any other genre. There
nostrils pretty vividly. This can really pushes the boundaries – but there’s are unique approaches and thought
enrich any horror short story for sure. even more room to be playful and processes that will truly enable you to
try things in the short form that you get the best out of it, many of which
Pick up on fundamental maybe wouldn’t try elsewhere. A we have detailed here. But also of great
human fears very good recent example would be importance – and a suitable place to
You can argue that many of horror’s Paul Tremblay’s ‘Choose Your Own close – is to emphasise the importance
archetypes and tropes do this at large, Adventure’-style piece, A Haunted of reading within the field. Go back
so you might do this incidentally, House Is A Wheel Upon Which Some to some of the classic authors listed
but I often take some time before Are Broken, which offers the reader above, not to mention Shirley Jackson,
typing the first word to think about alternative paths through the narrative. Daphne Du Maurier, Charlotte
what it is I am trying to tap into You might consider telling some Riddell and the many fine authors of
that is really going to chill a reader. of the story in different media – Victorian and post-Victorian horror
While we all have fears that might be Messenger chat, social media posts fiction. And be sure to read plenty of
highly specific, there are some that or text messages, for example. You modern fiction too. Check out the
are common – I confess to a serious might want to play with layout in anthologies that are hitting shelves or
aversion to spiders, and I know I’m interesting ways, or tinker with font finding acclaim out there online, and
certainly not the only one there. But and font size to create a sense of visual read some of the many wonderful
there are those that are universal – experimentation. There’s also plenty authors in the field today. There
fear of the unknown, fear of pain, of opportunity to have a play with are incredibly rich pickings from
fear of death, fear of transformation, the tropes and archetypes of the field, absolutely all over the world, and no
fear of being trapped or being on our perhaps presenting classic creatures doubt many of the future household
own for extended periods of times. If like vampires and zombies in a new names in horror are making their
you can hit one of these, the story is light. But the room is there for you starts in the field just now.
more likely to make an impression on to do with the short story audience,
And, hopefully with the advice
here, some of our readers will be able
to undertake a similar journey too.

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 51

POETRY WINNERS

PLAY TIME POEMS
%PMWSR 'LMWLSPQ is delighted with the playfulness and
skill in the entries for WM’s Childhood Games peotry competition

Whatever the circumstances in entries, the first lines, a complete stanza, a garden or park.
which we are brought up, the or even more could have been deleted Three quatrain stanzas show the
one experience that seems without spoiling the poem. The scene-
common to all children is the setting is important for the poet, but narrator’s experience, and here, too, there
joy in playing games. Games seldom needed by the reader. is full rhyme in each pair of lines, a strong
of all sorts were celebrated in the poems rhythm and syncopated metre. There
entered in the competition that gave Endings brought their own problems. were loads of games to play, and now
everyone a chance to turn the clock back Some poems completed their message, there’s rather more equipment involved
and return to the delights of childhood. and then added another few lines of as things had to be put away at the end
Everything from the formality of playing explanation to tell readers what they’d of summer. The focus is still out of doors,
a boxed game sitting around the table to already been shown. Others were cut but now on conkers.
wild adventures through woodlands or off abruptly, leaving the reader with the
bombsites was recorded, and hopefully uneasy feeling that Page Two was missing. As well as the full rhymes at line ends,
poets took as much pleasure from there are plenty of internal full and slant
recalling happy days as they did from Some poems were rather too rhymes. Following the glorious best
constructing the poems that emerged. predictable, but there were others that the rest, beat we move into the middle
sang their own unique song, and these stanza of this section to find bash ‘em
Without a doubt, marbles topped the included the two winners. In first and smash ‘em with its rhyme and the
popularity stakes, and the ownership of place is Ralph Rickards of Cottenham, consonance with the line’s last word, aim.
special marbles was contested bitterly in a Cambridge, with The generation games, There’s alliteration in governed the game,
few of the entries. Adventure games, from a poem that spans four generations unaccented rhyme in soaking / baking
the wild west to space travel, were recalled, of a family, with dates recognising the and full consonance in caught / couldn’t /
as well as skipping, clapping, and throw- narrator’s father, self, son and grandson. compete. All of these augment the sound
and-catch in the schoolyard, football in Each section uses a different form, and effect of the full rhyme.
the street, and all manner of imaginative each speaks in a contemporary voice.
scenarios were set in dens, tents and The son’s section moves us on another
wendy houses. In the 1915 references, Yorkshire season, and divides into four rhyming
dialect is appropriately indicated through couplets. The live games moved indoors
The mix of nostalgia and shared vocabulary and phonetic writing, which to the Subbuteo table, and again there’s
memories produced fascinating poems. reproduce the sounds perfectly and internal rhyme with flick / kick, team
Every one had something to offer in the without baffling the reader. Although / dream and the repeat of practice, to
narrative, and nothing could be set aside there’s a strong rhythm running through enhance the section. And of course, there’s
on the grounds of uninteresting content. the three stanzas, there is no strict metre a dream-come-true witty ending where
which would impede the conversational Ipswich trounces Brazil.
Sadly, a lot of clever ideas foundered quality. Rhymes are used with precision
because of problems with the poems’ and fluency, so that they underpin the By the time we reach the narrator’s
construction. Some pieces were aiming poem without dominating. grandson, the world has moved on and
for a rhymed, metrical presentation, this is the shortest section of the poem –
but dodgy metre and rhyme-led or The description shows a simple game maybe indicating that we are no longer
inverted material weakened the effect. that would induce a fit of the vapours in in the poet’s comfort zone. There is still
Others had problems with punctuation, the risk assessment generation. Smack it a robust rhyme in generation / recreation
where a number of entries were crafted and Whack it – what a gift in a rhyming to hold the poem together, but here we
into what could have been cohesive, poem – is not just the name of the game, move into free verse with the beautifully
grammatical sentences – except that they but a description of the punishment if turned conclusion: Fun just isn’t what it
lacked punctuation. Others were full of sometimes a window somehow got broke. used to be. But then, it never was.
unnecessary, randomly placed commas. There’s social history here. We learn
Dad’s background and occupation, that A poem as memorable as Ralph
One interesting point was the question Dad and Mam are together, and that Rickards’ piece, but written in a very
of ‘writing in’ to a poem. In a number of holiday play was in the ginnel rather than different way, gained second place for
Sim Smailes of Braintree, Essex. Seeds of

52 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WINNER: THE GENERATION GAMES RUNNER UP
SEEDS OF DISCONTENT
By Ralph Rickard
by Sim Smailes
1915
Dad was a Yorkshireman, grit through and through. As we emerge from autumnal slumber,
Worked down the pit, never let us forget: Like polished mahogany pearls
‘Tha’s lucky thou are, if only thee knew. Cocooned in pure white beds,
We were that poor we’d no toys at all, yet We are captured, enslaved
Allus were summat for us tykes to do. By juvenile tormentors,
‘Summer in t’ginnel, that were reet good Incarcerated in dark, musty drawers,
For Smack it and Whack it – girt fun to try. Doused in acid,
Thou balanced a can on a length of bent wood Dry-roasted in ovens,
Smacked the wood hard so as can flew sky high. Then speared and left to hang
Winners mun clout it as far as they could. On knotted strings.
‘A mishit could send the can flying wide We are the playthings of the young,
And sometimes a window somehow got broke, Compelled to fight one another,
Then there were a rush for somewhere to hide. Battle-scarred and broken
If Dad or Mam caught us, no words were spoke, By endless playground duels.
Just smack it and whack it on thy backside.’
1954 Discontent is a beautifully observed from the cosseting vocabulary
Yes, I was lucky, loads of games to play, persona poem, told from the of the first three lines to that of
But when autumn came they got put away viewpoint of the conkers destined pain and subjugation; and yet
As I searched for conkers: large, hard and round to be at the heart of countless the nature of the subject remains
That could best the rest, beat them to the ground. playground battles. within the innocent realm of
Just bash ‘em and smash ’em that was the aim childhood games. This contrast
But there were strict rules that governed the game. Who could not sympathise with within a short piece is in itself a
Soaking or baking, a definite cheat the conkers for everything they metaphor for the way the world
Caught doing that and you couldn’t compete. have to go through? Who thought can change in a short time, giving
I was so proud at the beginning of the torment of dark, dry places, the poem an added resonance
When my prize conker just kept on winning. the application of vinegar, and when we think about its message.
Then the despair – it finally shattered hardening in the oven? By opening
Strings tangled up and fingers all battered. these channels of thought, the The free verse is enriched by a
1980 poet shows readers a dark and range of slant rhymes, with the
Football was the winter sport favoured by my son disturbing angle on the business, assonance of autumnal slumber,
But cold, wet, muddy pitches often spoiled the fun. eliciting perhaps the best reaction incarcerated in dark and emerge
Better play Subbuteo – football on a board anyone can have to a poem: I’d / pearls, consonance in captured,
Flick his players, kick the ball, awesome when they never thought of it like that. enslaved and hang / young, and
scored. so on.
He’d select world champions for his team to face Every word in this poem has
Simulating dream games to actually take place. been selected to build into a vivid If a poem is both entertaining
With practice and more practice, he acquired such picture, with images appealing and informative, if it arouses
skill to all the senses, directly such interest and has something to
That in the World Cup final Ipswich beat Brazil. as in the texture of the polished say, it entrenches itself within the
2021 mahogany pearls or obliquely, consciousness of the reader. Both
Grandson Jake – the fourth generation – uses his iPad where sound is indicated by the of these winners have earned their
for recreation. Fun just isn’t what it used to be. But closing images of the conker fights. place there. Both deserve to be
then, it never was. The tenor of the wording moves read and relished.

Shortlist
Also shortlisted in WM’s Childhood Games poetry competition were: Heather Cook, Woking, Surrey; Lisa Cooper, Ryde, Hampshire;
Fay Dickinson, Corby, Northamptonshire; Jennifer Dodd, Kenilworth, Warwickshire; Joanna Fahey; Auckland, New Zealand;
Christine Griffin, Hucclecote, Gloucester; Lois Hambleton, Bridgnorth, Shropshire; Gill Hawkins, Wimborne, Dorset;
Andrew Hutchcraft; Peterborough, Cambridgeshire; Claire Kneale, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria; Angela G. Pickering, Ely,
Cambridgeshire; Katherine Searle, Sandhurst, Berkshire

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 53

POETRY WORKSHOP

GETTING
STUCK IN

%PMWSR 'LMWLSPQ examines the process SWAN FEED AT
from observation to finished poem MARTIN MERE

O bservation of the natural world is at the The birds know;
heart of many poems. By pinning such every winter afternoon at 3pm precisely
observation to paper, the poet preserves they drift towards the water’s edge
the moment and shares the privileged waiting for the warden with the red wheelbarrow.
view with readers. It will be clear to
see that nature poems could lapse into He traverses the shoreline
an ‘isn’t nature wonderful’ generalisation, without scooping corn from the trough,
showing anything new. It’s the quirk of circumstance, casting it out
or the anomaly, that makes the poem. like a medieval peasant sowing furrows:
The quirk here is the simple fact that a domestic goose only there’ll be no harvest here
is muscling in on a wild bird feeding pattern; but the
writer’s skill creates a fascinating account from this fact. as, in a frenzy of feather and beak,
Stephen Beattie of Burscough, Lancashire, was at the the avian hoard descends;
nearby bird sanctuary when he watched an interloper whooper swans, shell ducks,
sneaking a free lunch. mallards, wigeons and, strangely,
a single white domestic goose.
The time that elapses between the spark of seeing
the event and the first setting down of words on paper Honking and hissing her intent
affects the way the subject is processed. You could write she tunnels through the multitude
three different poems, one in the immediacy of making showing no regard for her migrant cousins
the observation on the spot where it happened, one as she gorges on golden pellets.
a few days later, and a more retrospective one some
months or years down the line. The earliest response Within minutes this late lunch has been devoured
bristles with the freshness of the idea, the few days allow and the birds return to the mere;
time for other thoughts to place themselves alongside only the white goose remains,
the observation in the mind, and the latest response relishing her isolation,
gives a strong sense of perspective. searching for gleanings in the mud
as if so much depends upon this.
On this occasion, the poet mulled over the idea
for a couple of days before drafting it as a poem, his
preferred way of working. This gave time for him to
recall the iconic poem by William Carlos Williams,
The Red Wheelbarrow. Its inclusion in the poem, with
the reference to the wheelbarrow at the end of the

54 APRIL 2022

first stanza and then with the final line, sets up a link application of slant rhyme, and this too is applied
that reaches back a century as well as adding an extra meticulously throughout the poem. Look at the
frisson for the reader. How many of us have puzzled alliteration of waiting / warden / wheelbarrow, late
over so much depends / upon a red wheel / barrow? For lunch and gorges on golden. There’s a strong use of full
those who have, Swan Feed at Martin Mere has strong consonance in the middle of the poem with descends
resonances. For those who have not, this remains a / ducks, and consonance in the pluralising of the bird
beautifully descriptive and thought-provoking piece. names, and in shoreline / corn and multitude / regard.
There is unaccented rhyme in several words ending
There is a sense of timelessness here. It’s engendered with -ing, and assonance in water’s / warden, tunnels /
by an intriguing mingling of contemporary and more multitude and birds return.
dated language. There is no descent into archaism, but
terms like traverses, avian hoard, devoured, multitude It’s easy to see that the finished version of Swan Feed
and gleanings have an older ‘feel’ to them, while 3 pm at Martin Mere has been subjected to careful revision
precisely, frenzy of feather and beak and gorges on golden processes. If you read the poem aloud, the ease of
pellets have a more contemporary aura. reading, the smoothness with which the words and lines
roll around in the mouth, gives evidence that this is a
All of the language used has the precision that polished piece.
paints clear pictures in the reader’s mind. The images
are intense and concrete, while details like the red It’s always interesting to learn about the writing process,
wheelbarrow, naming the waterbirds, the idea of and how the poet reached the version we see. Stephen
tunnelling through the multitude, and the late lunch Beattie points out that, unusually for him, this poem
sharpen the account. flowed onto the page quite easily, but he adds that ‘I
did have to write my way into it. Originally there was
The anomaly of the domestic goose among the wild an additional first stanza introducing the reader to the
visitors opens up questions for the reader. Does it long location of Martin Mere, the concept of the swan feed
for the freedom of the visitors, feel a sense of one-up- and how you can watch from the comfort of the hide.’
goose-ship by helping itself to their food, feel different, For the poet, this was essential material, but he goes on
genuinely relish the isolation? Is it an opportunist or a to say: ‘When I read the first draft I realised that this
lonely creature wanting to join the throng? Is remaining first stanza didn’t fit with the style of the poem and also,
at the feeding site a gesture of independence, anxiety, or (hopefully), the reader doesn’t need that information to
even fear? There’s a lot more to the scene when you start understand the poem.’
to think around the factual observation.
This highlights a problem many poets have – the urge
Stephen Beattie demonstrates masterly application of to over-explain the situation at the beginning of the piece,
free verse to bring this poem to life. It’s divided into five and to underline the conclusion at the end with further
stanzas, and each is beautifully self-contained, even where explanation. It takes courage to trust readers to draw from
two stanzas are linked by an enjambment. This natural the text enough material to make the poem satisfying.
movement from one stanza of the poem to the next has Overstating is tedious. Learning to trust helps.
the subliminal effect of reassuring readers that they are
in safe hands. The poet has established the route and is Deciding whether you have said exactly the right amount
following it logically. is almost impossible. This is where a first reader can help,
somebody who understands how poetry works and cares
There is a strong sense of the line as an organic enough to be brutally honest where necessary. And how
structure. Each line is an essential part of the poem, each do they know? If they move away from the poem feeling
says everything it needs to, and begins and ends in the enriched by the reading of it, delighted by the content and
right place. So the phrasing flows naturally, and there’s a use of language, and acknowledging that ‘I’d never thought
significant word at the end of every line. of it like that before’, the poem’s a winner. Like this.

The other major element of free verse is the

APRIL 2022 55

POETRY LAUNCH

A visit to the villanelle
%PMWSR 'LMWLSPQ launches WM’s latest poetry competition with advice on crafting the form
A sk a group of writers to name the most
popular traditional style of poetry, and you THE BLESSING OF BEES
will find the sonnet high on the list. Ask a Deep in the desert, Ra weeps, sows the seed
group of poets the same, and there will be
more than a few who suggest the villanelle, that grows into a bee who soars from sand,

the form required for our next competition. whose honey drips its balm to heal and feed.

One of the older set forms, the villanelle began as a round

song chanted by workers in the fields and as a choral dance. These drops of sweetness coalesce and bleed

It once had a more fluid pattern, but nowadays it’s become some moisture into hot and arid land

fixed as a poem that relies on two rhyming refrains, and is deep in the desert. Ra weeps, sows the seed,

usually written in iambic tetrameter or pentameter.

A villanelle has an odd number of tercets, (with five being and bees learn how to hover, know the need

the most popular), followed by a quatrain. The first and third to seek out flowers and herbs. They understand,

lines of the poem are repeated alternately at the end of the whose honey drips its balm to heal and feed,

tercets, and then appear as a rhyming couplet to close the

quatrain, so it’s important to make sure the repeated lines the urgency of swarming, how to read

will make sense when they appear together. The first line of the messages their queen’s scent may command.

each stanza rhymes with these refrains. The stanzas’ second Deep in the desert Ra weeps, sows the seed

lines all rhyme together, to give: A1 b A2 a b A1 a b A2

a b A1 a b A2 a b A1 A2 and bees spread out across the earth, fly, freed,

The quantity of repetition makes this form an ideal to pollinate its fields, flowers, crops, grassland;

vehicle for a subject that involves persistence, obsession, while honey drips its balm to heal and feed.

or something preying on the mind, but it can also work

with more general themes, as this example on the theme of Still more, the sun god’s gift can intercede

Egyptian mythology demonstrates. to cultivate earth’s barren, dry wasteland.

You will note in this example that some of the repetition is Deep in the desert, Ra weeps, sows the seed,

not exact. A touch of flexibility is permitted to aid the flow and honey drips its balm to heal and feed.

and logic of the sentences and to add a tiny hint of variety;

but there is always the risk that any adjustments to the fourteen and seventeen. The final feet of these lines are

repeated lines will wander too far from the original and lose spondees, with two stressed syllables, grassland and wasteland,

the dynamic of the form. rather than the expected iambs. Again, it’s up to the reader

There aren’t any strict rules to govern the frequency or to decide whether this device is a neat variant or breaks the

nature of substitutions. Here there are no adjustments to the pattern too severely.

wording of the first repeated line (A1). We see the second Whenever a poetry form has repeated lines, the content

repeated line (A2), however, opening with whose on the should move onward between repeats, so that a slightly

first two occasions it appears, but with while and and on different nuance is attached to each. This moving forward

the other two. As villanelles are written in iambic metre, the tends to be subtle, and once more the individual reader will

opening syllable of the line is unstressed, so the altered words decide whether it works or not.

are unlikely to stand out in delivery. It’s up to the reader to It’s clear, then, that while there are some neatly fixed rules

decide whether these alterations are acceptable under the to the management of villanelles, the reading

umbrella of the form. of the poem is instrumental in working out

Flexibility of grammar is positively encouraged. If the how successfully the form has been used. SEE P62
wording can remain the same while the sentence structuring An adjudicator will work with sound as
adjusts the punctuation, it creates an elegant variant. well as appearance on the page, speaking FOR ENTRY
Changing the comma to a full stop in the sixth line of the out the potential winners to hear as well DETAILS, FULL
poem, and so beginning a new sentence mid-line, provides as see the words. If your villanelle reads RULES AND
ENTRY FORMS

such a variation. beautifully by the eye and the ear, it might

Yet another variation occurs in the stress pattern of lines be the winner. Good luck.

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 56

NEW AUTHOR PROFILE

Stephanie
Sowden

The crime-writing chef tells %HVMER 1EKWSR
how she cooked up her debut in lockdown

If there are parallels between getting the ingredients right full of increasingly better, but still generally unpublishable,
for writing and cooking, this month’s debut author is manuscripts, I decided if I was ever going to take it seriously,
the person to consult. Stephanie Sowden, a chef/caterer, now was the time, and I applied for the CBC course.
from Manchester, sees her first novel, After Everything
You Did, published by Canelo Books. ‘The pandemic brought a bittersweet run-up to achieving
Set in1966 in Florida, we meet Reeta Doe, who wakes up my childhood dream of being a published author, as my
in hospital with amnesia following a car accident. But her business has taken a beating. I did get some private chef work,
troubles don’t end there; the FBI is in attendance with arrest but am not sure what that will look like in a year’s time –
warrants for four murders – and she’s the suspect. although I console myself by thinking I’ll be a twice-published
author by then! If I could write fiction full time I would be a
‘Initially I was interested in the idea of the FBI’s early use very happy lady, but I’m hoping I can find a way to manage
of psychological profiling,’ Stephanie explains. ‘I wanted to both careers.
write a story that would see the FBI go off in totally the wrong
direction, looking for a lonely, sex-crazed man still living with I submitted to six agents first, and received four requests for
his mother. But as I developed her character and motives, full manuscripts. Then my agent Clare offered me representation
Reeta began to take over. Her story is drawn from a real life for the manuscript as it was – and she already had publisher
case I researched in depth, so I decided that should be the interest! I’ve had many rejections over the years, but for this book
central narrative of the book. I was fortunate it all happened relatively quickly.

‘I wrote the first 10,000 words in 2019, then put it aside ‘My next title is to be confirmed, and is not due into
to settle in my mind. I’d been working on some other ideas Canelo until January. The theme explores how far we can
as well as concentrating on my new catering business which be driven, and what we’d do for love, and is a slower pace
I’d set up in August that year. I also applied for the three- but creepier than my debut. I hope it has a taste of Patricia
month novel writing course with Curtis Brown Creative – the Highsmith about it.’
application for which was an extract from a work in progress.
This was what prompted me to return to Reeta’s story. STEPHANIE’S TOP TIPS

‘Sadly, one month later catering events were outlawed and I • Rethink the old adage ‘write what you know’, and write
found myself essentially unemployed. So I wrote the first draft of what you know about… how it feels to be betrayed, to
After Everything You Did – using it as therapy to soothe my other love someone, to laugh so hard your stomach hurts. Even
professional anxieties! I finished it three months later then sent it if writing a fantasy set in outer-space, including real-world
out to some beta readers I’d stayed in contact with through my feelings that you know will make it much richer.
CBC course. I worked on edits for a couple of months until I
was happy to submit to agents near the end of 2020. • If stuck, focus on the minutiae. Describe the room your
character is in, what they’re eating and whether the
‘I started writing “properly” when I left university. I was very chair squeaks. Even if it gets edited out, it will help you
lucky my parents encouraged reading, and I’d always written get into the main thrust of the story.
short stories or little ideas. I thought a career in journalism
might be a good way to write for a living, but it lacked the • Don’t get stuck on the last chapter you wrote. I always
magic of fiction. When I moved back to Manchester after start with a skeleton draft which gets the bulk of the
a couple of years in London, I found there weren’t as many story down. Then I go back and layer up with better
journalistic opportunities, so I moved to the hospitality sector prose, knowing that the plot has been taken care of.
where I’ve been ever since.
• Writing prompts online can be really fun. I often use
‘When I wrote my first full-length novel – a historical them between book ideas, writing openers or short
crime - something seemed to click. I still didn’t consider stories off a random sentence, not worrying about
pursuing novel-writing professionally – though I submitted where it’s going. One even gave birth to a full novel
to agents on occasion and racked up the required rejections idea I hadn’t even realised was in me.
every writer has to go through! Ten years later with my laptop

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 57

THE BUSINESS OF WRITING

wTarxitienrgs
As the 2021-2022 tax year draws to a

close, 7MQSR ;LEPI] explores the
tax implications of being a writer

It only seems like yesterday that median earnings for writers who spent £5,000 income.
I was sorting out my 2020-2021 more than half their working time However, we can only claim
tax return, and yet, here we are, writing was £10,497 a year. It also
on the downhill stretch towards estimated that 10% of the highest- legitimate business expenses. If, while
the end of the 2021-2022 tax year. earning writers were taking 70% of the on a family holiday in Scotland,
Time flies when you’re having fun! Or profession’s total earnings. we found a fascinating museum
am I getting old? in Edinburgh that gave us all the
Therefore, for many writers, the day background material we required for the
It may be over thirty years since job is still a necessity. And it is possible plot of our next novel, we can claim the
I started writing for money, but to be employed in a day job, and museum entry fee as a valid expense.
I remember that moment when I registered self-employed as a writer in But the taxman might raise an eyebrow
received my first payment. It was a your spare time. if we were to claim all the expenditure
postal order for £3.50 (Yes, it was that of the family’s two-week holiday.
long ago). But I soon realised that if As soon as you earn more than
people were going to pay me for my £1,000 in any tax year from your Usually, determining what is
words, then I needed to think about writing, register with HMRC as self- an eligible expense is relatively
the taxman. employed. It will mean completing a tax straightforward. Essentially, if it’s
return every year (if you don’t already), incurred directly and wholly because of
Thankfully, he’s not as draconian as and you’ll need to complete the self- our writing business, then we can claim
you may think. Since 6th April 2017, assessment self-employed pages. the entire cost. If we have any personal
HMRC gives everyone a £1,000 tax- use out of it, then some expenses may
free property and trading allowance. Thankfully, these are not too onerous. be eligible on a pro-rata basis.
For writers, this means that when we As long as your self-employed income is
sell (trade) our words, we don’t have to less than the VAT threshold (currently So, any stationery you buy (Post-
tell the taxman until the total earned £83,000) per year, there’s only a two- it notes for scene plotting, pens and
from our writing within one tax year is page document that needs completing. notebooks for recording research) would
£1,000. (HMRC may change this limit be eligible, as would any entry fees
in the future.) Expenses offsetting and travel costs incurred solely for our
writing business. Don’t forget to include
However, we must keep accurate One benefit of being registered self- any costs of items that you sell on. If
records because as soon as we cross employed is that we’re permitted to you self-publish your books and buy
that threshold, we need to register as offset any legitimate expenses against stock to sell to at events, then that stock
self-employed. any income we make. That is useful cost is an eligible business cost too.
because we’re taxed on our profits,
Two jobs which is the difference between our Likewise, you can claim any
income and our expenditure. So, if website hosting costs and advertising,
Writers are frequently told not to we earned £5,000 from our writing, where you share details about your
give up their day job. While there are but incurred £2,000 of eligible latest book, as well as subscriptions
some hugely successful traditionally expenditure, we’re only going to be to organisations you may join
published and self-published writers, taxed on our £3,000 profit, not our because of your writing business.
the vast majority of writers do not earn
the money that bestselling authors like
JK Rowling enjoy. A joint survey by
the Authors Licensing and Collecting
Society (ALCS) and the University
of Glasgow in 2018 revealed that the

58 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

My Society of Authors, Alliance of account for our next tax year. The tax based upon the job we are doing for
Independent Authors, Crime Writers’ year we’re in now (2021-2022) ends on that magazine, which in most cases will
Association and Outdoor Writers and 5th April 2022. Even though we may be writing an article. (In my experience,
Photographers Guild memberships are not know exactly how much tax we magazines have sent me the CEST
all business costs I can offset against need to pay for this financial year by results shortly after commissioning me.)
my income. My subscription to Writing 31st July, HMRC assumes our income
Magazine is also a valid business is similar to that of last year, and so asks It doesn’t matter if we’re also
expense. (Subscribe now and let the for an upfront payment (typically 50%) employed elsewhere, either full-time or
taxman pay!) towards what it thinks we might owe in part-time. The CEST tool determines
tax. This payment is taken into account who is liable to pay tax for the specific
Of course, if you incur expenditure, when the final payment is due on the work being undertaken. We pay our tax
such as book research, before you earn following 31st January. through the PAYE system on any work
any money, it’s still possible to use these we do for an employer, but anything we
expenses to offset against any other The joy of CEST do on a self-employment basis is down
tax you may pay from your employed to us to pay through the self-assessment
earnings. So, there can be advantages to A couple of magazines who have service. We are responsible for paying
registering as self-employed before you’ve commissioned me over the last twelve the right amount of tax on the money
earned any money from your writing. months have sent me copies of CEST we’ve earned for that freelance job.
forms for my records. CEST stands for
Dating the tax year Check Employment Status for Tax. If you receive a CEST form, check
the details are correct. It details the
In the UK, the HMRC tax year runs HMRC introduced the tool to help questions the tool has asked the
from 6th April through to the 5th April businesses determine whether they commissioning publication and how
the following year. While the 5th/6th should classify people working for they answered them. If there’s anything
April are important dates, they’re not them as employed or self-employed. If you don’t understand or dispute, raise
the only dates that we need to mark on they’re employed, they should be on the it with the editor before you start work
our calendar. company’s payroll system and pay tax on the project. If everything is in order,
through PAYE, whereas self-employed then simply file the document safely for
The 5th April 2022 marks the end freelancers are personally responsible for your records.
of the 2021-2022 tax year. If you’ve paying their tax.
earned more than £1,000 from your Most magazines won’t bother with
writing during this tax year, you have This tool is primarily aimed at people this because it’s usually clear that any
until 5th October 2022 to register as who might offer their services through work they commission from you is on a
self-employed. an agency or intermediary. Normally, freelance, self-employed basis.
this wouldn’t affect writers and authors,
If you’re completing a paper tax form, but some businesses are using the tool to Stress less
you need to submit it to HMRC by double-check, so it’s possible that, like
midnight on 31st October 2022. They me, you may come across the document. Don’t let the tax side of your writing
will calculate the tax you owe, and you’ll business bother you. Remember, there
need to pay this by 31st January 2023. HMRC’s CEST tool is an online are thousands of us filling out our tax
questionnaire that anyone can use: returns each year. You’re not being
If you’re happy doing it online (of hirers, agencies or workers. It does not asked to do anything that nobody has
which some 96% of us are), you have ask for any personal details. The tool ever done before.
until 31st January 2023 to submit your simply asks a series of general questions
return. Once submitted, HMRC will about the work situation and then If you need any clarification,
automatically calculate any tax you delivers a result. These include whether look at the HMRC guidance notes
owe, and this is also due by midnight we might incur costs to do the work accompanying most forms. These are
on 31st January 2023. As any writer before they pay us, whether the hirer frequently helpful. Asking friends and
knows, leaving anything too close to a gains any intellectual property rights, family can be useful, but it’s always
deadline can raise stress levels. or if the worker can send a substitute to best to get advice from experts. Try
do the work. calling HMRC on 0300 200 3310
HMRC may also ask you to mark (Mon to Fri, 8 am to 6 pm), and if
31st July into your diary. Sometimes When the assessment is made, it’s you’re still unsure, then seek advice
they ask us to make a payment on from an accountant. When approaching
accountants, ask them if any of their
BUSINESS DIRECTORY other clients are writers because some
special tax rules apply to us.
Useful HMRC advice for writers
• Register as self-employed: www.gov.uk/register-for-self-assessment/self-employed Remember, paying tax on our writing
• Expenses if you’re self-employed: www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed business is a good sign. It proves we’re
• CEST Tool: www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax#worker generating an income from our words.
It means we’re successful writers!

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 59

RESEARCH TIPS

Reference material

8EVNE 1SPIW runs through essential reference works for any writer

R eference works are vital for busy writers as they Almanac). Yearbooks, such as The Britannica Book of the
allow you to find information easily. Their Year (aka Britannica Year in Review online), provide reports,
strength lies in offering synthesised information, charts, statistics, and images covering a specific year’s events
giving definitions and subject overviews, and trends. They may focus on a particular geographical area
providing facts and statistics, listing addresses or a specific subject.
and outlining events in chronological order. They tend to
include catalogues and indices which help you navigate their Quotation books, as the name suggests, contain
respective topics. quotations. There are numerous books and websites
to choose from. Some cover a wide range of topics (eg
Examples of reference works BrainyQuote, www.brainyquote.com); others focus on a
Encyclopaedias are considered authoritative and particular topic or are compilations of quotes by a famous
comprehensive sources. Their scope can vary from person (eg Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations).
covering topics across the whole of human knowledge (eg
Encyclopaedia Britannica, www.britannica.com) to focusing Handbooks give instructions on how to do something
on a specific subject area (eg The Encyclopaedia of the Social or give facts about a specific subject. They come in several
Sciences). Many encyclopaedias are regularly revised, so they forms, such as car manuals and travel guidebooks. They are
are usually relatively up to date. ideal for quick consultation and easy portability.

Dictionaries are a must for all writers. There are many Chronicles cover historical eras and decades by outlining
different kinds and they’re helpful in different ways: English and reviewing milestones. The exact content depends on
language dictionaries help with spelling and grammar; the chronicle’s focus. For example, 20th Century Day by Day
regional accent and slang dictionaries (eg Urban Dictionary, provides a visual history capturing people, places and events
www.urbandictionary.com) can open up a whole new of the 20th century.
world for the uninitiated; subject-specific dictionaries
explain expert terminology (eg A Dictionary of World Chronologies present a timeline of events, people and/
History); and rhyming dictionaries (eg Rhymer, www. or places in a specific context. They are great if you want to
rhymer.com) are handy for poets. get to grips with key dates and events that took place in a
particular location and/or in relation to an historic event.
Almanacs and yearbooks are similar in that they’re
published annually. However, the focus of an almanac is for Atlases contain maps and/or topographic data, and
the year ahead while a yearbook presents records relating they also often include information on the environment,
to the previous year. Almanacs contain miscellaneous facts climate, economy, population and statistics. The Times
and figures, tables, charts and calendars. For example, Comprehensive Atlas of the World is an example of a high-
they may list nautical, astronomical or astrological events. quality atlas that combines meticulously researched data
Almanacs vary from the general (eg The World Almanac – with beautiful illustrations.
some of its historical issues can be viewed at https://writ.rs/
worldalmanac) to the subject-specific (eg The Old Farmers’ Directories can help you to locate individuals, businesses,
authorities and other organisations. For example, Charity
Choice (www.charitychoice.co.uk) allows you to search and
browse registered charities in the UK.

Bibliographies are useful when you want to find out

60 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

what research material is available on a particular Behind the tape
topic. They list primary and secondary sources, and
some bibliographies also include brief explanations Expert advice to get the details right in
about these sources. What’s so brilliant about your crime fiction from serving police
bibliographies is that the entries have been vetted officer 0MWE 'YXXW
by experts, which means that the sources listed are If you have a
likely to be reliable. Q My main character is a PI whose lqisuseaencrdyutifttosrbenyLqiesumai,arpiiellesta@ose
ex-wife works for the police. He
Finding reference material gmail.com
The best places to find reference works are libraries
and the internet. If you’re using a library, search the sometimes needs information from police files
library catalogue by combining keywords from your
subject area and the type of reference material you’re to help him investigate. Would she be able to disclose
after (eg ‘psychology’ and ‘dictionary’). Alternatively,
browse your subject area’s reference books by details to him that aren’t available to the general public?
going straight to the relevant shelf. To do this you
need to know how your chosen library classifies If she is allowed to reveal some details but not others,
its books. Often this is done by using the Dewey
Decimal Classification (https://writ.rs/wikidewey). what can she disclose (over and above what the media
So, check your subject’s classification number (eg
150–159 for psychology) and follow the signs to the have reported) and what can’t she tell him?
relevant shelf.
I want my PI to be able to access details of criminal
These days many reference works are online.
Some are subscription-based and correspond to cases over and beyond what is revealed via the media
their print versions; other sites are freely accessible.
The most famous is undoubtedly Wikipedia (www. in order to help him solve crimes where he is requested
wikipedia.org). You can find online reference
sites by doing an online search: as with library to do so by his clients. If she helped him, would she be
catalogues, combine your keyword(s) with the type
of reference work you want to use, and enter these jeopardising her career?
terms in the search engine.
So, which are better: reference books or reference Craig Booker, via email
websites? That depends. Sometimes the content
is identical as publishers offer these works in two A In short, if she gave him any information at all that hadn’t
formats. If a website is a collaborative endeavour to already been in the media – often, it’s wrong anyway –
which anyone can contribute (such as Wikipedia), she would be very likely to face immediate suspension and be
there may be issues of accuracy, reliability and bias. investigated by Professional Standards. Passing on information
If a book hasn’t been updated for a while, it may about a murder or any investigation would result in her not only
contain out-of-date information even if it’s generally risking her job, but possibly criminal charges for perverting the
considered more reliable, having been written course of justice and/or misconduct in a public office. She may well
by experts and having gone through peer-review go to prison. I know it’s something that happens a lot in television
and editing processes. Therefore, whichever type police dramas, but it would conflict with the investigation and
or format you’re using, always check the writer’s prevent a fair trial - or possibly prevent any trial at all.
credentials, cross-reference your facts and note when
the material was last updated. Q If someone’s family has links to crime, does that mean
they wouldn’t be allowed to join the police?
LIBRARY RESOURCES Dave Murray, via email

• Many local libraries offer free remote access to A Everyone has to fill in a vetting form when they join – it takes
ages to get clearance. If the family are all criminals, I would
online reference works. Check what’s available say no. If it’s a sibling or cousin etc, it may be OK, but I don’t know
the exact criteria. If whilst a serving officer or civilian employee
and make the most of their resources. For someone you associate with or are related to gets arrested, you
have to declare it too. It doesn’t mean you’ll be fired but may not
example, if they subscribe to Oxford Reference have the right clearance for certain roles.

Online, you’ll have a huge online reference

library right at your fingertips.

Lisa Cutts is a crime fiction author and retired detective sergeant, having spent
most of her career within the Serious Crime Department. She has returned to
work as an Investigating Officer on historic crimes. Her novels are published by
Myriad and Simon and Schuster.

Competition rules and forms

Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or by post, with the ref code in the address,
to: Writing Magazine Competitions (Ref Code xxxxx), Warners Group Publications, West
Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH. Remember to add a front sheet with full contact
details and the name of the competition you are entering (see Rule 3)

To enter:

• Supernatural Short Story • 750-word short story
Competition (see p27) competition (see p27)
Supernatural short stories,
1,500-1,700 words; entry fee For short stories, up to 750 words;
£7.50, £5 for subscribers; entry fee £7.50, £5 for subscribers;
closing date, 15 May. closing date, 15 April.
Ref Code: Apr22/Super Ref Code: Mar22/750words

• Villanelle competition (see p56) • Sport short story competition
For short stories on sporting
Poems, up to 40 lines, in villanelle themes, 1,500-1,700 words; free
form; entry fee £7.50, £5 for entry, subscribers only; closing
subscribers; closing date, 15 May. date, 15 April.
Ref Code: Apr22/Villanelle Ref Code: Mar22/Sport

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All entries must be the original and unpublished work of the by the competition rules bound by the competition rules
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form, printed here (photocopies are acceptable), unless stated. FORENAME....................................................................... FORENAME.......................................................................
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sides of A4 paper with a front page stating your name, address, phone Q I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc Q I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc
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in the

Writing MAGAZINE

Grand Prize 2022

After an incredibly strong showing Runners-up prizes are £250 for second,
in its first two years, we’re pleased £100 for third, a WM Course mini-critique
to announce the return of the £1,000 for fourth and a twelve-month subscription
Writing Magazine Grand Prize. The for fifth.
open competition invites your short
stories in any form, on any topic. Stories will be judged by the Writing
Magazine editorial team – editor Jonathan
The only stipulation is that your story Telfer and assistant editorTina Jackson – and
should be a maximum 2,000 words. the winner published in Writing Magazine

ENTER NOW: CLOSING
DATE
Online, at
30 JUNE
http://writ.rs/1k2022

Or by post, using the form on p62

The entry fee is £15, or £10 for WM subscribers.Your submissions should be in a single document, with
your contact details on the first page. For full formatting guidelines, please see p62

Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets,
opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

Be the best for the Bridport GOOD EGGS

Tina Jackson The Times/Chicken House
Children’s Fiction Competition is
The Bridport Prize 2022 is inviting entries. • The Peggy Chapman-Andrews First open for entries.
The prestigious annual creative writing award Novel Award: The first prize is £1,500. The
offer the chance to win £20,000 in prizes winner will also receive mentoring from The There are prizes of £10,000 and £7,500
Literary Consultancy and consultations with advances in the annual contest for novel
The Bridport Prize 2022 categories are: literary agency A.M. Heath and publisher manuscripts for children or young adults.
• Poetry: The first prize is £5,000, the Tinder Press. and there is a runner-up prize
second is £1,000 and the third, £500. Ten of of £750 and manuscript assessment from The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction
highly commended entries will each win The Literary Consultancy, and three awards Competition is a contest for unpublished and
£100. This year’s judge is Inua Ellams. of £150 plus manuscript assessment. This unagented writers for children. To enter, writers
Enter original, unpublished poems in any year’s judge is Monique Roffey. Enter 5,000- must have completed a full-length manuscript
style or form, up to 42 lines. The entry fee 8,000 words of a novel manuscript by a of a novel aimed at children and young adults
is £10 per poem. writer who has not previously published a between 7 and 18. Novels may be in any genre
• Short story: The prizes are £5,000, full-length work of fiction, plus a 300-word of children’s fiction, and between 30,000 and
£1,000 and £500, with ten highly synopsis. The entry fee is £20 per novel. 80,000 words.
commended entries each getting £100. This
year’s judge is Tim Pears. Enter original, All winners will be published in an The winner will receive a worldwide
unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words. anthology. publishing contract with Chicken House with
The entry fee is £12 per story. a royalty advance of £10,000 and an offer of
• Flash fiction: The prizes are £1,000, The closing date is 31 May. representation by literary agent Louise Lamont
£500 and £250. This year’s judge is Kathy • The Bridport Prize has announced a from LBA Books, who is the agent judge for
Fish. Enter original, unpublished flash fiction new prize for memory writing, which will this year’s competition. The Chairman’s Choice
no longer than 250 words. The entry fee is be launched in June and judged by Cathy Award is a publishing contract with an advance
£9 per flash fiction. Rentzenbrink. of £7,500 and an offer of representation from
Website: https://bridportprize.org.uk/ Louise Lamont.

Enter the full manuscript, a synopsis and a
covering letter.

The entry fee is £20. The closing date is 1 June.
Website: www.chickenhousebooks.com

Dark skies, big prize Don’t brick it for
this comp
The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction 2022 is for unpublished
crime or thrillers from writers from North East England. The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize
2022 is inviting entries.
The Lindisfarne Prize, which is sponsored by author L J Ross
through her publishing imprint Dark Skies Publishing, is open There’s a £1,000 first prize in the annual
to writers of crime and thrillers who are from, or whose work contest funded by the independent Brick
celebrates, the North East of England. The prize is now in its Lane Bookshop.
fourth year.
The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize was set up in 2019 as a
The winner will receive £2,500 to support the completion competition for short fiction by UK writers. It is intended to celebrate the
of their work as well as funding towards membership of short story form and the resilience of independent bookshops.
both the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent
Authors. The winner will also receive mentoring and editorial The winner receives £1,000 and there are second and thrid prizes of
opportunities. £250 and £100. Twelve longlisted stories are published in the Brick Lane
Bookshop Short Story Prize anthology. The longlisted stories are judged by
Send either a short story up to 10,000 words, or the first Granta editorial director Anne Meadows, writer Huma Qureshi and Aitken
two chapters of a longer work in progress with a brief synopsis. Alexander literary agent Chris Wellbelove.
Writers entering the contest may have been previously published/
self-published, but all submissions to the 2022 Lindisfarne Prize Writers entering the contest may have had stories published in
for Crime Fiction must be of unpublished work. journals and anthologies, but must not have published an entire book of
Entry is free. The closing date is 30 June. their own fiction.
Website: www.ljrossauthor.com/philanthropy/lindisfarne-prize/
Enter original, unpublished short stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words.
The entry fee is £10 per story.
The closing date is 19 April.
Website: https://bricklanebookshop.org/short-story-prize/

64 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET

Home for new ideas

Gary Dalkin future together’.
They want long and short form
The Progress Network describes itself as ‘an idea movement that
speaks to a better future in a world dominated by voices that reported articles, opinion essays,
suggest a worse one.’ The Network, which includes many notable think pieces, interviews, book,
writers, academics, scientists and journalists, such as David exhibit and other reviews, and
Bornstein, Thomas Friedman, Steven Pinker and Fareed Zakaria, even listicles. Note that the Progress Network is nonpartisan and
notes that we live in a time marked by pessimism and are accepts views and arguments from across the political spectrum,
battered daily by negative headlines. Against this, the Progress and are not usually interested in pitches for purely political pieces.
Network ‘connects and amplifies those voices that are pointing
our world in a more positive direction, providing a template Recent articles have included a look at the Philippines
for a stable and sustainable future… united in their conviction banning child marriage, a just-discovered coral reef untouched
that humanity’s ingenuity and willingness to cooperate for the by climate change, a zero-waste way to use non-recyclable
common good is ultimately more potent than forces pulling in plastic, and progress towards reducing prescription drugs prices
the other direction’. in the US.

Founder Zachary Karabell and executive director Emma If you’d like to write for the Progress Network send a short
Varvaloucas and their team are looking for pitches for substantive pitch with links to clips or a short bio that explains why you are
good news (no adorable pet rescues), solutions journalism, the writer for this piece to [email protected]. You
constructive opinions on current affairs (particularly if counter- are welcome to send already written pieces if they have not been
intuitive to mainstream news), and progress-orientated takes on previously published. Get an idea of the sort of stories published
historical, psychological, philosophical, and cultural themes. They at https://theprogressnetwork.org/articles/ and check the full
would like to hear about success stories the world should know guidelines at https://theprogressnetwork.org/submission-
about, underreported but useful research, and ‘views that should guidelines/ Payment ranges from $100 for a listicle to $1,000
be considered more often than they are if we are to create a better for a long reported feature.

MAKE TIME FOR #BOOKTOK Rewarding emerging writers

Let’s talk about #BookTok. Face it, if you’re reading Writing The 2022 Mairtín Crawford Awards are inviting
Magazine, you probably only know that TikTok is a social media entries.
platform like Twitter, but for video. While Tweets can be no
longer than 280 characters, TikTok videos have to be between 15 The Awards are aimed at writers working
seconds and three minutes. Then there’s BookTok, not actually towards their first full collection of poetry or
a website/app, but a hashtag for labelling book-related videos on short stories, or a novel. Writers entering the
TikTok. The reason it’s worth knowing this is that since TikTok competition, from the Belfast Book Festival, may
launched videos tagged with the #BookTok hashtag have been be published or unpublished, but must not yet
viewed almost six billion times. have published a full collection, or a novel.

The site skews young, and is particularly popular with teenage The Awards are given for poetry (submit 3-5 poems) and short stories
girls, so is probably of most value to YA authors. Some authors (submit stories up to 2,500 words). The winner in each category will
have seen massive increases in back catalogue titles that TikTok receive £500 and a five-night stay at The River Mill Writing Retreat. Two
users have waxed lyrical about, and now bookshops, especially in runners up (one in each category) will both get £250.
the US, are even having sections devoted to books that have gone
viral via #BookTok. There’s even a BookTok page on the Barnes & The submission fee is £6.
Noble website, and director of books at Barnes & Noble, Shannon The closing date is 1 May.
DeVito, recently said, ‘We haven’t seen these types of crazy sales Website: https://belfastbookfestival.com/
– I mean tens of thousands of copies a month – with other social
media formats.’ As a result of the #BookTok hashtag Madeline CRITICAL
Miller’s decade old novel Song of Achilles entered the bestseller
lists, and in January was selling around 10,000 copies per wee – SENSIBILITIES
Astonishing numbers for a novel first published in 2012.
The new Women Poetry Prize contest is for critical
Under the #BookTok hashtag you will find everything from writing on women’s poetry.
book reviews, videos of users book collections, fans re-enacting
scenes from favourite books, and videos of readers reacting The inaugural Women Poetry Prize will be given
emotionally to powerful moments from favourite books or the for a critical essay that engages with the poetry of
endings of new releases. These videos often involve a lot of crying women of colour.
and are particularly popular.
The winner will have their work published in Women: a cultural review
Not surprisingly, money has crept in, with the New York Times and they will recieve a prize of £500. Shortlisted entries may be published
reporting ‘BookTok influencer’ Selene Velez, has been receiving in the journal. Judges include Dr Sandeep Parmar, the Women editorial
payments, sometimes in the thousands of dollars, to recommend team and Dr Mary Jean Chan. This year the prize is sponsored by the
particular books. At the time of writing she had 209,000 followers Centre for New and International Writing, University of Liverpool.
on TikTok.
Enter essays between 5,000 and 7,000 words.
If you want to explore TikTok and see how it might help you Entry is free. The closing date is 22 July.
promote your books visit www.tiktok.com and search for the Website: https://writ.rs/womenpoetryprize
#BookTok hashtag.

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 65

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Win a £4,000 Head Southword
first prize for a
900-word flash in PDR Lindsay-Salmon
the fifth contest
from Periscope. Southword Journal is a print literary journal published by The Munster Literature
The theme is ‘Fate Centre, publishing fiction and poetry. Read the guidelines at the website and stick
Knocking at the to them. The editorial team accept subs of fiction until 31 March. Poetry subs open
Door.’ Up to four in December and close at the end of February. Strictly no multiple or sim subs.
runners-up each
get £50.The entry The fiction editorial team want quality writing, honest and from the heart.
fee is £9 for the Stories, no more than 5,000 words, may be experimental or traditional. What
first, £6 for the counts is the story and use of language. For poetry, submit up to four poems, with
second and free for a suggested limit of forty lines each.
the third. No writer
may enter more Submit online with files saved as doc or docx, rtf or txt. Poems should be
than three pieces. submitted in a single file, with poems separated by titles or page breaks. Response
The closing date is time: ‘We hope to respond before the end of June following each submission
2 April. period.’ Payment is a comp copy plus €40 per poem and €250 per short story via
Website: https:// Paypal for overseas residents.
periscopeliterary.
wordpress.com/ Website: www.munsterlit.ie/Southword%20Journal.html

To celebrate the Literary sports writing wanted
centenary of
the publication Sports themed poetry, fiction and non fiction is wanted including print, film, performance, digital and other
of James for Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature. ‘We focus media. Of particular interest are non-fiction stories and
Joyce’s Ulysses, on the literary aspects of sport, critical articles on essay on culture and its surrounding culture. Creative
Shakespeare & literature and film, as well as original poetry and fiction non-fiction should avoid being a personal anecdote. Not
Co bookshop in on the subject of sport,’ says editor Dr Mark Baugartner. published are sociological, historical or topical sports
Paris is producing stories, sabermetric studies or economic analyses of sport.
an ensemble There are no limits on length requirements for poetry
recording that’s and fiction although most stories are under thirty pages. Format your work double spaced with your name on
being released as a A journal index which can be downloaded from a the title page only. Manuscripts should be in English,
free podcast from website link shows that the poetry and fiction content with the exception of non-English quotations, and
the 2 February greatly outnumbers the non-fiction content. written in MLA (Modern Language Association) style.
publication There is a website link below giving a brief guide to this.
anniversary up The non-fiction content consists of scholarly and
to Bloomsday on critical essays, the rhetoric of sport and cultural studies. Submissions should not have been previously
16 June. Readers Essays address the treatments of sport in texts and media published or be under consideration elsewhere. See
include Margaret website for the separate email addresses of the non-
Atwood, Will fiction, fiction and poetry editors.
Self, Ben Okri,
Eddie Izzard As Aethlon is a small literary journal a
and Jeannette contributory copy of the journal is the only payment
Winterson. that can be made.

The Sophie Coe For further information and to download an index of
Prize offers £1,500 published content: https://sportliteratureassociation.
for an essay or wordpress.com/aethlon/
article on food
history, in memory IT’S ALL A FABLE
of the food
historian, who died Inviting you to write a 21st century fable in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson, the Fable
in 1995. Competition has a first prize of £500 and £100 for a runner-up. Entries from non-UK
Enter essays or writers are welcome. Entrants under the age of sixteen must have the permission of their
articles that include parent or guardian to enter.
new research
or provide new Fables should be under 350 words long, ‘focus on dialogue rather than narration’ and
insights, 2,500- submitted in pdf or doc format. Fables should not have been previously published or entered
10,000 words, for any other competition
published in the
last twelve months. The judging panel, chaired by author and journalist Alan Taylor, will be looking for the
A single winner will ‘criteria of pleasure to the reader and conformance to Stevenson’s fable style’. To inspire there are
be awarded £1,500. links to Stevenson’s fables on the website and the competition guidance notes give examples of
Entry is free. Each appropriate themes. There are also links to walks, hikes and treasure hunts relating to Stevenson.
writer may enter
one essay or The closing date for entries is 2 April and there are no restrictions on the number of entries you may make. The winner and
article.The closing runner-up will be announced at the Robert Louis Stevenson Conference which takes place in Bordeaux 16-18 June 2022
date is 22 April.
Website: https:// Email your fable as an attachment with the title as the email title. Include your name at the bottom of the email and
sophiecoeprize. send to: [email protected]
wordpress.com/
Website: www.mrrls.com/fable-rules-and-guidance

66 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

UK OUTDOORS MARKET

Outdoor activity

Tina Jackson

Vertebrate Publishing is an award-winning publisher the 2016 Mountain Literature award in Banff and the
of outdoor books and guides, from mountaineering 2016 Boardman Tasker Prize – our first book to do a
narratives, to walking, cycling, mountain biking, Banff/BT “double”.’
running, climbing and wild swimming guides.
In early 2013 Vertebrate acquired Bâton Wicks
‘We also publish wildlife, nature and photography from Ken Wilson, and have made many classic
books and children’s adventures stories, all with the mountaineering books available in digital formats and,
aim of inspiring people to get out and explore the from late 2016, in print-on-demand formats as well.
great outdoors,’ said head of marketing Lorna Brogan. ‘We are continuing to acquire the publishing rights to
out-of-print books and are committed to ensuring they
Vertebrate work from an insider perspective. ‘We are made available in years to come.’
produce the kind of books that we’d want to read or
use ourselves,’ said Lorna. ‘Based in Sheffield, on the At the moment Vertebrate publishes around thirty
doorstep of the Peak District, we’re blessed with access new titles a year. ‘In a nutshell, a good book for us
to world-class hillwalking, climbing and mountain is something that inspires adventure,’ sad Lorna. ‘It
biking and this provides the ongoing inspiration for could be a guide to outdoor swimming in a particular
our ever-expanding range of books. Some of our area, with beautiful photos and well-researched
newest releases include Wild Waters, a beautifully information about the best spots and cafes, or it could
illustrated companion to underwater life, Peak Bagging: be a compelling story about taking on a challenge
Wainwrights, a guide to linking up these iconic Lake and overcoming setbacks along the way. The common
District fells in the most efficient way; and 1001 denominator is that the reader should pick it up and
Running Tips, a light-hearted and informative guide to think “wow, this has inspired me to go outside and do
all types of running.’ something adventurous”, no matter how big or small.’

Vertebrate started off as a small graphic design start- All submissions should have the potential to inspire
up which gradually morphed into a team of graphic readers to have their own outdoor adventures. ‘We’re
designers and then into a team of book producers. looking for books which inspire and equip people to
‘We published our first book, Dark Peak Mountain plan their own adventures, and unique and well-told
Biking: True Grit Trails, in 2014 to critical acclaim and stories about innovative, compelling adventures they’ve
it’s since been reprinted, reissued as an all-new edition been on. The areas we publish into include climbing,
and continues to inspire riders visiting the Peak. Our cycling, walking, running, paddling, swimming and
range of mountain biking guidebooks now totals adventure travel. Or surprise us with the next big
eighteen books, covering most of the UK along with outdoors trend.’
a guide to the amazing riding in the Western Alps. In
January 2009 we published our first narrative title, the Looking ahead, Vertebrate hopes to expand
autobiography of British rock climbing legend Jerry its selection of books about outdoor pursuits
Moffatt, co-written with Irish writer Niall Grimes. that are growing in popularity, such as stand-up
Revelations has proven to be a great success and paddleboarding, wild swimming and bikepacking.’
scooped the Grand Prize at the 2009 Banff Mountain
Book Festival – one of the biggest prizes in publishing Prospective authors should be able to combine
in the outdoor, adventure, and environment genres. personal passion for their project with in-depth
Since then, we’ve published many other climbing knowledge and commercial insight. ‘Look at our
narratives – several of which we’re proud to say have existing list and see if your idea would fit with what
either won or been nominated for awards, including we do,’ said Lorna. ‘Think about existing books you
John Porter’s One Day as a Tiger which won the Grand particularly like and why you like them. What does
Prize at Banff in 2014, Andy Kirkpatrick’s Cold Wars a guide book have that others don’t? Why was the
which won the 2012 Boardman Tasker Prize, and structure of that narrative book so compelling?’
Simon McCartney’s epic book The Bond, which won
Vertebrate publishes in hardback, paperback, ebook
and audiobook.

Website: www.v-publishing.co.uk

CRANK THEM OUT

Non-profit making publisher age of sixteen. Short stories, max within six weeks of the closing date.
Cranked Anvil Press’s quarterly 1,500 words, must be original, not Check out the website to read
short story competition is open published in any media format and
until 30 April, with prizes not submitted for publication or previous winning stories, links
of £150, £75 and £30. The any other award or competition. to writing advice and prompts
winning stories and a selection and information on a quarterly
of short- and longlisted The closing date for entries is Flash Fiction competition with an
stories will be published in an 30 April and a maximum of three upcoming deadline of 31 May.
anthology. stories, written in English, may be Email to:
submitted. The entry fee is £5 for [email protected]
The competition is open one poem, £8 for two, £10 for three. Website: https://crankedanvil.
to writers worldwide over the co.uk/shortstory/rules
The results will be announced

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 67

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK SPORTS MARKET

Win £1,000 in the The match is on
Globe Soup 2022
Short Memoir Jenny Roche
Competition for
creative non-fiction. As its title might suggest for fans the monthly When When submitting an idea your pitch should be 100-
This year’s theme Saturday Comes magazine is all about football, ‘the 150 words long outlining the topic and saying why it
is ‘Places that have good news stories, the dubious owners, the experience should be covered. You can include any relevant news
made me, changed of attending matches and the particulars of being a articles on the topic. If your topic is time sensitive check
me or inspired fan’. Editors say it is important you get to know their the publication dates on the website.
me’. Enter original, published style of writing and whether they have already
unpublished covered the topic you want to write about. There are Articles are usually approximately 750 words with a
creative non-fiction example articles and a complete archive which can be few exceptions. Match of the Month articles are 1,500-
up to 3,000 words. accessed on the website. 1,600 words, shorter features on a specific topic can be
The prize is £1,000 500 words and any ideas editors feel need more space
and the winning Pitches for standalone articles are welcome and it is may be 1,000-1,200 words.
entry will be suggested new writers to the magazine might like to
published on Globe pitch for one of the regular sections. There are nine Payment rates are £75 for a 750 word article, £50
Soup. of these which include Match of the Month, Football for a book review and up to £125 for such as a longer
Early entries are Cities, Book Reviews and Shirt Tales. See website for Match of the Month piece.
£5, then £12.The more details.
closing date is 17 Send pitches to Andy Lyons at: [email protected]
May. Website: www.wsc.co.uk/contribute
Website: www.
globesoup.net NORTHERN STAR

New Writing North Sally J Morgan won the 2022 Portico Prize. determination of Toto, the main
has launched The £10,000 award for Northern writing was won by character, to refuse to allow the
a book club fears to define her as she lives
subscription her debut novel Toto Among the Murderers. a life of reckless adventure,
service in The novel, which is published by J M Originals/ longing and love.”
partnership with
The Bound, an Hachette, is inspired by Sally’s own near-miss experience Sally said: ‘I grew up in
independent of being offered a lift by Fred and Rosemary West. Yorkshire, and I have Yorkshire and the North – where
bookshop in I spent a lot of my adult life working – as a big place
Whitley Bay. ‘Sally J Morgan’s Toto Among the Murderers vividly in my heart. I love to write about place, and I wanted
Subscribers to the evokes a period in recent history with themes that carry to write about a place and a time and stories that I felt
New Writing North clear, if painful echoes, to today – a time when women were being neglected and in danger of being lost. So, to
Book Club will in the North, in particular, lived in mortal fear of sexual have [Toto Among the Murderers] recognised in this way
receive six signed violence made explicit by daily headlines about mass by the Portico Prize is enormously affirming.’
paperbacks and an murderers targeting vulnerable women,’ said chair of
invitation to meet judges Gary Younge. ‘But what comes through is the
the author at an
exclusive online MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS
event.
Website: https:// DarkLit, from Horror Oasis. is a represented’ and ‘encourage people and all Ode to Stine, YA horror
newwritingnorth. small indie press aiming to amplify to think outside the box when they stories steeped in 90s nostalgia.’
com/nwn-book- underrepresented voices in dark write about what a religion is (eg Characters should be diverse, think
club/ literature. Two anthologies are open invent a fictional religion or think BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and strong
for submissions: The Sacrament and, about things that get cult followings, female, also disabled, fat, and
Stephen Fry has for YA readers, Reader Beware. such as MLMs)’. They also neurodivergent. Submissions will be
launched Inside welcome diverse characters: ‘a good accepted until 1 August.
Your Mind, a Editors Kelly Brocklehurst and representation of POC, LGBTQ+,
12-part Audible Jamie Stewart are overseeing The and strong female characters.’ The No multiple subs please but
podcast series Sacrament, a collection of religious deadline for submissions is 1 July. reprints may be accepted, as are
that explores horror stories to chill readers to simultaneous submissions with
the human brain the core. Don’t fall into using the The Reader Beware editors, Briana the usual proviso. Response time
and how it has usual religious culprits: they want Morgan and Roxie Voorhees, want is ‘reasonable’ but note that these
evolved. ‘I have ‘Diversity among the religions stories ‘about Fear Street – the anthologies may well close early.
enjoyed putting unexplained mysteries, missing Payment is 1¢ per word for new
these podcasts people, the things that lurk in the stories, $25 for reprints.
together so much dark’. They look for ‘A little nostalgia
and I hope that Website: https://horroroasis.com
we manage to
tell the story of
brain science and
current thinking on
thinking in a way
which entertains,
amuses, informs
and astonishes in
equal measure,’
said Stephen.

68 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

GOING TO MARKET

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET Fit in to
get on
Raven’s call
4EXVMGO *SVW]XL recommends
PDR Lindsay-Salmon a pragmatic approach to
getting commissions
Raven Canticle Press is a US speciality press with an editorial team which ‘focuses on limited run
and small press horror, fantasy, and science fiction genre fiction’. The press focuses on high-quality R eaders and editors are
fiction and limited run content, and works with a variety of new technology and delivery methods to different. Obvious, yes, but
provide content. stay with me a moment.
Readers may like all sorts
Currently the team seek novels and novellas, especially ‘from diverse, under-represented of things and may be surprised and
perspectives and cultures’ which are ‘well-researched and written by fresh and exciting voices’. They delighted to read something wholly
prefer speculative fiction in these genres: fantasy, horror, espionage/thriller, and science fiction. Novels unlike what they expected. Editors most
should be no more than 80,000 words, and novellas a minimum of 15,000 words. often have fixed ideas about what they
want and they reject things that do not
Submit by email a well edited, polished and finished manuscript. Attach work as an rtf, doc or fit what they believe suits.
docx files. Please use the ‘best practices in manuscript formats’: www.shunn.net/format/classic/
Thus rejection does not necessarily
Profanity, to a reasonable degree, is acceptable. The team prefer horror, dark, or gothic fiction, set mean something is bad, only that it does
in any period or place. Any sex and violence ‘should be narratively and artistically justifiable. Nothing not fit what a particular editor has in
explicit just for shock value.’ mind. Most often you can’t fight against
this (though being persistent may get
Valravn is the annual of ‘wyrd fiction’ short stories, 3,000-10,000 words. The anthology is horror something different accepted). You have
themed, but each annual contains a multitude of genres and elements in it. Speculative short fiction to fit in. Thus the old advice about
in the genres of fantasy, horror, espionage/thriller and SF is what the editor requires. Submit the reading a magazine before submitting to
story online using their system. Make sure the work is in an rtf, doc or docx file format and correctly it is sound.
formatted according to the Shunn format.
This kind of checking does not just
Note that horror, dark or gothic themes must carry the stories. Profanity is allowed ‘to a reasonable apply to overall factors, it involves
degree, as long as it serves the story.’ Sex and violence should be narratively and artistically justifiable. details. For example, how many mid-
Nothing explicit just for shock value. Response time is ‘slow’. Payment is discussed under contract text headings does a non-fiction article
for novels/novella, and for ‘short fiction annuals and anthologies, we offer a one-time purchase fee of usually have? If featured stories usually
10¢ per word, with additional bonus pay-outs based on crowdfunding and sales.’ have a twist ending, then it’s probable
Submit stories online and novels/novellas by email: [email protected] that you will more likely get published if
Website: www.ravencanticlepress.com yours does too; and it most likely needs
to be a very distinct twist.
SHOOT FOR THE TOP
Of course writing is a creative process
New indie Head Shot Press is dedicated to crime fiction. They are open for and it is the writer’s right to do what they
submissions of ‘crime novels that are predominantly neo-noir or hard-boiled’. like. But following an accepted pattern is
Don’t send ‘murder mysteries, cosy mysteries, or crimes are solved by cats’. more often likely to result in acceptance
and publication, even if sometimes doing
Query first by email with a brief synopsis, the first three chapters as a doc, docx, so is distasteful. I was once commissioned
rtf or pdf attachment, and some bio information. If the team are interested they will request the to write a non-fiction book arranged in
full manuscript. many ‘chapters’ labelled A – Z. I hated it
and found it utterly contrived, but doing
They are also publishing anthologies and currently need submissions for Bang!: An Anthology it paid a few bills.
of Noir Fiction. Stories ‘must adhere to the noir genre’ but no ‘slavish reproductions or carbon
cut-outs of genre classics.’ They want ‘new spins on old themes. We want nihilism… we’re more Careful checking then fitting with
likely to publish nitty-gritty realism… than space vampires with a noir edge.’ Writing should be editorial specifications, and accepting
literary, with style, and substance. Give them ‘stories set in locales untraditional to the genre’, editorial requests for amendments too,
not just the ‘litter-strewn alley in 1940s New York’. Stories, 2,000-8,000 words, are welcome usually does increase the chances of
‘from writers of any age, derivation or inclination’. acceptance. Creativity is important
too, of course – something that is also
The imprint is launching with reprint titles by the publisher, Andrew Hook, as a way of regularly mentioned here.
keeping his books in print.
APRIL 2022 69
Email submissions as doc, docx, rtf or pdf attachments together with a brief covering letter.
Put ‘Bang submission, name, story title’ in the email subject line.

Anthology deadline is 1 September. Response time is ‘reasonable.’ Payment for anthologies is
‘£10 per story plus one contributor copy of the paperback.’ Payment for novels is discussed with
the contract.

Details: Head Shot Press, email novel queries to [email protected]; website:
https://headshotpress.com

www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES ONLINE TECH MARKET

The South Downs Tom’s Guide wants tech writers
Poetry Festival is
inviting entries for Gary Dalkin
the Binsted Prize
2022.The annual Tom’s Guide is a US website (now part of Future iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and more’ and ‘How to clean
prize is for original, Publishing), which also has UK, Australian and an air fryer and get rid of baked-on grease’. Other recent
unpublished poems Canadian versions, dedicated to testing and reviewing features have ranged from ‘How to remove ice from a
on any theme, no new technology products and enabling consumers to get driveway quickly and safely’ to ‘How to start a blog’ and
longer than fifty the best tech deals, as well as providing a wide range of ‘How to lose weight by running’.
lines. Prizes are ‘life hacks’. They are currently looking for ‘people who
£300, £150 and £50. can help cover news in the UK AM, but feature writers Global editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer’s team are
This year’s judge is and interesting pitches are also welcome.’ always open to pitches. Payment is around $80 for a 300
Naomi Foyle. word news story and $300 for a 1,000-word feature.
The entry fee is The sites feature practical ‘how to’ guides / tutorials Read some of the content on site at www.tomsguide.
£5, £4 for each and opinion pieces, as well as consumer technology com/uk then use this page to find the appropriate editor
subsequent. The news, reviews and articles cover products from to pitch from the large team: www.tomsguide.com/us/
closing date is 14 computers and phones to TV and audio equipment. toms-guide-who-we-are,review-4166.html
April. Recent features have included ‘How to save Wordle
Website: www. and play offline’, ‘How to watch UK TV abroad: BBC The same page also has lots more useful information
binsted.org/poetry- about what Tom’s Guide is looking for.
comp-22
ONLINE CULTURE MARKET
March sees the
publication of Entertain the kids
new flipped eye
anthology Before Gary Dalkin
Them, which is
a celebration of Elite Daily is an entertainment site targeting the younger generation. Editor Jonathan Borge is accepting pitches for
intergenerational thoughtful and timely essays/reported pieces/reactions to TV shows, movies, songs, albums, celebrities, entertainment
family history by trends, and influencers making an impression on Gen Z. The focus should be on recent releases, or older pop cultural
24 poets of African artefacts/events/personalities that have recently become relevant to Gen Z for whatever reason.
descent, including
Nii Ayikwe Parks Rates begin at $250 and are negotiable, depending on experience. Pitch Jonathan on Twitter @senorborge. Read Elite
and Inua Ellams. Daily first at www.elitedaily.com

Bookshop.org A music NOT TO BE SNEERED AT
has reported that blog market
since its launch Snarl is a new print and online journal of literature and art with
it has generated Billing itself as a blog which a stroppy editorial team. Not impressed with the current state
£2million in offers ‘insights on musical diversity, identity of things they want submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
profit for the 500 and the global music industry’ The Logbook is and art for print publication, seeliomg ‘to publish and promote
independent Compass Music’s industry blog and provides a place creators of marginalised identities’.
bookshops that for international industry professionals to share
use the platform. passions for their local music scene, insider insights Priority is given to ‘creators of marginalized identities’, defined
Between Black and professional tips. Since its beginnings in 2020 by ‘race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, and/
Friday 2021 and the blog has been viewed in over 120 countries. or disability’. Submit online unless you are not able to.
the end of the year,
book sales on the Pitches for articles of approximately 1,500-2,000 They want fiction and non-fiction under 8,000 words,
platfom amounted words are welcome and these can be made using whether a short story, novel excerpt or literary essay, with
to £1million. the online form. In addition to name and contact dynamic characters and rich, memorable language. Favoured
55% of the total details you will be asked to provide a working title essays are in lyric form, about the craft, or about social justice.
profit is directed and 2-3 sentences explaining your subject and what For poetry submit 1-5 poems. Comics, graphic narrative,
to bookshops in experience you have with this. You will also be humour, book interviews, craft essays, and interviews may be
customer-directed asked if you have an industry professional or artist accepted, try the team out.
commissions, and in mind to interview or give a testimony. If you
45% is shared have any published or unpublished work written in Response time is ‘around five months’. Payment is $25 for
equally among English you will be asked to provide a link to this. flash and micro fiction, $50-$75 for longer prose, $15 per
all participating poem, plus $5 per additional printed page.
bookshops in a Payment rates are a flat €50 plus VAT if
shared profit pool. applicable. Details: submit online or post subs to: Chloe Seim, PO Box
442634, Lawrence, KS 66049, USA; email: snarlmagazine@
Lynn Buckle Website: www.compass-music.com/post/call- gmail.com; website: https://snarljournal.com
has won the for-writers-pitch-your-article-for-the-logbook
2021 Barbellion
Prize, awarded
for writing that
furthers ill and
disabled voices,
with her novel
What Willow Says
(Epoque Press).

70 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

UK SPECFIC MARKET

Horror finds a home with Bones

Tina Jackson

An anthology of horror set in 2022 Bag of Bones Press is a new independent publisher of fresh and we’re also fans of indie horror. Just check out Twitter’s
horror, dark, and speculative fiction. #horrorfam, you’ll find lots of great indie writers and
Edited by SJ Townend publishers there. Ghost Orchid Press, Brigid’s Gate Press,
‘We’re also keen on sci-fi and fantasy, as long as horror Cemetery Gates Media, and Kandisha Press, amongst
is the dominant element in a story,’ said publisher SJ many others are all releasing stellar anthologies, novellas,
Townend. ‘We’re keen to offer our support to new and and novels at the moment.’
up-and-coming writers by providing a place for them to
showcase their best work. We’re open to submissions (for Currently, Bag of Bones is after 500-5000 word stories
our specific calls) from anyone and we’re especially keen to for the daylight horror call (deadline: Oct 31st or until
read work from under-represented voices and from writers full) and stories of up to 2022 words for our Annus
who have less in the way of professional qualifications Horribilis call (deadline: March 31st or until full), any
and training in the writing industry. Everyone deserves a theme. ‘We’re looking for great writing with twists we
chance, right? After all, we’re just a bunch of horror lovers can’t see coming.’ said SJ. ‘We like it all: traditional
ourselves, trying to manifest something beautifully horrid.’ stories, transgressive and experimental prose. We’re not big
on poetry, but will consider it if it tells a great story.’
Bag of Bones set up in 2021, ‘with the intention of
providing ourselves and other writers with a distraction Authors wanting to submit are advised to craft their
against the true horrors out there in the world at the writing with care. ‘If you like one of our calls, try and
moment,’ said SJ. ‘We’re a small team of horror fans who draft your story early then sit on it for as long as you can
hope to publish anthologies to help showcase excellent (not literally) before re-reading and re-drafting it with
writers of dark fiction. Along the way, we intend to donate “fresh eyes”. Please don’t send us a first draft; we need
a proportion of any profit we might see to children’s polished pieces.’
charities in the UK.’
In the future, SJ is hoping operations will expand.
Bag of Bones aims to release at least three titles this ‘We’ll be sticking with collating and publishing
year, and next year, hopefully more. ‘Our debut horror anthologies for a year or two and hopefully, we’ll see our
anthology, 206 Word Stories (a word for each bone in your rates of pay grow with our authorship and readership.
body) will be published this spring and we have Annus Maybe we’ll open up for novellas at some point? Long
Horribilis (horror set in 2022) and Step into the Light term, we’d love to be able to give up our day jobs and
(daylight horror) on the way too. Being a small indie focus on the press full time. We can dream---but,
press, we listen to our audience. If someone suggests a unsurprisingly, we prefer nightmares.’
good call idea, we’ll consider it.’
Bag of Bones published in print and ebook and pays
Bag of Bones takes a broad approach to horror. ‘We love royalties.
the classics, King, Poe, Barker, Rice, Lovecraft, Jackson,
Website: www.bagofbonespress.com

SCAM WATCH Make a
play for
New scams targeting writers are highlighted attention by Victoria Strauss in diversity
several forensically detailed posts for the excellent Writer Beware website. In
short, if you are contacted by anyone – either by email or phone – claiming Plays written in either English or Italian on LGBTQ+
to be a publisher or agent interested in traditionally republishing your self- community topics and ‘the promotion of diversity in
published novel, be very careful. It is not that this really can’t happen, and very love, society, politics and culture’ are invited for the Carlo
occasionally it actually does, but that is part of the ingenious rottenness of Annoni International Playwriting Award.
the scam, that it has a level of plausibility of something that is a real, if highly
unlikely possibility. A genuine agent or publisher will never ask you for money. Two plays, one in each language category, will be awarded
€1,000. Special mentions will be given to a short play of a
The fake publishers and agents will usually claim to be US based, but are maximum 10 minutes, a comedy play on relationship life
often in reality located in the Philippines. They run various fake companies and also a play on the topic of ‘asylum seeking for those
with regularly changing names, Chapters Media, Paper Bytes Marketing persecuted for their sexual orientation’. Prize winning plays
Solutions and Blueprint Press among them, and also have websites claiming to on the Award topics can be read on the website.
belong to various agents. These agents can be entirely fictitious, but some have
impersonated real agents with impeccable reputations, making the scam all the Writers of any age may submit their work and there are
harder to spot. Though the photos used are never of the real agent, but will have no restrictions on length or character numbers. Plays which
been taken from a stock photo or legitimate business site. It can all seem very have previously been performed are eligible.
convincing, and some writers have been conned out of thousands of dollars.
All entries will be assessed by a jury selected by the
The scam works by putting pressure on a writer to say that there is major Award organisers who will be looking for creative content,
publisher interest in reprinting their book, and possibly even the potential play form, pertinence with the topic and the play’s social
for a film or TV deal, but that it must be done quickly and that various impact. The winners will be announced at a public awards
additional services will need to be paid for to meet the deadline. If you ever ceremony in September 2022 and through press and social
get contacted in this way beware, it’s a scam. No agent or publisher will media outlets.
contact you and then start asking you for money. The second the idea of you
paying anything at all, break off contact. Cons like this depend on people Email submissions before the deadline of 30 April to:
being swept up in the excitement of the idea of getting a publishing deal, [email protected]
but remember, if something seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. Website: http://premiocarloannoni.eu/guidelines/?lang=en

You can find out much about how these scams work at https:// APRIL 2022 71
accrispin.blogspot.com

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK HEALTH MARKET

Ware Open Poetry The Breakdown breakdown
Competition
2022 has £600, Jenny Roche
£300 and £150
prizes for original, A mental health and wellbeing magazine The Breakdown the headline for your story and a summary of a maximum
unpublished poems has ‘relatable lifestyle content and comforting personal 200 words. Say why you’re the best person to write this
on any theme, up stories’ and aims ‘to offer readers comforting and reliable piece, what your angle is and what case studies and/or
to 50 lines. content to let them know they’re not alone’. expert/s you plan to include. Include also links to any
There is also the previously written work you may have. If you do not gain
Ware Sonnet Prize Topics featured include sex and relationships, beauty a response to your pitch within two weeks consider it a
of £150 for the best wellness and style, family, food, culture, health, mental ‘no’ to your idea.
sonnet submitted. health research and news and can take the form of essays,
This year’s judge is opinion pieces, features, investigative reports, listicles Payment is £80 per 700-900 words and £100 for
Jonathan Edwards. and more. To give a better idea of content check out the columns.
The entry fee is articles which can be read on the website.
£4 per poem.The Email pitch with PITCH and your headline in the
closing date is 30 Previous published articles and blogs are not wanted subject line to: [email protected]
April. and in the first instance you should pitch an idea. Include
Website: www. Website: https://the-breakdown.co.uk/write-for-us/
poetrypf.co.uk/
comps/ware22.pdf ONLINE HEALTH MARKET

CJ Samson has Write for a world gone mad
been annonced
by the CWA as Gary Dalkin Write for Rhys
the recipient
of this year’s Mental Hellth is a US website and subscription-based The 2022 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition
Diamond Dagger newsletter focused on mental health issues, and describes is inviting entries from writers in or from Wales.
Award, given in itself as ‘a newsletter about your broken brain.’ It includes
recognition of interviews with experts and activists who challenge our current The national Rhys Davies Short Story
crime writers conceptualizations of mental health, information on ‘alternative Competition is run in honour of Welsh author
who have made modalities for mental health treatment’, essays and journalism Rhys Davies by Swansea University in association
a significant on the prescription drug industry, psychiatry, psychology, and with the Rhys Davies Trust and Parthian Books.
contribution to the more.
genre. The winner will receive £1,000. Eleven
Editor PE Moskowitz predicates the newsletter on the idea runners-up will each receive £100. Stories by
The first Morpeth that what we often think of as individual problems are really the winner and finalists will all be included in
Book Festival societal issues. The aim is to break down myths about mental a short story anthology published by Parthian
will take place on health and open up discussions ‘about why we’re all feeling so Books. This year’s guest judge is Rachel Trevise.
9 and 10 April, sad, stressed, depressed and “crazy.” Have we gone mad, or has
and will include the world?’ Enter original, unpublished short stories up to
appearances by 5,000 words. All entrants must have been born
Anne Cleeves, You can pitch anything from an interview with someone in Wales, have lived in Wales for two years or
Chuck Hogan, Mari about psychiatry and capitalism to how some deep psychological more, or be currently living in Wales.
Hannah and Kate concept applies to current events. Moskowitz notes those are
Daniels. just examples, and is looking for ‘anything relevant’. Recent The entry fee is £8 per story. The closing date
Website: https:// features have included ‘Is Dream Work a Corrupted Form of is 22 March.
writ.rs/morpeth Psychology?’, ‘Capitalism, Fascism and Mental Health’, ‘Seeking
Out Pain On Purpose’ and ‘Mindfulness at the End of the Website: https://writ.rs/rhysdavies22
Thriller writer World’.
Penny Batchelor
and Red Rates start at $150 for Q&A type pieces to $300 upwards
Door Press’s for essays and reported features. Check out the site at https://
#KeepFestivals mentalhellth.xyz then pitch to [email protected]
Hybrid campaign
to ensure that Cluck about this prize for older women
literary festivals
commit to offering The annual Grey Hen Press Poetry Competition for or have been accepted for future publication.
a blend of in- Women Poets Over 60 invites poems of a maximum forty Submit two copies of each poem by post only, along
person and online lines on any subject from women who will be sixty years old
events to make by 30 June. Prizes are £100, £50 and £25. with the official entry form which is available from the
sure that people website or the address below. Include SAEs marked
with illnesses The competition is organised by the independent Grey ‘receipt’ and ‘results’ if you would like to be notified of
and disabilities Hen Press which believes older women have a ‘special these. The names of the winners will be posted on the
are catered for is perspective… the sharpest of observation leavened with a website by the end of June 2022.
gaining traction, wicked sense of humour. Older women have a lot to say,
with signatories and they say it with style.’ The entry fee is £3, £10 for four, with cheques
to their open letter being made payable to Grey Hen Press. The closing
including Hilary Entries should be no more than 40 lines long, on any date is 30 April.
Mantel and Joanne theme and typed on A4 paper with no personal details on
Harris. the pages. No entry should have been previously published Details: Grey Hen Press, PO Box 269, Kendal,
Cumbria LA9 9FE; website: www.greyhenpress.com

72 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

INTRODUCTIONS
Writing Magazine presents a selection of current submission calls. We strongly recommend
that you read back issues, familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and
check websites for submission details.

Independent global Grub Street Meze Publishing is a
publisher Hardie Publishing is an specialist cookery book
Grant Books, an award-winning, publishing service that
imprint of the niche publisher of cookery and military works with authors
Australian Hardie Grant publishing company aviation books whose cookery list, headed to create and design
with an office in the UK, and its Quadrille by publisher Ann Dollimore, includes titles cookbooks. with a
imprint, publish a wide range of cookbooks, by critically acclaimed chefs, and always strong focus on design.
including vegan, vegetarian and diet and has a strong focus on the food. Grub Street Clients include well-
health titles as well as books by celebrity chefs. publishes around twelve new titles each known chefs and brands, as well a regional
Hardie Grant also includes drinks books on year, and takes a pride in finding gaps in the range that showcases local produce and
its list. Submissions are accepted directly market and publishing titles readers can’t food outlets. Writers wanting to produce
from authors, and should include an outline, find elsewhere. Submissions are welcomed a cookbook with Meze pay an upfront
chapter outline, sample chapter, visuals if from first-time and established cookery book fee for services that include specialist
available, and author information. authors, and should consist of a synopsis, a marketing and PR, and then take 75% of
Website: www.hardiegrant.com sample chapter and an author biography. sales profits.
Website: https://grubstreet.co.uk/ Website: https://mezepublishing.co.uk/
Kitchen Press,
established Chronicle is an Pavilion Books is an independent,
in 2011 and independent book London-based publisher of engaging,
based in publisher based in accessible illustrated books whose
Scotland, is an San Francisco with specialist lists include baking, cookery,
independent an inclusive ethos drink and wine books. Submissions are
publisher that specialises in food writing and that is reflected in its strong food and drink accepted as hard copies by post, and
works with food writers, chefs and restaurants list in its adult trade division. Chronicle should consist of an outline, chapter
throughout the UK to publish fresh, enticing is committed to publishing authors and outline and sample chapter.
cookery books, including Bad Girl Bakery, creators from diverse backgrounds, and has Website: www.pavilionbooks
Macedonia - The Cookbook and Brick Lane an open submissions policy. Send a one-page
Cookbook. Proposals are accepted from cover letter, any available sample content (ie
restaurants and chefs. In the first instance, outline, introduction, sample chapters), an
send an outline and background information analysis of the potential readership and an
through the online contact form. author biography.
Website: www.kitchenpress.co.uk/ Website: www.chroniclebooks.com

UK SPECFIC MARKET

Diverse horror wanted

PDR Lindsay-Salmon

Ghost Orchid Press is a new independent publisher of horror, gothic, and Inspired by Fairy Tales, Mythology & Folklore.
supernatural fiction based in Cambridgeshire. The editorial team is keen Editor Evelyn Freeling wants ‘retellings about sexuality, desire, and
on ‘championing new and emerging authors in these increasingly popular,
versatile genres’, believing indie publishers are best placed to take risks on fantasies that take dark turns.’ Give her ‘a good spin on the classics, but
new and lesser-known authors. please think about using ‘fairy tales, mythologies, and folklore from
outside the Western Euro catalogue as well’. Give her ‘rich characters,
They believe that readers and reviewers are looking for more variety, dynamic settings, tension, pacing, with well written erotic scenes.’ Note
especially voices from under-represented groups. They want to tap into this that ‘the erotic elements don’t need to be the source of horror and there
progressive vein with anthologies like Blood & Bone: An Anthology of Body may be elements of adjacent genres, but the story should be firmly
Horror by Women & Non-Binary Writers and the forthcoming Beyond the grounded in horror.’
Veil: Queer Tales of Supernatural Love.
This is an inclusive anthology: M-F, F-F, M-M, threesomes, orgies, are
Currently submissions are wanted for Rewired: An Anthology of welcomed. Stories, 1,000 to 5,000 words, must only include consenting
Neurodiverse Horror for stories inspired by neurodiverse experiences, adults. The deadline is 30 August.
stories about perception, communication, the feeling of being ‘differently
wired’. Writers are asked to ‘Challenge us. Scare us. Show us the world Simultaneous submissions are accepted but not reprints or multiple
the way you see it. We’d love to see work that encompasses the whole submissions. Email work as a doc attachment with the name of the
spectrum of neurodiverse experience.’ anthology, pen name/author name, and story title in the subject line.

Some SF and fantasy elements are permitted as long as the story is Response time is ‘some weeks after the deadline.’ Payment is 3-6¢ per
primarily horror. The deadline is 30 April. Stories, 1,000-6,000 words, need word plus one copy for ‘first worldwide and electronic rights for 6 months
to entertain, scare and above all show a different way of seeing the world. after the date of publication, after which rights revert to the author.’

Opening to subs shortly is Les Petites Morts: An Anthology of Erotic Horror Details: Ghost Orchid Press, email subs to: submissions@
ghostorchidpress.com; website: https://ghostorchidpress.com

APRIL 2022 73

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES ONLINE NARRATIVE MARKET

The inaugural Active and dramatic narrative stories
Indigo Open Poetry
Prize from Indigo Untold human stories with a Jenny Roche on submitting.
Dreams Publishing narrative arc that ‘surprise, delight All stories should have
is for original, and captivate readers’ are invited ‘unfolds like a movie taking the
unpublished for Narratively, a storytelling readers on a wild ride as they see, ‘compelling, vivid, active scenes
poems in any style and production company which feel and hear the events through that are dramatic and exciting
or form, up to 40 publishes online and develops your writing’. moments of interaction with
lines. TV, film and podcast content others’. The kind of story that
The prizes are from the site’s stories. This may Submissions and pitches are is not right for the site is one
£250, £100 and then generate further creative invited for several sections: that is mostly an internal story
£50, plus magazine and financial opportunities of ‘thinking, feeling, reflecting,
publication. The additional to the payment made for Reported Stories which includes instead of moments when you are
entry fee is £5, £9 publication on the site. stories on Renegades, Super Sub actively dong things with others’.
for two, £12 for Cultures and Secret Lives. To get the best insight into the
three.The closing Key aspects of the site’s stories kind of stories wanted read the
date is 31 March. are that they are fresh, original and Hidden Histories with stories of Editor’s Picks and Most Popular
Website: www. untold, are big ideas and the topics larger than life characters. Stories selection of online stories.
indigodreams are centred on human experiences.
publishing.com They also have a narrative arc of First Person Stories including Submit using the Submittable
beginning, middle and end that Memoir and Secret Lives stories. links on the website: https://
Literary agency narratively.com/contribute/
Greene & Heaton Photo essays are also invited and
is inviting usually consist of 10-20 photos
applications for with captions and text telling the
its Greene Door larger story as well as the details.
mentoring scheme See website for further information
for writers from
under-represented GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET
backgrounds. This
year’s scheme Three Crows call
is for unagented
crime and thriller Gary Dalkin
writers. Ten writers
will get a Zoom Three Crows Magazine is a quarterly science fiction ‘with a twist’; stories based around racial slurs or on
session with an and fantasy magazine that includes short stories, TTRPG adventures; rape, abuse or revenge fantasies.
agent including book, film, and video game reviews, as well as
feedback on their interviews with writers and editors of science fiction, Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but notify
work. Submit up fantasy and horror. Editor-in-chief Alex Khlopenko right away if accepted somewhere else. Include a cover
to 5,000 words, wants stories of dark and weird fantasy, horror, letter with your story title, word count, a 1-2 sentence
a synopsis and a and sci-fi, with complex characters making morally summary of your story, a list of other professionally
covering letter by ambiguous decisions. He says ‘We are looking for published works (if any), a very short bio.
28 March. sci-fi as hard as Liu Cixin and Peter Watts and as
Website: https:// wonderfully poetic as Arkady Martine; fantasy and Submissions must be made via https://oleada.io/
writ.rs/greenedoor magical realism in the vein of Andrzej Sapkowski, publication/three-crows-magazine
Naomi Novik, and Marlon James; we want horror
The Red Shed and New Weird stories that would challenge our You can also submit up to two nonfiction pieces,
Open Poetry preconceived notions and perception of reality like each up to 1,000 words long, of interest to readers
Competition 2022 Mark Z Danielewski, Thomas Ligotti, and China of SF, fantasy or horror. Your submission(s) should
from Currock Press Mieville.’ be uploaded as a doc/docx/pdf file in standard
has a £100 first manuscript format, or something close to it and easily
prize for original Three Crows particularly seeks to publish readable.
unpublished poems ‘underrepresented voices’ with previously unpublished
no longer than 50 fantasy, sci-fi, weird, or horror stories from 1,000 If you haven’t received a response in 45 days email
lines. Second prize to 5,000 words. Submissions can be in English/ [email protected], oliviahofer@
is £50, with £10 for Ukrainian/Polish/Russian/Romanian/German, as the threecrowsmagazine.com, or alexkhlopenko@
each shortlisted international team working on the magazine will do threecrowsmagazine.com.
poets. There is the necessary translations.
also a Wakefield Payment is 1¢ cent per word for 12 months first
postcode prize What they don’t want to see are: stories lacking world-exclusive serial and electronic rights, translation
of £25.The sole class consciousness; retellings of religious mythology rights, non-exclusive world anthology and audio
adjudicator for this rights. Essential to follow the full guidelines at http://
year’s contest is threecrowsmagazine.com/submissions/
Gaia Holmes.
Entry fee, £3, £2 Nothing fishy about this competition
each subsequent.
The closing date is The Fish Poetry Prize invites entries at Anam Cara Writers’ Retreat, and Billy Collins.
31 March. of original, unpublished poems up to the third prize is €200. The top ten The entry fee is €14 for the first
Website: www. sixty lines. entries will be published in the 2022
currockpress.com Fish Anthology and the writers will poem and €8 for any subsequent
The first prize in the annual contest be invited to read at the West Cork poems.
from Fish Publishing is €1,000. The Literary Festival. This year’s judge is
second prize is a week in residence The closing date is 31 March.
Website: www.fishpublishing.com

74 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET Novel
Ideas
Tramp looks for new lit voices
Do it properly
PDR Lindsay-Salmon
That’ll do isn’t good enough,
Tramp Press is run by two stroppy Irish editors who says 0]RRI ,EGOPIW
hate receiving ‘Dear Sir’ letters. Lisa Coen and Sarah
Davis-Goff are not ‘sirs’ and believe writers should take Have you seen that advert’
the time to check them out at their website. This Irish on television where the
publisher has a great reputation for finding, nurturing Yorkshireman says, ‘That’ll do.’
and publishing exceptional literary talent. Those words always remind
me of what Caroline Graham, author and
Submissions are open year round for ‘exceptional creator of Midsomer Murders, once said to
new works of fiction and narrative non-fiction’. The me. When you finish a piece of work and
editors are kind to writers and encourage simultaneous say That’ll do, it invariably won’t. It’s when
submissions, even supply an article about it. They’re you finish something and can say That’ll
looking for unique voices, and for ‘brilliance in provocative, interesting work, but it still has to be do nicely that it actually works.
well-written’. Avoid ‘unconvincing dialogue/inaccurate slang or dialect’ and see that the work has
been well edited and polished. ‘That’ll do’ is something I often used to
say when I’d finished a story and was eager
Submit by email with about fifty pages or 10,000 words as doc, docx or pdf files. In the to send it out to a magazine and guess
cover letter ‘tell us a little bit about yourself, your writing experience and your influences’. They what? Most of the time it didn’t do. It was
especially want to hear why the work is a good match for Tramp. A one-page synopsis is required. rejected and when I read it again I could
Up to three pages if necessary to fully explain all the story from beginning to end, and ‘especially see why.
don’t hold back on spoilers’. Response time is ‘within a month’. Rights and royalties are discussed
on acceptance. One of the hardest things for new
writers is to hang onto a story or article
Details: Tramp Press, email: [email protected]; website: https://tramppress.com once they think it’s completed it but if it
it’s left alone for a week, or a fortnight,
Relate the human experience and then re-read it’s almost definite that
they’ll find a mistake in the plot, a typo,
Typehouse is a different form of US literary some missed punctuation or a sentence
magazine, welcoming submissions from that doesn’t make sense.
creators ‘ranging from high school age to
100-plus’. They aim to ‘offer a fresh, unique Have you ever said That’ll do about a
perspective of the human experience’ with submissions of all genres, from writers of all piece of work? Perhaps it was at the end
kinds, worldwide. of a long writing session, when you were
tired or hungry, or it was time to go off to
Genre fiction submissions are as welcome as literary ones, particularly in the speculative work or pick up the kids from school. Or
fiction genre. Avoid the -ists and -isms and keep language clean, but the team are not you’ve been working on a story, a chapter,
asking for Disney level work. Spend time at the website reading the detailed guidelines. an article and you think you are almost
The actual free and special subs change every month so check to find one to suit. there. It’s looking good, sounding good
but there’s something missing – some-
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but not multiple subs or thing you can’t quite fathom.
reprints. Note they have a ban on Covid-19-related submissions.
It’s time to press ‘save’ and return
For prose submit 500-5,000 words. Writers may submit up to another time, another day, after supper or
three pieces of work as long as the total number of words is less the following morning. Save it for when
than 7,500. For poetry, submit 1-6 poems. For both, all genres and you are fresh again and can look at it with
subjects are welcomed and encouraged. wide eyes. I learned to read my stories
every day until, one day, I didn’t change a
Submit online in docx or doc format. Response time is single thing on them. That was my That’ll
‘reasonable’. Payment is $25 for ‘first publication rights, exclusively do nicely moment.
for six months, with non-exclusive archival rights thereafter.’
DECEAMPBREIRL 20202 75
Website: https://typehousemagazine.com

How it started, how it’s going

The theme of this year’s Creative Future Awards 2022 contest for under-represented
writers is ‘How It Started’.

The Creative Future Awards are for under-represented writers in the UK and include
categories for poetry (up to 50 lines) and prose (up to 2,000 words). All entries must
be on the ‘How It Started’ theme.

To be eligible to enter, writers must be under-represented, ie who feel their
opportunites are limited for reasons including: mental health issues; LGBTQIA+;
physical disability; long-term limiting illness; sensory impairment; learning disability/
ADHD/dyslexia/dyspraxia; neurodivergent/ASD; working class background; substance
misuse issue; survivors.

In both categories the total prizes are worth more than £10,000 and consist of cash
and writer development opportunities including mentoring, online courses, manuscript
assessment and critiques. All winners will be published in an anthology edited by
judges Dorothy Koomson and Joelle Taylor.

Entry is free. The closing date is 22 May.
Website: www.creativefuture.org.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

The Washington Go with the Grain
Post is seeking
‘diverse Gary Dalkin
perspectives on
all kinds of topics’ Now in its 49th year, the award-winning Grain submissions engine, which if reached will close until
year round. Read describes itself as ‘the journal of eclectic writing’, the following month. However, you can still then
some of the views a literary quarterly that publishes engaging and submit by mail to Editor, Grain Magazine, PO Box
expressed on the challenging work by Canadian and international writers 3986, Regina, SK, S4P 3R9, Canada.
WP’s opinions and artists. Published by the Saskatchewan Writers’
section at www. Guild it is edited by Mari-Lou Rowley. Submissions Essential to read the full guidelines at https://
washingtonpost. from anywhere in the world, with an annual reading grainmagazine.ca/submissionguidelines/
com/opinions/ period the closes on 15 June until 15 September. You
then send your may make two submissions in any one nine month To get an idea of the sort of material published you
pitch to oped@ submission period. can buy the current issue here https://grainmagazine.
washpost.com. ca, or sign up for the free newsletter to get extracts
Payment is $400 for Grain is looking for fiction and literary nonfiction up from the latest edition straight into your inbox.
an 800 word piece. to 3,500 words and poetry, either as individual poems,
sequences, or suites up to six pages long. Enquire for
The longlist for other material, such as short plays, comics or artwork.
the 2022 Swansea
University Dylan All submissions must be previously unpublished,
Thomas Prize including online. Only submit once in a particular
is: A Passage category at a time. Payment is Can$50 per page plus
North, Anuk two contributor copies for first Canadian serial and
Arudpragasam; digital rights.
What Noise
Against the Cane, Submit via https://grainmagazine.submittable.
Desiree Bailey; com/submit. Note there is a monthly cap on the
Keeping the
House, Tice Cin; Grease writing
Auguries of a
Minor God, Nidhi The editors of Unsettling Reads call a hint of the campy, and a heaping the present, or the future?’
Zak/Aria Eipe; themselves ‘Just a couple of perfectly helping of broken relationships Submit 1 or 2 short stories between
The Sweetness nice women and their slightly of some kind (romantic, familial,
of Water, Nathan disturbing reading habits’. collegial, etc).’ 1,500 and 7,000 words, or 1-3
Harris; No One is poems in a single file. The deadline
Talking About This, They like to produce somewhat There are three guidelines to is 1 May.
Patricia Lockwood; offbeat anthologies and their latest follow: to respect the genre norms
Milk Blood is ‘inspired by an earworm from the from the crime, mystery, noir, Website: https://unsettlingreads.
Heat, Dantiel W. 1978 film, Grease’, reimagined as suspense, and/or thriller genres squarespace.com/
Moniz; Hot Stew, Summer Bludgeon. They want writing (and their associated sub-genres);
Fiona Mozley; which ‘highlights the dark corners to ‘feature the summer season
Open Water, of our hearts. Pull back the curtain prominently in the setting of the
Caleb Azumah and show us people at odds, broken story or depict it in the story, poem,
Nelson; Acts of relationships, love gone wrong.’ photo, or artwork’; and to ‘place a
Desperation, key moment or reference point in
Megan Nolan; Submit ‘stories, poems, photos, and 1978. Is 1978 happening in the past,
Peaces, Helen art that have a dash of retro, maybe
Oyeyemi; Filthy
Animals, Brandon TAKE A LEAP Sow the seeds of
Taylor. The winner
will be announced The winner of the Frogmore Poetry a prize poem
on 13 May Prize 2022 will receive £250 guineas
and a two-year subscription to The The Plough Poetry Prize 2022 is inviting entries.
Saima Mir, whose Frogmore Papers. The annual Plough Poetry Prize is an open
debut novel
The Khan was The annual Frogmore Poetry Prize international competition from the Plough Arts
published last invites entries of original, unpublished Centre.
year, has been poetry no longer than 40 lines.
announced as The first prize is £1,000. There are second and
the first recipient The winner’s prize is 250 guineas third prizes of £500 and £250. The judge for this
of CrimeFest’s and a two-year subscription, and there are second and third prizes year’s contest will be Roger McGough.
bursary for a crime of 75 and 50 guineas and a one-year subscription. Shortlisted
fiction writer of poets will receive copies of selected Frogmore Press publications. To enter, send original, unpublished poems up to
colour. the bursary 40 lines.
covers the cost The entry fee is £4 per poem.
of a full weekend The closing date is 31 May. The online entry fee is £5 per poem.
pass to CrimeFest, Website: www.frogmorepress.co.uk The closing date is 31 March.
a night’s Website: www.theploughartscentre.org.uk/
accommodation poetry-prize
and a panel
appearance.

76 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

WRITERS’ NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

ZINE SCENE by PDR
Lindsay-Salmon

The editorial team at Submissions of fiction should be no more than 2,000 words. For poetry, 1-3 poems, all
Andromeda Spaceways than 3,000 words. For poetry submit a in one document. Review of bookss (fiction
believe that not enough portfolio of no more than four poems, each and nonfiction), short story collections, and
humorous SF and fantasy no longer than two pages. Send a doc or docx essay collections of 750 to 1,000 words are
gets into print and that file by email: savantgardesubmissions@gmail. also welcomed. The ‘Artists on Craft Series’,
‘first-time authors have com no more than 1,000 words, needs interviews
a hell of a time getting or reflections by artists on their process of the
into print’, so they intend You will receive an automatic email within art of choice.
to publish as many 24 hours. Payment is Can$20
humorous stories as possible and encourage Email subs as docx or doc files, to:
new writers to write them. Website: www.savantgarde.ca [email protected]
Currently open to subs of fiction, poetry,
and non-fiction, they want ‘engaging stories Shrapnel is a not-for-profit online magazine Response time is ‘within two to three
that pull us in from the start and tell a great with an editorial team intent on ‘showcasing months of submission’.
tale.’ They are happy to receive any flavour of experimental writing from emerging writers
specfic, including science fiction, fantasy, and in the genres of fiction, creative non-fiction, Website: www.thesunlightpress.com
horror, and any sub-genres. Subscribers and essays, and poetry’. Note that the unlike
Aus/NZ authors may submit up to 20,000 most literary magazines this team ‘yearns Radon is an online journal with an editorial
words. For other writers the limit is 10,000. for surreal, absurd, or humorous pieces.’ team to publishing ‘prose and poetry relating
Non-fiction articles about the speculative Submit ridiculous and bizarre tales too as the to anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, and
genres and their writers, ‘weird science, real team ‘are doing our best to be a beacon of science fiction’. It needs subs of short story
science, weird history, straight history, con playfulness in an otherwise dark time’. Avoid and poetry all year round. They accept flash
reports, fads, geekdom etc’ are welcomed. submitting stories centred around trauma or fiction and short story submissions should
Articles should be ‘broad interest’, no more grief. be no more than 3,000 words. The poetry
than 5,000 words. 3,000 is ‘the sweet spot’. editor ‘prefers free verse poems with narrative
Response time is slow. Non-fiction articles Submit fiction, CNF, and poetry which is elements. Page and spoken word poems are
and poetry earn an Aus$10 flat rate, with ‘standalone, original work that hasn’t been equally welcome.’
$15 for flash. Longer fiction pays 1¢ cent per published anywhere else yet. There’s no word
word, min $20, max $100. limit, but make every sentence matter. You Submit online. For poetry submit no more
Website: https://andromedaspaceways.com may submit up to five poems or ten pages than five poems in a single document.
of poetry in one submission.’ Essays should
The editorial team at the Savant-Garde is be ‘commentary and analysis on how stories Payment is 1¢ per word for original prose
determined to focus on publishing ‘diverse influence each other as well as culture’. and 0.5¢ per word for reprints, $10 per poem,
stories and innovative, original creative work.’ Essays are ‘slightly academic in nature and $5 for reprints.
They want stories ‘to amplify the voices of the researched, but with a more casual voice’.
unheard and lend a voice to the unspoken.’ Website: www.radonjournal.com
They welcome a wide range of genres, Response time is reasonable. Payment is
‘literary, experimental, fantasy, horror with a Can$25 for prose fiction; $15 for poetry, MetaStellar is an online publication
purpose... and including genre-blending.’ book reviews, interviews, and columns. An specialising in horror, fantasy and science
extra $5 is added for writers who are able to fiction. Check out the website and read all
Both poetry and fiction should transport record themselves reading their piece. the guidelines. There are individual guidelines
the reader and keep them thinking. Read for each genre. The editorial team plan the
previous issues to get an idea of the tone and Website: www.shrapnelmagazine.com magazine to be open to submissions all the
style of this unique zine. They want writers year, but as yet only have two windows
to write about ‘different ways to experience The Sunlight Press is a digital literary journal for paying submission. They want reviews,
or live our lives, strong emotions in difficult needing writing which shows ‘the ways essays, excerpts, and reprints as well as flash
realities, escaping to a better place, tender people turn toward light and hope, whether fiction. Subscribe to the newsletter or follow
moments, the good, the bad, and everything it is through the arts, culture, spirituality, or the zine on Twitter to find out when is the
in between, whether real or imagined. In humour.’ The team would also like to see next paid submissions cycle. Response time is
short, we love beautiful, gut-wrenching, writing which shows how to ‘respond to the ‘reasonable’. Payment is 8¢ a word for flash
purposeful writing that encourages us to feel darkness and navigate unknown spaces.’ fiction.
connected to others.’
Submit personal non-fiction essays, 750- Details: email to: [email protected];
1,000 words, fiction, flash fiction no more website: www.metastellar.com
than 1,000 words and short stories, no more

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2022 77

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES GLOBAL ROMANCE MARKET
Lucky chance
Ware Open Poetry
Competition PDR Lindsay-Salmon
2022 has £600,
£300 and £150 Pressed Clover Books is a new indie they also need some short stories to Response time is ‘10-12 weeks’.
prizes for original, determined to publish lots of books be published in their intermittent Rights, royalties or story payment is
unpublished with happy endings. They love email newsletter. discussed with a contract.
poems on any romance and are looking for more,
theme, up to 50 especially stories which show ‘how Submit novels as doc, docx or Details: Pressed Clover Books,
lines. love really can and does transform pdf files with the first fifty pages of email subs to: submissions@
There is also the this big, beautiful, world’. the manuscript, or the completed pressedcloverbooks.com; website:
Ware Sonnet Prize short story. In the cover letter put a https://pressedcloverbooks.com
of £150 for the best Submit by email. The team brief note about your background,
sonnet submitted. welcome all mainstream and a general synopsis of the book (one
This year’s judge is subgenres of romance, including paragraph), probable word count,
Jonathan Edwards. ‘contemporary, erotic, historical, genre/subgenre, if it is a planned
The entry fee is paranormal, spiritual, romantic series, and your preferred contact
£4 per poem.The suspense, young adult, and new details. Subs of a short story should
closing date is 30 adult.’ Agented and unagented indicate if the writer contemplates
April. submissions are welcome. Currently writing novels as well.
Website: www.
poetrypf.co.uk/ Everything to play for
comps/ware22.pdf
The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 is inviting had a full-length play professionally produced for 12
Sarah Death has entries of unperformed scripts. performances or more in a professional venue.
won the £2,000
Society of Author’s The biennial prize from Bruntwood and Manchester’s Each winner will enter into a development process with
Bernard Shaw Prize Royal Exchange Theatre has a prize pot of £50,000 the Royal Exchange Theatre with the view of producing
for translation for their script. The Top 100 Feedback List will receive full
the third time – this The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is a major feedback on their script.
time for translating initiative to discover new voices and stories and to help
Letters fromTove playwrights hone their craft. Enter original, unperformed and unproduced scripts
byTove Jansson with a running time of at least one hour. Scripts should
from Swedish. The 2022 prize is split across four categories: be aimed at adult audiences and must be available for
Jackie Smith won • The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting (£16,000) production and not attached to a theatre company.
the £2,000TA First • The Judges’ Award (£8,000)
Translation Prize • The Bruntwood Prize International Prize (open Each writer may enter one script.
for her translation to international entries who can apply through the Submissions close on 6 June.
from German of Bruntwood Prize’s partners Atlantic Theatre (New York), Website: www.writeaplay.co.uk
An Inventory of Berkeley Rep (Berkeley, California), Australian Plays
Losses by Judith Transform (Carlton, New South Wales), Canada Banff
Schalansky. Playwrights Laboratory (Banff, Canada).
• The North West Original New Voice Award and
STOP PRESS: Residency (£8,000 plus a £10,000 for the winner’s
Would you like to professional development during a one-year residency).
hone your writing This is a new award for playwrights from the North
and chat with other West. To be eligible for this award, writers must not have
likeminded writers
– and WM experts GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET
– in our brand new
interactive online Flowing writing wanted
writers’ group?
Members of this PDR Lindsay-Salmon
exclusive group,
limited to twelve Tolka is a new Irish literary journal continuously rendered anew.’ The 4,000 words. No reprints or multiple
places, will meet devoted to non-fiction. The editorial team want to encourage subs, but simultaneous submissions
for six weeks to editorial team aim to publish ‘essays, writers to test the creative boundaries are accepted with the usual proviso.
talk about writing reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, of non-fiction. They like ‘work that Submissions should be in one doc or
and get discuss individual stories and the writing emphasises the luminous aesthetic docx attachment and double-spaced.
their work in a that flows in between’, aiming to of ordinary experiences, work which
friendly, informal be ‘a journal for writers to express insists on its social and democratic Response time is ‘within six weeks
setting with themselves beyond the limits of fixed importance in everyday life.’ of the closing date’. Payment is €300
Writing Magazine genres, forms or subjects’. plus a copy.
editor Jonathan Submit any form of non-fiction:
Telfer and assistant Submit work ‘mapping the fluid personal essay, memoir, reportage, Website: www.tolkajournal.org
editorTina Jackson. and chaotic ways through which travel writing, auto-fiction, and the
The first block of language, stories and the self can be writing that falls in between, 2,000-
sessions is planned
for Thursday
lunchtimes
beginning 28 April.
Website: https://
writ.rs/lunchclub

78 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

VEL WRIT
TRA

W
ING

K
NO W-HO
GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET
Think green
Give it heart and soul
Travel writing will be affected by the
PDR Lindsay-Salmon changing climate, says 4EXVMGO *SVW]XL

Dragon Soul Press specialises in anthologies, with strict instructions about what W hatever your feelings about COP 26,
and how to submit. global warming issues are going to
overshadow travel for a while, perhaps
Here is a selection of their anthologies requiring short stories, poems or for the foreseeable future. This prompts
drabbles.
questions. For example ,is it better to have
• Valor has a deadline of 31 March, for short stories, 5,000-15,000 words on
the theme of ‘East Asian warriors’. Battles, defeats, mystic adventures, all are a very long holiday rather than two shorter ones if it means
welcome.
two flights instead of four? Many say yes. Certainly green
• Age Of Artifice, with a deadline of 30 April, is for ‘steampunk and all similar
subgenres’, 1,000-15,000 words in any style. issues linked to travel provide a worthy topic and can give

• Haunt has a deadline of 31 May, for horror short stories, 1,000-15,000 certain features a topical feel.
words, on the theme of ‘dark things go bump in the night,’ and ‘terror awaits
around every corner’. The question of staycations, defined varyingly as taking

• Of the poetry anthologies, Organic Ink: Volume 5 and Soul Ink: Volume 1 time out and about literally from home to travelling only in
have a deadline of 30 April. All of the poems submitted should not add up to a
total word count of more than 1,000 words. Both anthologies have open themes. your home country, offers many writing opportunities, and

• The drabble anthology The Damned is open until 31 May 2023, for 100- perhaps simpler travel for the writer too. If a focus on this
word stories in the horror genres. A writer is expected to submit a minimum of 5
but the total word count, should not exceed 1,500 words, ie fifteen drabbles. also reduces your own travel then it’s a double opportunity.

All the story anthologies have an R rating, ie, suitable for adults. Favouring rail travel rather than flights may reduce a
Submit a doc or docx file by email: [email protected]
Writers may submit to as many anthologies as they like but only two traveller’s range but definitely involves the production of less
submissions per anthology except for the drabble anthologies. Reprints may be
accepted. Response time is ‘around thirty days from the closing deadline of the carbon. Visitors can reduce their impact while away and, to
anthology’. Payment is ‘30% Royalties for first year from date of publication.
Afterwards, 30% of all proceeds go to a charity chosen by the publisher.’ use the supermarket term, every little helps. For instance I
For rights: ‘The publisher permanently reserves the right to publish the work
within the anthology while the author keeps ownership rights to the work.’ saw recently a villa being advertised making a point of being
Website: http://dragonsoulpress.com
equipped with bicycles – though the fact that local taxis
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
and the like would not favour this makes the point about
Arkansas bound
how difficult it is to balance matters of this sort. I have also
PDR Lindsay-Salmon
seen it suggested that instead of bringing people presents
The Arkansas International is published in conjunction with the English and
Creative Writing Departments of The University of Arkansas, as well as the back from holiday, people should give a voucher saying that
generous support of individuals. The editorial team ‘seeks to publish the
best literature from the United States and abroad’. They publish ‘fiction, money has been given towards such green initiatives as tree
poetry, essays, comics, and works in translation and are open to submissions
until 1 May, then closed until 1 July. This is a team which cap subs each planting.
month so it’s best to use their online system as early in a month as possible
or expect to pay a small fee. When people do travel in a way that’s heavy on carbon

Spend time at the website reading the work accessible there. Get a feeling production, there are many schemes that enable them to
for the tone and style before submitting. The team like literary work and
pay well so send them the best. offset the effect; that too is a rich seam of possible content.

Submit online using their system, prose (fiction, creative and non- Introducing a green element to writing about a variety
fiction) of no more than 8,000 words, or a poem packet of 1 to five poems.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, with the usual proviso, but not of destinations may make them both more saleable and
reprints or multiple subs. except in poetry submissions.
also mark them out as different to a piece simply about a
Payment depends on budget. Issue eleven contributors received ‘US$20 a
printed page (capped at US$250) and in copies of the journal.’ particular destination. For example, some especially desirable

Website: www.arkint.org destinations, places like the Seychelles, the Maldives and

many Pacific islands, are in line to be devastated ahead

of others as sea levels rise. I have seen it said the Tuvalu

archipelago will be the first island nation to become

submerged. Maybe I should write about it soon.

I would suggest two strands to all this. First, writing

about the effect of the climate changes on those wanting

to travel and second, on those in areas affected by both

climate change and the attendant changes to travel habits.

It is a complex, changing and unpredictable situation. If

you get involved in saying anything about the science of it,

take care, you do not want to contribute to misinformation.

Climate change is a very real threat and something that will

affect the way travel needs to be written about as a result of

how it changes the way international travel happens.

APRIL 2022 79

WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES

Ver Poets Open UK NON-FICTION MARKET
Poetry Competition Publishing’s September song
2022 is for original,
unpublished poems Tina Jackson
in any form and on
any subject, up to September Publishing is an be the one thing publishing had up things that have to be printed and
30 lines. independent publisher with its sleeve in an increasingly digital posted. Creatively the thing we’ll do
The prizes are a beautifully curated list of landscape. You have to start thinking, is never diluting the emphasis on
£600, £300 and predominantly non-fiction titles. what can publishing companies do? quality. We’re holding out for quality.’
£100. Winning and Because we’re not, in the same way,
selected poems ‘The list is largely, but not the gatekeepers any more. One very Suitable, well-thought-out
will be published entirely, non-fiction,’ said publisher special thing we do is get the best out submissions are welcomed.
in an anthology. Hannah MacDonald. ‘We do a of writers, and illustrators. It’s about
This year’s judge is little, little bit of fiction. We tend that creative relationship.’ ‘Submissions all get read and
John McCullough. to publish writers with a particular looked at. The first thing I look for
The entry fee is £4 talent or voice or area of expertise. The common theme with is a pragmatic opening - an email or
per poem or three They generally fall into the areas of September’s titles is that they open letter that explains what’s going on
for £10 and £3 per travel, art, photography, memoir, a window for the reader. ‘In the end and why it might work for us.’
poem thereafter. natural history, myth and folklore, its all subjective – like any list with
The closing date is history a bit, politics a bit. Some are a single commissioner – but I think Hannah is focussed on what
30 April. sort of narrative reference - some that all the books on September the book will bring to its reader.
Website: https:// of our books are extremely useful Publishing’s list are intended to ‘Interestingly, with submissions, one
verpoets.co.uk/ in quite a fundamental way, ie The open people’s eyes,’ said Hannah. wants less of the plot upfront and
English Heritage Guide to London’s ‘They’re mind-expanding and horizon more a summary of what the reading
Patricia Cumper Blue Plaques, or Ten Things About broadening. They take people deeper experience is – what kind of read it
has been Writing by Joanne Harris. Some of into passionate interests.’ is,’ she said. ‘Is it a book that keeps
appointed as our books have walks in them, or you sitting up all night, or one that
the new chair of are packed with information. But Although the majority of you dip in and out of? The reading
creative writing they’re not traditional reference September’s titles are non-fiction, experience is something I talk about
charity Arvon. books – they’re very idiosyncratic it has occasionally published a lot with authors - how is this for
Patricia has worked and personal and unusual.’ fiction. ‘We consider stories that your reader? It’s not always easy
in the arts for more expand people’s horizons through reading books, but thinking about
than 40 years September Publishing was set extraordinary locations and the experience is important for a
as a playwright, up by a trio of publishing insiders: provocative issues. But the quality of publisher. It’s helpful for a writer to
producer, artistic publisher and founder Hannah, the writing style is paramount. Mostly think about what you want to do to
director and editorial director Charlotte Cole we publish non-fiction. In fiction, it the reader.’
commentator, and consultant publicist Sue echoes areas we already publishing
and was artistic Amaradivakara. ‘Sue, Charlotte and in – travel, myth and folklore, issues Next, Hannah is looking for
director and CEO I worked for two decades apiece around natural history.’ writers with the ability to structure an
of Talawa Theatre in publishing,’ said Hannah. ‘I appealing read. ‘It’s not about whether
Company. was made redundant in 2014 and As an independent, September you can write a nice sentence or not,
wanted to do something different. can make the most of its individual it’s about whether you can ite a nice
The estate of I had quite a strong instinct that approach. ‘Some of our most structure. The ability to write nicely is
Flowers in the if I wanted to start a small press, it successful books are the ones that like, good - it’s the ability to structure
Attic author VC needed to focus on the relationship were least supported by traditional it into a book that counts.’
Andrews, which with authors. It seemed to me to publishing,’ said Hannah. ‘We’re
covers 138 books interested by the concept or the idea September published in print and
and all new – in non-fiction quite a few of our digital formats.
releases) has been authors have already got an arena, an
acquired by A&E area of expertise and experience in Website: https://
Networks, the sharing that.’ septemberpublishing.org/
parent company
of Lifetime. September publishes one a month.
Lifetime’s limited ‘Our priority always has to be to
series Flowers survive and thrive - that’s our business
in the Attic: The priority. That hasn’t been easy with
Origin, a prequel Brexit and the increase in paper prices
to Flowers in the and delivery charges. We work with
Attic, will debut words and pictures but we produce
this summer. Long-
time Andrews
ghostwriter
Andrew
Neiderman’s
biography The
Woman Beyond
the Attic: The VC
Andrews Story
was published
last month and
is slated for a TV
movie adaptation.

80 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

MY WRITING DAY

Jill Steeples

The feel-good writer tells 0]RRI ,EGOPIW how her day pans
out after the essential early-morning cuppa

ill Steeples will be known to many as a women’s couple of characters, and can be written over the space of a
magazine short story writer. She is also a novelist who morning. When writing a novel you have much more scope
says she needs a cup of tea before starting work. to explore the characters and their motivations, and you can
have several sub-plots too, but obviously it’s a much bigger
‘I usually open up the laptop between eight-thirty undertaking emotionally and time-wise.
and nine, after that first mug of tea,’ she says. ‘Before
settling down to writing I deal with any outstanding admin ‘I’ve written and had published ten books in total, and
tasks, or else look at Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads etc… am very excited to have signed a new four-book contract
and I check my emails. My husband has his own business with Boldwood Books. They will also be re-issuing
– his office is in a shed in the garden so we have our own some of my backlist with extra content and new covers.
working spaces. I look after the accounts and admin, so tend Recently I tried writing a psychological thriller, but it
to see if there’s anything that needs doing there first, before ended badly. In all possible senses! It’s been consigned to
starting on my writing for the day. my hard disk and I’m back to writing what I love best –
‘I work for a couple of hours before heading out with the heart-warming, feel-good fiction.
dog for a pre-lunch walk. I get some of my best ideas and
solutions to any niggling plot issues while walking through ‘My newest book, Starting Over at Primrose Woods, which
the countryside. After lunch I might do an extra hour or came out in February, is the story of three women, Lizzie,
two depending on what else is going on, but I tend to pick Abbey and Rhianna, whose lives come together through
up the story again at night, usually when the rest of the meeting at Primrose Woods, a 300-acre country park. The
household has gone to bed. women, of different ages, are all at turning points in their
‘When I first started writing the children were small so the lives and the story charts their individual growth and the
days were broken up by school runs and after-school activities. I support they find in their unlikely new friendship.
became used to snatching small blocks of time to write when I
could. It’s how I still work now, writing in small bursts. All words ‘I don’t plan very much at all. I just have an idea of the
count so it doesn’t really matter how you get to the final word characters and some opening scenes and I see where the story
count just as long as you get them down. Even a daily target takes me. I know it’s not the most efficient way of working.
of 200 words written feels like an accomplishment. Of course, I’ve tried planning out in advance but never get very far with
there’s nothing like a looming deadline to focus your mind and it and become impatient to actually start the writing process.
get the words really flowing.
‘I have a weekly to-do list as well which is very helpful in ‘Currently, I’m working on the second of the Primrose
organising and prioritising my jobs for the week. I find it a Woods books. It’s set at Christmas and involves the same
great motivational tool. characters as in the first, along with the introduction of some
‘After discovering Jilly Cooper’s early romance novels, new ones. I enjoy writing books with a Christmas theme as
when I was a teenager, I decided that one day I’d like to you can really go to town with the festive elements.’
write one of my own but it wasn’t until I joined an adult
education creative writing class when one of those big Website: www.jillsteeples.co.uk
scary birthdays was approaching, that I decided to take
my writing seriously. The tutor at the class encouraged me WRITING PLACE
to shelve the idea of writing a novel and concentrate on
writing short stories instead. It was the best piece of advice ‘I’ve probably written in every room in the house. At first I
I could have been given. I started submitting my work to
the women’s magazines and some anthologies and was lucky used the study, working on a desktop computer, but when
enough to get some of those early submissions accepted. The
main difference between the two disciplines is that a short I changed to a laptop it opened up all sorts of possibilities.
story captures a moment in time, usually only deals with a
I moved to the kitchen, enjoying being at the centre of

the house amongst the hubbub. These days I’m happiest

working from the sofa with my faithful assistant, Amber

the English Pointer, at my side. The room overlooks our

woodland garden, we’re surrounded by trees, so it’s a very

peaceful and calming environment, and we have lots of

visiting squirrels and the occasional muntjac deer too.

UNDER THE COVERS

Clock-watching

+MPPMER ,EVZI] is evolving a whole new theory of time
based on waiting to hear how her manuscript is faring

W hether you’re a Look, I’m not saying I’m certifiable, 6. Emotional turmoil (or an
seasoned, contracted per se. But my rate of email increase of ) – starts shortly after
writer, or someone refreshing, the fact I wake each despair. This is the stage where
like me scrabbling for day thinking ‘This! This MUST you’re liable to snap at your partner/
leftovers in the slush be the day!’ against all evidence to children/dog/the Hoover/PC out of
pile, you’ll probably have noticed that the contrary, must at least indicate the blue for doing something that is
the wheels of the publishing industry the need for an enormous dose of usually not triggering.
turn painfully slowly. tranquilliser – probably best served
At this moment, I have a book on from a distance in the form of a dart 7. Acceptance. Realising that in
sub to publishers. And – since it was aimed by an professional zookeeper. order to survive you must accept that
sent into the world – have been eagerly this is how the industry you are trying
anticipating responses for… oh god: I’ve experienced the seven stages of to work in functions. Better to get
what seems like Years. writerly anguish: used to waiting and seize the time,
Because, as anyone who’s been on rather than spend months sobbing over
sub, or sent a novel to agents, or 1. Optimism (duration, a lukewarm cup of tea.
simply spent a while trying to get pen approximately 30 minutes after you
to paper knows, time isn’t as fixed as receive your agent’s email saying she’s Here’s how I’m passing the time:
we might imagine. sent out your manuscript). That 1. Actually working – doing my
If you don’t believe me, believe moment when you feel your world is day-to-day writing jobs which, at this
Einstein, who – as you probably opening up and wonder whether you moment, include a series of articles on
remember from your schooldays might just be the Next Big Thing. the circulatory system.
– reckoned time slows down the 2. Writing short stories – I pen these
closer we get to the speed of light. 2. Impatience – starts morning for magazines from time to time. I
And – from one messy-haired following subs. Signs include enjoy writing short stories and it’s all
genius to another – I applaud him refreshing of emails and sending good brain exercise.
for his contribution to scientific emails to agent about completely 3. Trying to be frugal with the
understanding. unrelated subjects just to ensure she is grocery shopping. Look, it’s not
But I will say this – he missed a bit. receiving them OK. relevant to writing. But let’s face
I’d like to add an extra level to his E it, it’s a necessary part of life as a
= MC²: 3. Horror – the sudden worry that struggling writer.
1. Time can also pass exhaustingly comes over you that your manuscript 4. Considering taking up jogging
slowly even if you spend the majority wasn’t polished enough, and you again. This may take some careful
of time sitting at your desk and staring should have given it one last read contemplation – don’t want to rush
into the abyss. (resist the urge to check for typos at all anything. But you never know, it
2. Authors waiting to hear news on costs. It’s too late). might happen.
their books experience a phenomenon Anyway, enough angst. The good
known as ‘the theory of read-wait- 4. Doldrums – the kind of ‘meh’ news? This column has taken me a
misery’. In this state, time passes feeling you get when something that couple of hours to write, which means
so slowly that many a writer has has totally dominated your life for the I haven’t actually refreshed my email
descended into a state of madness (the past six months/year/decade is now for a considerable time (2 hours in
Time/Author Wait misery theory or T out of your hands and you don’t really ‘reality’, 2 months according to the
= T = AW know what to do with yourself. theory of T = AW).
That my friend, is what they call
5. Despair – starts two weeks Growth.
following subs. Surely if it was such
a work of genius, it would have been
snapped up already? Hope begins to
drip away.

82 APRIL 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk

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COMPETITION GUIDE 2021-22

Welcome...PRESENTS...

2022 £1.6MWIN! 2022 Dear Reader
I9NT0O0PECNROTIMEZRPES S
Welcome to our biannual competition special. And yes, we’ve done Jonathan Telfer
WRITING it again – once more, we’ve managed to juggle details of even more Editor
competitions than ever before, with over 800 competitions to enter,
COMPETITIONS and more than £1.6m in total prize money. What more could you need to
inspire you and get you motivated?
Published by
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Winning words
Editorial designer: Mary Ward
4 WM competition programme
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Get a sneak peek at the Writing Magazine competition programme for the first half of 2022
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18 Competition winners:
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Email: [email protected] Read the winning entries from the inaugural Wriiting Magazine Grand Flash Prize

Subscriptions: 32 The Writing Magazine Grand Prize
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COMPETITION GUIDE 2022 £250

Writing Magazine Competitions, 2022 ETVOERBYEMWONOTNH

Get a creative start and start polishing early with a sneak peek at our
competition programme for the rest of 2022

All the competitions previewed on this page are open to any writer. Enter online at
www.writers-online.co.uk or see the relevant issue of Writing Magazine for more details.
Prizes are £200 and £50 each month, with publication in WM for the winner.

Please note, competitions will open for entries
on publication of the full competition details in

the relevant issue of Writing Magazine.

JULY AUGUST

Dark Love

Go dark for this competition, whether that oWhouefthaloirostvlutoeopvsetttsohorewiyeohosno,uefa-rsnowtmdhea’hrtteohmwolosaoetkhketeihnyasogittuufboabrreteiaaloiklenlvykpeoilnuiandryss
means tales of deceit and deception, things happy ever after.
going bump in the night, dystopian spec fic,
or anything else that comes to mind, just
make sure you unnerve us.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER

Holiday Historical

Absteowarcyehllef-osnroeterhdaiesdtmrirpeotntroethaM’ts ocarorsma. Whpoehtliiitdsiakoynu.fsroamwahyewll,itshunyonuyr Take us back in time for this month’s comp
for historical fiction – and we’ll even let you

decide how far back ‘historical’ begins

4 www.writers-online.co.uk Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022

NOVEMBER COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Creative non-fiction DECEMBER
Open
Tell us a true story using all your best narrative
techniques for this competition – whether it tahnTaeynmhyngeaeuekacnarehlr-eosc.uioacIrnmetey’sipistsue’tsytpoioatrtuiyoow,rnsaiynnfotonoyure.serttJ!nhyudilsset,
happened to you, somebody you know a distant
historical figure, or even an inanimate object.

£125
TO BE WON
SUBSCRIBER–ONLY
EVERY TIME
Short story competitions

The short story competitions previewed here are open only to subscribers of Writing Magazine.
Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or see the relevant issue of WM for more details. Prizes
are £100 and £25 each month, with publication in WM for the winner.

JULY
Science fiction

Explore a brave new world for this
competition, and it’s up to you whether that

means a bright future or dark days ahead.

SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
First person Epistolary

Whether your first-person narrator Tell a story using only secondary documentation this
is reliable or unreliable, letting your month – letters, emails, cookbook recipes, SMS, blog
story unfold in their own words lets
you experiment with voice, style posts, social media comment threads... the list of
and point of view. possibilities grows ever longer.

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 5

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Competition
Guide

Pick your favourites and start
scheduling your entries, with over 800 competitions

to enter – surely something for every writer!

MARCH and publication Eludia Prize Closing date: 17 March
Entry fee: $42 www.newwritingnorth.com
Wilbur Smith Adventure Closing date: 15 March Unpublished first novels by
Writing Prize & Author https://roommagazine.com/ women over 40 Savage Writing Contest
of Tomorrow Prize Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Cloudbank Competition Entry fee: $20 Write a mystery within 48 hours
Published and unpublished (at Closing date: 15 March Prizes: $20, $15, $10 Amazon cards
least 50,000 word) adventure Flash fiction up to 500 words, https://hiddenriverarts. Free entry
novels, for adults or ages 12-21 and poems wordpress.com Closing date: 20 March
Prizes: £15,000 in the published Prizes: $200 http://tclj.toasted-cheese.com/
category, £15,000 advance and Entry fee: $15 for up to five South Carolina Novel dead-of-winter/
publication in the unpublished Closing date: 15 March Prize
category; £1,000, 2x£100 in the http://cloudbankbooks.com Edna Staebler Personal
junior category Unpublished novels by writers Essay Contest
Free entry Word Works Washington from South Carolina
Closing date: 7 March Prizes: $1,000 and publication One personal essay, no limit
www.wilbur-niso- Poetry collections, 48-80 pages, Entry fee: $35 but usually around 2,000-5,000
smithfoundation.org by US or Canadian poets Closing date: 15 March, TBC words, by a Canadian writer
Prizes: $1,500 and publication https://hubcity.org/press/new- Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Forward Prizes for Poetry Entry fee: $25 southern-voices-poetry-prize Entry fee: $40
Closing date: 15 March Closing date: 28 March
Best Collection, Best First www.wordworksbooks.org/ Kraken Book Prize for https://tnq.ca/contests/
Collection, Best Single Poem, submissions/washington-prize/ Middle-Grade Fiction
books must be submitted by Desperate Literature
publishers and single poems Fitzcarraldo Editions Middle-grade books, 120-350
by magazine editors and Essay Prize pages Short stories, under 2,000 words
competition administatrators Prizes: $750 and publication Prizes: €1,000, writer’s retreat and
Prizes: Best collection £10,000, Proposal for a book-length essay Entry fee: $25 widespread publication, 2x€500
best first collection £5,000, best Prizes: £3,000 advance and Closing date: 15 March Entry fee: €20
single poem £1,000 publication, writing residency https://regalhousepublishing.com Closing date: 29 March
Free entry Free entry https://desperateliterature.com
Closing date: 8 March Closing date: 15 March BBC National Short
www.forwardartsfoundation.org https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com Story Award KSP Writers Centre
Spooky stories
Evesham Festival of Fourth Genre Steinberg Short stories, up to 8,000 words Competition
Words Short Story Essay Prize Prizes: £15,000, 4x£600
Competition Free entry Spooky short stories, up to
Creative non-fiction, up to Closing date: 15 March 2,500 words, by Western
Short stories up to 2,500 words 6,000 words www.bbc.co.uk/nssa Australian residents or citizens
Prizes: £150, £50 and £30 Prizes: $1,000 Prizes: Aus$300, $150; $100, $50
Entry fee: £5 Entry fee: $20 Fowey Festival Short for youths
Closing date: 11 March Closing date: 15 March Story Competition Entry fee: $10
http://eveshamfestivalofwords.org https://fourthgenre.byu.edu/ Closing date: 29 March
steinberg/ Short stories up to 1,500 words www.kspwriterscentre.com
Nelligan Prize on a given theme
James Jones First Prizes: £100, £75 Cleveland State
Short stories, 2,500-12,500 words Novel Fellowship Entry fee: £5 University Poetry Center
Prizes: $2,000 and publication Closing date: 16 March
Entry fee: $15 A novel in progress by an www.foweyfestival.com Full-length poetry collections,
Closing date: 14 March unpublished US writer over 48 pages, by poets who
https://coloradoreview.colostate. Prizes: $10,000; $1,000 Gordon Burn Prize have had no, or one, collection
edu/nelligan-prize/ Entry fee: $30 published; essay collections,
Closing date: 15 March A published novel or work of 100-300 pages
Room Fiction Contest www.wilkes.edu/academics/ non-fiction that challenges Prizes: 3x$1,000 and publication
graduate-programs/masters- perceived ideas about genre Entry fee: $28
Short stories, up to 3,500 words programs/creative-writing-ma- Prizes: £5,000, retreat up to three Closing date: 31 March
Prizes: Can$1,000, $250, $50 mfa/ months at Gordon Burn’s cottage www.csupoetrycenter.com
Free entry

6 www.writers-online.co.uk Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Ghost Story Supernatural Entry fee: $20 For poems up to 50 lines Entry fee: £5
Fiction Award Closing date: 31 March Prizes: £100, £50, £25 Wakefield Closing date: 31 March
https://indianareview.org/prizes postcode prize www.wbcompetition.com
Short stories, 1,500-10,000 Entry fee: £3, £2 each subsequent
words, with supernatural WriteTime competitions Closing date: 31 March APRIL
themes, broadly defined www.currockpress.com
Prizes: $1,000, 2x$250 Short stories up to 1,500 words GVCA New Deal Writing
Entry fee: $20 by writers over 60 Rosemary Goodacre Competition
Closing date: 30 March Prizes: £50, 2x£25; anthology Competition
www.theghoststory.com publication Short stories, up to 10,000
Entry fee: £3, £5 for two Short stories up to 1,500 words words, inspired by a painting,
Antivenom Poetry Award Closing date: quarterly, 31 on the theme ‘friendship’ shown on the website
March, 30 June, 30 Sept, 31 Dec Prizes: £150, £100, £50 Prizes: $200, $100, $50
A first or second poetry https://writetime.org/ Entry fee: £7.50 Entry fee: $5
collection manuscript Closing date: 31 March Closing date: 1 April
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Restless Books Prize for www.elaineeverest.com/ http://gvartscouncil.org/
Entry fee: $30 New Immigrant Writing rosemary-goodacre-competition writingcompetition/
Closing date: 31 March
http://elixirpress.com/guidelines/ Unpublished fiction Fish Poetry Prize Short Grain Contest
antivenom-poetry-award manuscripts by first generation
residents of their country. For poems, up to 60 lines Poetry, max 100 lines, or fiction,
Gemini Magazine Short Prizes: $10,000 and publication Prizes: First €1,000, 2nd a max 2,500 words
Story Contest Free entry week in residence at Anam Cara Prizes: Can$1,000, $750, $500
Closing date: 31 March Writers’ Retreat, third €200 and publication, in each category
Short stories of any length https://restlessbooks.org/prize- Entry fee: €14 Entry fee: $40, international $60
Prizes: $1,000, $100, 4x$25, and for-new-immigrant-writing Closing date: 31 March Closing date: 1 April
publication www.fishpublishing.com www.grainmagazine.ca/
Entry fee: $7 Saturnalia Books Poetry
Closing date: 31 March, TBC Prize Flash 500 Flash Fiction Cowles Poetry Book Prize
www.gemini-magazine.com
Poetry collections, longer than Quarterly competition for flash Poetry collections, 48-100 pages
Pinch Literary Awards 48 pages fiction, up to 500 words Prizes: $2,000 and publication
Prizes: $1,500, $500; publication Prizes: £300, £200 and £100 Entry fee: $25
Short stories under 5,000 words; Entry fee: $30 Entry fee: £5, £8 for two Closing date: 1 April
up to 3 poems, any length Closing date: 31 March Closing date: 31 March, 30 June, www.semopress.com
Prizes: $1,000 and publication in https://saturnaliabooks.com/ 30 Sept, 31 Dec
each category www.flash500.com Alpine Fellowship
Entry fee: $20, $10 each extra Black Lawrence Press Writing Prize
Closing date: 31 March Hudson Prize International Rubery
www.pinchjournal.com Book Award Prose on the theme of the Alpine
An unpublished collection of Fellowship Annual Symposium
Caterpillar International poems or short stories Independently published or self- up to 2,500 words
Poetry Prize Prizes: $1,000 and publication published books Prizes: £10,000; £3,000, £2,000
Entry fee: $25 Prizes: £1,500, £150 category Free entry
Poems for children aged 7-11 Closing date: 31 March winners Closing date: 1 April
Prizes: www.blacklawrence.com Entry fee: £37 https://alpinefellowship.com/
Entry fee: €14 Closing date: 31 March
Closing date: 31 March Charles Brasch www.ruberybookaward.com Nimrod Literary Awards
www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com Young Writers Essay
Competition Short Fiction Short Fiction up to 7,500 words or
Four Way Books Levis Story Prize 3-10 pages of poetry, by US
Prize in Poetry Essays, up to 1,500, by New residents
Zealand citizens aged 16-21 Short stories up to 5,000 words Prizes: $2,000, $1,000 in both
Poetry collections, 48-100 pages Prizes: $500 Prizes: £500 plus publication, £250 categories, plus publication
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Free entry Entry fee: £7 Entry fee: $20
Entry fee: $30 Closing date: 31 March Closing date: 31 March Closing date: 1 April
Closing date: 31 March www.otago.ac.nz/press/landfall/ www.shortfictionjournal.co.uk https://artsandsciences.utulsa.edu/
https://fourwaybooks.com/site/ awards/otago625789.html nimrod/nimrod-literary-awards/
guidelines/ London Magazine Short
Cinnamon Press Poetry Story Competition Killer Nashville
Blue Mountain Novel Pamphlet Prize Claymore Award
Award Short stories, up to 4,000 words
Short poetry collections of 15- Prizes: £500, £300, £200 Unpublished manuscripts with
Unpublished novel of any length 25 poems up to 50 lines each Entry fee: £10, £5 each extra elements of thriller, mystery,
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Prizes: Publishing contract and 30 Closing date: 31 March crime or suspense
Entry fee: $20 copies of the pamphlet for each of www.thelondonmagazine.org Prizes: $3,000 prize fund, plus
Closing date: 31 March, TBC two poets publication
https://hiddenriverarts. Entry fee: £12 Writers Bureau Annual Entry fee: $40
wordpress.com/ Closing date: 31 March Short Story Closing date: 1 April
www.cinnamonpress.com https://killernashville.com/
Indiana Review Short stories, up to 2,000 words claymore/
Red Shed Open Poetry Prizes: £300, £200, £100, £50, a
Short stories, up to 6,000 words, Competition choice of Writers Bureau course
or up to 3 poems worth over £374
Prizes: $1,000 and publication

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 7

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Orison Books Poetry of each month Gulf Coast Contests Peseroff Prize
and Fiction Prizes www.writerscentre.com.au/
furious-fiction/ Stories and essays, up to 25 Up to three poems, any form
Novels, novellas or fiction pages, or up to 5 poems of no Prizes: $1,000 and publication
collections of at least 30,000 Willowdown Books more than 10 pages Entry fee: $10
words; poetry collections, 50- Cunningham Short Prizes: $1,500, 2x$250, in each Closing date: 15 April
100 pages Story Competition category www.breakwaterreview.com/
Prizes: $1,500 and publication in Entry fee: $23
each category Short stories, 1,000-3,000 words Closing date: 15 April CantoMundo Poetry Prize
Entry fee: $30 Prizes: $125 www.gulfcoastmag.org
Closing date: 1 April, annual Entry fee: $12 Poetry collections, 48-90 pages,
https://orisonbooks.com Closing date: 4 April Slope Editions Book Prize by Latinx writers
www.willowdownbooks.com Prizes: $1,000 and publication
SPR Book Prizes Unpublished poetry collections, Entry fee: $28
Retreat West Micro 40-90 pages, by US poets Closing date: 15 April
Books published on Amazon Fiction Competition Prizes: $1,000 and publication www.cantomundo.org
before entry, never available Entry fee: $25
elsewhere Fiction, 100 words exactly, to a Closing date: 15 April New Ohio Review Prizes
Prizes: SPR reader review prompt posted on the website at www.slopeeditions.org
packages on Amazon the start of each month Fiction and non-fiction, up to
Entry fee: $30 Prizes: 50% of total entry fees Agha Shahid Ali Prize 20 pages, and poetry, up to 6
Closing date: 1 April received Prizes: $1,500 in each category
www.selfpublishingreview.com/ Entry fee: £4 Poetry collections, 48-100 pages Entry fee: $20
spr-book-awards/ Closing date: 8 April, monthly Prizes: $1,500 and publication Closing date: 15 April
www.retreatwest.co.uk Entry fee: $25 www.ohio.edu/nor/
Cranked Anvil Prompt Closing date: 15 April
Competition Oberon Poetry Prize www.uofupress.com/ali-poetry- Etel Adnan Poetry Prize
prize.php
Stories inspired by set writing Single poems, max 2 pages each; Poetry collections, 48-90 pages,
prompts, 700-1000 words. submit up to 3 Everything Change by a writer of Arab heritage
Prizes: £150, £75, £30 Prizes: $1,000 and publication Climate Fiction Contest Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Entry fee: £5, £8 for, £10 for 3 Entry fee: $18 Entry fee: $25
Closing date: quarterly, 1 Apr, 1 Closing date: 10 April, annually Short fiction, up to 5,000 words Closing date: 15 April
Jul, 1 Oct www.oberonpoetry.com Prizes: $1,000, 9x$100 www.uapress.com/prizes/
www.crankedanvil.co.uk Entry fee: Free entry
Bath Short Story Award Closing date: 15 April Prism Grouse Grind
Wergle Flomp Humor https://climateimagination.asu. Prize for V Short Forms
Poetry Contest Short stories up to 2,200 words, edu/clificontest/
in any style and on any subject Flash fiction and non-fiction, up
Highly enjoyable annual Prizes: £1,200, £300, £100, £50 Panther Creek Book to 300 words
competition for humorous and for a local writer, £100 for an Award in non-fiction Prizes: Can$500, $150, $50
spoof poetry, up to 250 lines unpublished writer Entry fee: $15
Prizes: $2,000, $500, 10x$100 Entry fee: £8 Unpublished book-length non- Closing date: 16 April
Free entry Closing date: 11 April fiction http://prismmagazine.ca/
Closing date: 1 April http://bathshortstoryaward.org Prizes: $1,000 and publication
www.winningwriters.com/wergle Entry fee: $20 Pen Parentis Writing
Red Planet Prize Closing date: 15 April, TBC Fellowship
Zone 3 Press Award https://hiddenriverarts.
New TV series drama scripts wordpress.com A short story, up to 750 words,
Poetry manuscripts this year, Prizes: Script commission and by the parent of a child aged
48-80 pages masterclasses with award-winning New Southern Voices under 10
Prizes: $1,000 and publication writers Poetry Prize Prizes: $1,000 plus public reading
Entry fee: $20 Closing date: 13 April in New York
Closing date: 1 April www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/ Unpublished poetry collections, Entry fee: $15, two for $20
www.zone3press.com the-red-planet-prize 48-120 pages, by poets who live Closing date: 17 April
or have lived in the US southern www.penparentis.org
Terry Tempest Williams RA & Pin Drop Short states
Prize for Creative Non- Story Award Prizes: $1,000 and publication Quiet Man Dave Prize
Fiction Entry fee: $25
Short stories up to 4,000 words Closing date: 15 April, biennial Fiction and non-fiction flash, up
One piece of creative non-fiction, Prizes: A reading at the Royal https://hubcity.org/press/new- to 500 words
up to 30 double spaced pages Academy of Arts southern-voices-poetry-prize Prizes: £1,000, £200, £50
Prizes: $500 and publication Free entry Entry fee: £5
Entry fee: $23 Closing date: 15 April 53-word Story Contest Closing date: 17 April
Closing date: 2 April, TBC http://pindropstudio.com/ www2.mmu.ac.uk/qmdprize/
https://northamericanreview.org Stories of exactly 53 words, to a
Magpie Award for Poetry different prompt each month Brick Lane Bookshop
Furious fiction Prizes: Publication in Prime Short Story Prize
Unpublished poems up to 100 Number magazine; free book
500-word short stories, written lines Free entry Short stories, 1,000-5,000 words
in 55 hours Prizes: $500, 2x$50 Closing date: 15 April, and 15th Prizes: £1,000, £250, £100
Prizes: Aus$500 Entry fee: $25, $10 each extra of each month thereafter Entry fee: £10
Free entry Closing date: 15 April www.press53.com/53word- Closing date: 19 April
Closing date: 3 April, first Sunday http://pulpliterature.com/ story-contest https://bricklanebookshop.org/
short%20story%20prize.html

8 www.writers-online.co.uk Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Omnidawn Broadside www.grindstoneliterary.com/ Closing date: 30 April, TBC Trio Award for first and
Poetry Prize competitions http://prolebooks.co.uk/ second Poetry Books

Single poems, 8-24 lines Holland Park Press Sentinel Literary Poetry collections, 48-70 pages,
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Quarterly Poetry Comp by US poets
Entry fee: $10, $5 each additional Poems, up to 50 lines, on a Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Closing date: 18 April theme TBC Poems up to 50 lines Entry fee: $25
http://omnidawn.com Prizes: £200 and publication Prizes: £250, £100, £50, £30 x 3, Closing date: 30 April
Free entry £15 x 3 www.triohousepress.org
Connell Guides Short Closing date: 27 April Entry fee: £5, discounts for more
Story Prize www.hollandparkpress.co.uk/ Closing date: 30 April, quarterly, Cave Canem Poetry
31 July, 31 Oct Prize
Short stories up to 1,200 words Arc Award of http://sentinelquarterly.com
by students up to Year 11 Awesomeness First poetry collection
Prizes: £250 sixth form prize, Ware Poets Open Poetry manuscripts by black poets of
£100 Amazon voucher GCSE Poems up to 100 lines, in response Competition African descent, 48-75 pages
prize, Connell Guides, 2 x £50 to a given monthly theme Prizes: $1,000, plus publication
vouchers for runners up Prizes: Half the entry fees plus a Poems, up to 50 lines, any Entry fee: $20
Free entry ‘vintage doo-dad’ from an Ontario theme; separate sonnet prize Closing date: 30 April
Closing date: 20 April flea market Prizes: £600, £300, £150, £150 https://cavecanempoets.org/
www.connellguides.com/ Entry fee: Can$2 sonnet prize prizes/cave-canem-poetry-prize/
webform/essay-prize Closing date: 30 April, monthly Entry fee: £4, £12 for 4, extra £3
http://arcpoetry.ca/contests-page/ Closing date: 30 April, TBC John Byrne Awards
Globe Soup Travel www.poetrypf.co.uk
Writing Competition Al Blanchard Award Any creative work by Scottish
Sow’s Ear Poetry Review residents
Unpublished travel writing, up Crime fiction, up to 5,000 Chapbook Contest Prizes: £7,500 annual prize, £500
to 1,000 words words, set in New England or by each quarter
Prizes: £1,000 and publication authors from there Poetry collections, 22-26 pages Free entry
Entry fee: £8 Prizes: $100 Prizes: $1,000 and publication Closing date: quarterly, 30 April,
Closing date: 22 April Free entry Entry fee: $40 international 31 Aug, 30 Nov
www.globesoup.net/competitions Closing date: 30 April entries www.johnbyrneaward.org.uk
http://crimebake.org/al- Closing date: 30 April
Sixfold Short Story and blanchard-award/ www.sowsearpoetry.org Writing Quarter
Poetry Contest
Hillary Gravendyk Prize Storyhouse Animal non- Short stories, 1,000-3,000 words
Short stories, up to 20 pages, fiction contest Prizes: Aus$30
and poetry, up to 10 pages Poetry collections, 48-100 Free entry
Prizes: $1,000 and publication, in pages, by US poets Wild animal themed non- Closing date: monthly, last of
each category Prizes: $1,000; $1,000 for best fiction, 1,000-10,000 words each month
Entry fee: $5 entry from South California Prizes: $200, $100 https://writingquarter.com.au
Closing date: quarterly, 23 April, Entry fee: $20 Free entry
23 July, 23 Oct Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 30 April Inkitt Short Story and
www.sixfold.org http://inlandiainstitute.org www.storyhouse.org/ Fanfic Contests

Wainwright Golden Poetica Christi Press Diagram/New Michigan Monthly competitions for short
Beer Book Prize Annual Poetry Press Chapbook Contest stories, 5,000-10,000 words, and
Competition fanfic, over 7,500 words
Novels on the outdoors, nature Chapbook-length prose and Prizes: $150, $50, $30
and UK-based travel writing Poems on a theme TBA, max 50 poetry manuscripts, 18-44 pages Free entry
Prizes: £5,000 lines, by Australian residents Prizes: $1,000 and publication Closing date: last of each month
Free entry Prizes: Aus$300, $100 Entry fee: $20 www.inkitt.com
Closing date: 24 April, TBC Entry fee: $7 Closing date: 30 April
http://wainwrightprize.com Closing date: 30 April www.thediagram.com/contest.html FanStory
http://poeticachristi.org.au
White Review Short Love Lies Bleeding Busy programme of
Story Prize Carlo Annoni Prize Anthology Contest competitions, closing every few
days, for flash, short stories,
Short stories, 2,000-7,000 For plays in Italian or English Poems, up to 36 lines, on poetry and more
words, by emerging writers on issues relating to the socially conscious themes Prizes: $100 each comp
Prizes: £2,500 LGBTQ+ community Prizes: Can$200, $150, $100, Entry fee: free, but for (paid) site
Entry fee: £15 Prizes: €1,000 in each language $50, and publication members only
Closing date: 26 April Free entry Entry fee: $20 for up to 4 Closing date: 30 April, constant
www.thewhitereview.org Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 30 April www.fanstory.com
http://premiocarloannoni.eu/ www.theontariopoetrysociety.ca/
Grindstone Literary Prizes guidelines/?lang=en Marsh Hawk Press
Louise Bogan Award Poetry Prize
Short stories, up to 3,000 words; Prole Laureate Poetry
poems, up to 40 lines Competition Poetry collections, 48-70 pages, Poetry collections, 48-84 pages
Prizes: £500, £200, 4x£50 in each by US poets Prizes: $1,000 and publication;
category Poems of any length, style and Prizes: $1,000 and publication 2x$250
Entry fee: £8 subject, all details TBC Entry fee: $25 Entry fee: $25
Closing date: 28 April, for short Prizes: £200, 2 x £50 Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 30 April
stories, 28 May for poems, TBC Entry fee: £2, £5 for three www.triohousepress.org https://marshhawkpress.org

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 9

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

National Flash Fiction Closing date: 30 April Poetry on the Lake Closing date: 1 May
Day (NZ) Prize www.tadpolepress.com/events International http://thegeorgiareview.com/

Short stories, up to 300 words, Iowa Poetry Prize Poetry, theme TBC, up to Malahat Review Far
by New Zealand residents 42 lines in open and formal Horizons Award
Prizes: NZ$1,000, $400, $100; Poetry collections, 50-150 pages (traditional verse) categories, 10-
$200, $100 and $50 youths Prizes: Publication under a line poems in short category Up to 3 poems, 60 lines each
Entry fee: $10 standard contract Prizes: €250, 2x€100 Prizes: Can$1,000
Closing date: 30 April Entry fee: $20 Entry fee: €6, 4 for €20 Entry fee: $35
https://nationalflash.org/ Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 1 May
competition/ www.uipress.uiowa.edu/authors/ www.poetryonthelake.org www.malahatreview.ca/contests/
iowa-prize.htm contests_info.html
Poetry International Southport Writers’ Circle
Adrienne Rich Award International Poetry Questions Writing Prize
Poems, submit up to 3
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Up to three poems, 10 lines total Poems, up to 40 lines Short stories, 1,500-2,000 words
Entry fee: $15, $3 each additional Prizes: $1,500 Prizes: £150, £75, £25, humour by Australian writers aged 18-30
Closing date: 30 April Entry fee: $15 prize £25 Prizes: Aus$2,000
https://poetryinternational.sdsu. Closing date: 30 April, TBC Entry fee: £3 or £10 for four Free entry
edu/ www.bpj.org/submit/rich- Closing date: 30 April, TBC Closing date: 1 May
award-guidelines www.swconline.co.uk www.questions.com.au
Shooter Flash Fiction
Competition Edge Hill Short Story Prize Ver Poets Open Poetry Remastered Words
Competition Short Story Competition
Flash fiction and non-fiction, up Published short story collections
to 1,000 words Prizes: £10,000, £1,000 For poetry, up to 30 lines; open Fantasy short stories, up to
Prizes: £50 each month, publication Free entry theme/form 5,000 words
Entry fee: £3.50 Closing date: 30 April, TBC Prizes: £600, £300, £100, Prizes: £75, £50, £25; audiobook
Closing date: rolling monthly www.edgehill.ac.uk publication in The Ver Prize production with royalties
deadlines anthology and on website Free entry
https://shooterlitmag.com Furphy Literary Award Entry fee: £4, £10 for 3, extras £3 Closing date: 1 May, TBC
Closing date: 30 April www.remasteredwords.com
Agnes Lynch Starrett Unpublished fiction or narrative www.verpoets.org.uk
Poetry Prize non-fiction on Australian life’, Colm Tóibín
under 5,000 words MAY International Short
Poetry collections, over 48 Prizes: Aus$15,000, $3,000, Story Award
pages, by unpublished poets $2,000 Atlanta Review
Prizes: $5,000 and publication Free entry International Poetry Short stories, max 2,000 words;
Entry fee: $25 Closing date: 30 April Competition opens in February
Closing date: 30 April www.furphyliteraryaward.com.au Prizes: €700, €500, €300
https://upittpress.org Up to five poems, any length Entry fee: €10
Grey Hen Poetry Prizes: $1,000 and publication Closing date: 1 May
SA Writers College Competition Entry fee: $15 www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com
Short Story Comp Closing date: 1 May
For poems, up to 40 lines, by http://atlantareview.com Eoin Colfer International
Short stories, up to 2,000 words women 60+ Children’s Short Story
by unpublished South African Prizes: £100, £50, £25, website Erbacce Prize for Poetry Award
writers on the theme ‘You only publication
live once’ Entry fee: £3, £10 for four Up to five pages of poetry Short stories for children, max
Prizes: R10,000, R5,000, R2,500 Closing date: 30 April Prizes: Publishing contract 2,000 words; opens in February
Free entry www.greyhenpress.com Free entry Prizes: €500
Closing date: 30 April Closing date: 1 May Entry fee: €10
www.sawriterscollege.co.za/ NAWG Open 100x100 http://erbacce-press.webeden.co.uk Closing date: 1 May
Competition www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com
Dr William Henry Julia Darling Fellowship
Drummond Poetry Flash fiction, exactly 100 words Curt Johnson Prose
Prizes: £100 Travel fellowship for published/ Awards
Poems, up to 50 lines, by Entry fee: £3, £5 for 2, £8 for 3 produced writers living in the
Canadian residents Closing date: 30 April north of England Fiction and non-fiction, up to
Prizes: Can$300, $200, $100, www.nawg.co.uk/competition Prizes: £2,000 8,000 words
8x$75, 8x$50 Free entry Prizes: $1,500, $500 and
Entry fee: $10 Tom Howard/John H Closing date: TBC, early May publication in each category
Closing date: 30 April Reid Fiction and Essay http://newwritingnorth.com/ Entry fee: $20
www.springpulsepoetryfestival. Contest projects/the-julia-darling-travel- Closing date: 1 May
com/drummond.html fellowship/ https://decembermag.org
Short stories, essays or other
Tadpole Press 100-word prose, up to 6,000 words. Loraine Williams Poetry Francis MacManus/RTE
Writing Contest International entries welcome Prize Radio 1 Short Story
Prizes: $3,000 10x$200 in each Competition
100 words, any genre category Up to three poems, no more
Prizes: $1,000; a $450 writing Entry fee: $20 than ten pages total Stories between 1,800 and 2,000
coaching package for second, a Closing date: 30 April Prizes: $1,500 and publication words from writers from Ireland
$250 development or diversity www.winningwriters.com/ Entry fee: $15 Prizes: €3,000, €2,000, €1,000
editing package for third tomstory Free entry

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COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Closing date: TBC, early May Fifteen-minute productions with Elizabeth Jolley Short Booksie First Chapter
www.rte.ie/writing no more than four actors Story Prize Novel Competition 2022
Prizes: €300, €200, €100
Caledonia Novel Award Entry fee: €10 Unpublished short stories First chapter of a novel, up to
Closing date: 1 May between 2,000 and 5,000 words 7,000 words, any genre
The first 20 pages plus 200- www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com Prizes: Aus $5,000, $3,000, Prizes: $500, 2x$100
word synopsis of a novel by an $2,000, £2,500 between 3 Entry fee: $5.95
unpublished writer Anthony Cronin commended Closing date: 14 May
Prizes: £1,500, trophy International Short Entry fee: $25 www.booksie.com
Entry fee: £25 Poem Award Closing date: 3 May
Closing date: 1 May www.australianbookreview.com.au Live Canon International
https://thecaledonianovelaward. Poems up to 40 lines Poetry Competition
com Prizes: €300, €200, €100 Nick Darke Award
Entry fee: €10 for up to 3 Poems of any length
Richard Snyder Closing date: 1 May Full-length stage plays Prizes: £1,000, £100; live
Publication Prize www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com Prizes: £6,000 performance and anthology
Free entry publication for shortlisted poems
Poetry collections, 48-96 pages Moon City Press Poetry Closing date: 4 May, all TBC Entry fee: £6.50, £12 for two,
Prizes: $1,000 and publication www.falmouth.ac.uk/ £16 for three
Entry fee: $27 Poetry collections, over 48 pages nickdarkeaward Closing date: 14 May, TBC
Closing date: 1 May Prizes: $1,000 and publication www.livecanon.co.uk
www.ashlandpoetrypress.com Entry fee: $25 Bristol Short Story Prize
Closing date: 2 May Lush Triumphant
Crucible Poetry and http://moon-city-press.com/ Stories on any theme, up to Literary Awards
Fiction Competition 4,000 words
Mairtín Crawford Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250, 17 Short stories, max 3,000 words,
Short stories up to 8,000 words; Awards £100 shortlisted. All published in creative non-fiction, max 4,000
or up to five poems prize anthology words; up to five poems, max 15
Prizes: $150, $100 3-5 poems; short stories, up to Entry fee: £9 pages
Free entry 2,500 words Closing date: 4 May Prizes: Can$1,000 and
Closing date: 1 May Prizes: £500 and invitation to www.bristolprize.co.uk publication in each category
www.barton.edu/crucible/ read at Belfast Book Festival Entry fee: $30
Entry fee: £6 Imagine 2200 Climate Closing date: 15 May, TBC
Cranked Anvil Short Closing date: 2 May Fiction Prize http://subterrain.ca
Story Competition https://belfastbookfestival.com/
mairtin-crawford-award Short stories, 3,000-5,000 Stanley Kunitz Memorial
Short stories, up to 1,500 words; words, on environmental themes
Prizes: £150, £75, £30 SI Leeds Literary Prize Prizes: $3,000, $2,000, $1,000, Up to 3 poems, three pages total
Entry fee: £5, £8 for 2, £10 for 3 10x$300 Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Closing date: Quarterly, 1 May, 1 Biennial prize for unpublished Free entry Entry fee: $15
Aug, 1 Nov fiction (novels or short story Closing date: 5 May Closing date: 15 May
www.crankedanvil.co.uk collections, no less than 30,000 https://grist.org/fix/climate- https://aprweb.org
words) by Black and Asian fiction-writing-contest-imagine-
Stan and Tom Wick women in the UK 2200-prizes/ Fugere Book Prize
Poetry Prize Prizes: £4,000, £2,000, £1,000;
£1,000 Readers› Choice, plus Laura Literary Awards Novellas, 17,000-40,000 words
Unpublished full-length poetry training and consultations Prizes: $750 and publication
collections, 50-70 pages Entry fee: £10 Short stories, up to 1,500 words; Entry fee: $25
Prizes: $2,500 and publication Closing date: 2 May poems, up to 60 lines Closing date: 15 May
Entry fee: $25 All details TBC Prizes: Aus$780 prize fund https://regalhousepublishing.com
Closing date: 1 May www.sileedsliteraryprize.com Entry fee: $15
www.kent.edu/wick Closing date: 7 May, TBC Raymond Carver Short
Craft Short Fiction Award www.rockyriverriters.club Story Prize
Ruminate Poetry Prize
Short stories up to 5,000 words Stringybark Tales with a Annual competition for short
2 poems, up to 40 lines Prizes: $2,000, $500 and $300, Twist Award stories, up to 10,000 words
Prizes: $1,500, $300; plus and publication Prizes: $1,500, £500, $250, two
publication Entry fee: $20 Short stories, up to 1,500 words $125 editor’s choices
Entry fee: $20 Closing date: 2 May Prizes: $350, $250, $125 Entry fee: $17
Closing date: 1 May www.craftliterary.com Entry fee: Aus$14 Closing date: 15 May, TBC
www.ruminatemagazine.com Closing date: 13 May TBC www.carvezine.com/raymond-
Leapfrog Press Fiction www.stringybarkstories.net carver-contest/
Cursed Murphy Spoken Contest
Word Award Times/Chicken House Cassandra Jardine
Book-length fiction, over 22,000 Children’s Fiction Comp Memorial Prize
mp3/mp4 clip of a self- words
performed poem or prose Prizes: $1,150 advance and Full-length novels, 30,000- Feature journalism between
Prizes: €200 publication; $150 for finalists 80,000 words, for ages 7-18 1,500 and 2,000 words by
Entry fee: Free entry Entry fee: $33 Prizes: Publication deal worth women writers aged 18-25
Closing date: 1 May Closing date: 3 May £10,000; editorial reports Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250
www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com https://leapfrogpress.com/the- Entry fee: £20 Free entry
leapfrog-global-fiction-prize- Closing date: 14 May, TBC Closing date: 15 May, TBC
Billy Roche International contest/ www.chickenhousebooks.com/ www.telegraph.co.uk/cassandra-
Short Play Award submissions jardine-prize/

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 11

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Competitions include: up to 2; $15.50 after 27 April Closing date: 30 May Bannister Poetry
Picture books, crime, short stories, Closing date: 24 May, TBC https://creative-mind.co.uk Anthology Contest
www.smokelong.com/the-
poetry, romance, smokelong-quarterly-award-for- Bath Novel Award Poems, under two pages, by
¾ EWL ½ GXMSR 1+ ERH =% flash-fiction/ writers from Ontario only
See the main listings for the Kate Nash For the first 5,000 words of a Prizes: Can$300, $200, $100
VSQERGI ERH ;VMXMRK 1EKE^MRI Creative Future Writers’ novel, plus one-page synopsis Entry fee: $15 for up to three
WLSVX WXSV] GSQTIXMXMSRW Award Prizes: £3,000; 2nd: agent Closing date: 31 May
Entries are welcome from non- introductions and manuscript https://canauthorsniagara.org/
attendees but winners will be Poetry up to 40 lines, short feedback; 3rd: Cornerstones poetry-contest/
announced at the festival in June. fiction up to 2,000 words, by online course
disadvantaged writers; various Entry fee: £29 Reflex Quarterly Flash
Please subscribe to categories Closing date: 31 May Fiction
Prizes: £10,000 in cash and http://bathnovelaward.co.uk
www.iaminprint.co.uk development opportunities Stories 180-360 words
Entry fee: £2 Elixir Press Fiction Award Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250
JSV QSVI HIXEMPW Closing date: 22 May Entry fee: £7
www.creativefuture.org.uk/for- Novels and short story Closing date: quarterly, 31 May,
WM and I AM Writing writers/creative-future-writers- collections, 120-500 pages 30 Aug, 30 Nov
Festival Short Story award/ Prizes: $2,000 and publication www.reflexfiction.com
Competition Entry fee: $40
Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Closing date: 31 May Page Turner Awards
Short stories, any genre or style, http://elixirpress.com
1,500-1,700 words One piece of short fiction, no For unpublished book-length
Prizes: £250 plus Writing word limit, by an unpublished Fiction Factory Poetry fiction, unfinished manuscripts,
Magazine subscription; 2xWM Canadian writer and screenplays
subscriptions Prizes: $1,000 and publication Poems up to 40 lines Prizes: Practical prizes: mentoring,
Entry fee: £10, £8 for WM Entry fee: $40 for up to 3 Prizes: £100; editorial feedback software, etc
subscribers Closing date: 28 May, TBC Entry fee: £3 Entry fee: £30
Closing date: 15 May https://tnq.ca/contests/ Closing date: 31 May Closing date: 31 May
https://writ.rs/comp http://fiction-factory.biz https://pageturnerawards.com
Comedy Women in Print
Kate Nash Literary Fiction Factory Chapter Bacopa Literary Review
Agency Romance Comp Comedy novels by women in Novel Contest
two categories: published writers
Open chapter of a romance and unpublished writers First chapter and synopsis, max Short stories (1,000-1,500
novel, up to 3,500 words Prizes: £2,000 for published 5,000 words words), creative non-fiction (up
Prizes: £100 plus virtual 30 writers, £1,000 and a free place on Prizes: £500 and manuscript to 2,500 words), poetry (up to 3
minute consultation with Kate the University of Hertfordshire›s appraisal pieces, 88 lines each), haiku and
Nash, £50 plus written feedback, MA in Creative Writing for Entry fee: £18 mixed genre; all details TBC
£25 plus written feedback unpublished writers Closing date: 31 May Prizes: $300 in each
Entry fee: £8 Entry fee: free for published http://fiction-factory.biz Free entry
Closing date: 15 May writers, £10 for unpublished Closing date: 31 May, TBC
www.iaminprint.co.uk Closing date: 28 May, TBC Black Orchid Novella https://writersalliance.org/
www.comedywomeninprint.co.uk Award bacopa-literary-review/

Live Canon Collection Shooter Short Story Traditional mystery novellas Black River Chapbook
Competition Prizes: $1,000 and publication Competition
Stories up to 5,000 words Free entry
Poetry collections of 35+ poems Prizes: £400, £100 Closing date: 31 May Unpublished poetry or prose
Prizes: publication for top three Entry fee: £7, £10 for two www.nerowolfe.org chapbooks, 16-36 pages
Entry fee: £12 Closing date: 29 May Prizes: $500 and publication
Closing date: 21 May, TBC https://shooterlitmag.com Boston Review Annual Entry fee: $15
www.livecanon.co.uk Poetry Contest Closing date: 31 May, 30 Nov
International Welsh www.blacklawrence.com/
Ploughshares Emerging Poetry Competition Up to 10 pages, of up to 5 poems submissions-and-contests/the-st-
Writer Contest Prizes: $500 and publication lawrence-book-award/
Poems up to 50 lines Entry fee: $20 for US/Can/
Fiction and non-fiction under Prizes: £500, £250, £100, plus 17 Western European entrants; CBC Poetry Prize
6,000 words; 3-5 pages of poetry runners-up otherwise free
Prizes: $2,000 in each category, Entry fee: £6, £5 each additional Closing date: 31 May A single poem or collection,
plus publication Closing date: 29 May https://bostonreview.net/contests totalling up to 600 words, by a
Entry fee: $24 www.welshpoetry.co.uk Canadian citizen or resident
Closing date: 22 May, TBC Darling Axe Synopsis Prizes: Can$6,000, 4 x $1,000
www.pshares.org/submit The Francis Huxley Skirmish Entry fee: Can$25
Literary Award Closing date: 31 May
Smokelong Quarterly Summarize your manuscript www.cbc.ca/books/
Award for Flash Fiction Short stories, up to 1,500 words (fiction or narrative non-fiction) literaryprizes/cbc-poetry-
or poems up to 40 lines, on the in 500 words or fewer prize-1.4090929
Fiction, up to 1,000 words theme ‘travel’ Prizes: Can$700, $200, $100
Prizes: $2,000, $200, $100; Prizes: £50, £30 and £20 in each Entry fee: $5 Berkshire Prize
finalists, $50 category Closing date: 31 May
Entry fee: early bird $13.50 for Entry fee: £3, £5 for three https://darlingaxe.com/pages/ Poetry manuscripts, 48-88
contest pages, by poets worldwide who

12 www.writers-online.co.uk Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

have had no or one collection Closing date: 31 May Prizes: £150, £50, £25; publication Divine Chocolate Poetry
published www.shorescripts.com/ Entry fee: £7, £3 Leicestershire
Prizes: $3,000 plus publication writers For poems on a chocolatey
Entry fee: $30 Wigtown Poetry Comp Closing date: 1 June, TBC theme, in two kids’ and one
Closing date: 31 May http://leicesterwrites.co.uk adults’ categories
www.tupelopress.org/contests Poems, up to 40 lines in English, Prizes: Divine chocolate, goodies,
Scots or Scots/Irish Gaelic Boulevard Poetry book tokens
Bridport Prize Prizes: £1,500, £200; Gaelic Prize Free entry
£500, £200; Scots Prize £500, Groups of three poems by a Closing date: 5 June, TBC
Short stories (up to 5,000 words), £200 writer who has not had a book www.papapaa.org/poetry-
novels (first 8,000 words), poetry Entry fee: TBC, in previous years, published competition.html
(up to 42 lines) and flash fiction £6.50, £17 for three, £5 after that Prizes: $1,000
(up to 250 words); new category Closing date: 31 May, TBC Entry fee: $16 Bruntwood Prize for
this year for memoir www.wigtownpoetryprize.com Closing date: 1 June Playwriting
Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £500 and https://boulevardmagazine.org/
ten £100 highly commendeds for Yeovil Literary Prize poetry-contest/ For full-length (at least an
short stories and poetry; £1,000, hour) new stage plays written
£500, £250, five £100 highly For novels (opening chapters Gertrude Stein Award in English, which have not been
commendeds for flash fiction; and synopsis, up to 15,000 published or professionally
£1,500, £750, plus editorial words), short stories (max 2,000 Short stories, up to 8,000 words performed
guidance words, poems (up to 40 lines), Prizes: $1,000 Prizes: £16,000; 2x£8,000
Entry fee: £9 for flash, £10 poem, writing without restrictions, Entry fee: $20 Free entry
£12 short story, £20 novel Western Gazette best local writer Closing date: 1 June Closing date: 6 June
Closing date: 31 May Prizes: Novel: £1,000, £250, www.eckleburg.org/ www.writeaplay.co.uk
www.bridportprize.org.uk £100; Short story and poetry,
£500, £200, £100; Writing Short Fiction Prize Victoria University
Frogmore Poetry Prize without restrictions: £200, £100, Short Story Prize for
£50; Local prize: £100 Short stories, up to 7,500 words, New Writers
For poems, any theme/style, up Entry fee: Novel: £12; Short by current students of North
to 40 lines story: £7; Poetry: £7 for one, £10 American universities and Short stories up to 3,000 words
Prizes: 250 guineas, 75 guineas, for two, £12 for three; Writing colleges Prizes: Aus$6,000, 2x$1,000
50 guineas, plus subscriptions to without restrictions: £5 Prizes: $1,000 and a place at the Entry fee: $20
The Frogmore Papers Closing date: 31 May Southampton Writers Conference Closing date: 10 June, TBC
Entry fee: £4 www.yeovilprize.co.uk Free entry https://overland.org.au/prizes/
Closing date: 31 May Closing date: 1 June, TBC
www.frogmorepress.co.uk These3Streams Arts www.stonybrook.edu/ ALCS Award for
Festival southampton/mfa/special_ Educational Writing
Frome Festival Short programs/fiction_guidelines.
Story Poems up to 40 lines on the html Traditionally published non-
theme of ‘belonging’ fiction that enhances learning
Short stories, 1,000-2,200 Prizes: £100, £50, £25 Cranked Anvil Flash Prizes: £2,000
words, any theme Entry fee: £5 Fiction Competition Free entry
Prizes: £400, £200, £100, extra Closing date: 31 May Closing date: 10 June, TBC
prizes for local entrants and young Short stories, up to 500 words; www.societyofauthors.org
writers JUNE quarterly
Entry fee: £8 Prizes: £150, £75, £30 Omnidawn Poetry
Closing date: 31 May Dan Veach Prize for Entry fee: £5, £8 for 2, £10 for 3 Chapbook Contest
www.fromeshortstory Younger Writers Closing date: Quarterly, 1 June, 1
competition.co.uk Sept, 1 Dec Poetry collections, 20-40 pages
Poems, any length, by people www.crankedanvil.co.uk Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Southword Fiction aged 18-23 Entry fee: $18
Chapbook Competition Prizes: $100 and publication Canterbury Festival Closing date: 13 June
Free entry Poet of the Year http://omnidawn.com
Novella, short story collection, Closing date: 1 June Competition
collection of flash fiction or a http://atlantareview.com
mixture of stories and flash, Poems up to 60 lines
10,000-15,000 words Conium Review Prizes: £200, £100, £50, £25;
Prizes: publication for two Innovative Short Fiction people›s choice, £25; best read,
winners (Irish and International) Contest sparkling wine
with €250 advance and 20 Entry fee: £5
complimentary copies Short stories and flash, up to Closing date: 3 June
Entry fee: €25 7,500 words – as a single or www.canterburyfestival.co.uk
Closing date: 31 May, TBC multiple stories
www.munsterlit.ie Prizes: $500 Farnham Flash Fiction
Entry fee: $15 Competition
Shore Scripts Closing date: 1 June, TBC
Screenwriting Contest http://coniumreview.com/ For flash fiction, up to 500
contests/ words, on any subject
Contests for feature, TV pilot Prizes: £75, £25, £25 for best
and short film scripts Leicester Writes Short entry featuring Farnham
Prizes: Prizes totalling $20,000 Story Prize Entry fee: £5
Entry fee: $40 Closing date: 5 June, TBC
Short stories up to 3,500 words www.farnhamfringefestival.org

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 13

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Aurora Prize for Writing 48-100 pages Globe Soup Short Story Prizes: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000,
Prizes: $1,000 and publication Competition 4 x £500
Short stories up to 2,000 words Entry fee: $25 Entry fee: £7, £3 subscribers
and poems up to 60 lines Closing date: 15 June Short stories up to 5,000 words Closing date: 26 June, TBC
Prizes: £500, £150 in each https://42milespress.com/contest/ with ‘a sense of place’ http://poetrylondon.co.uk/
category; a Writing School East Prizes: £1,500 and publication competition/
Midlands day school course Room Creative Non- Entry fee: £8
for the best entry from an East Fiction Contest Closing date: 15 June, TBC The Waking Flash
Midlands writer www.globesoup.net/competitions Prize for fiction and
Entry fee: £9, £7 each extra Essays, up to 3,500 words nonfiction
Closing date: 7 June, TBC Prizes: $500, $250, $50; publication Eyelands International
www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk Entry fee: $42 Short Story Competition One or two pieces in the same
Closing date: 15 June genre, in two categories, fiction
Eden Mills Writers https://roommagazine.com/ Short stories up to 2,500 words and non-, up to 1,000 words
Festival Literary Contest on a theme TBC Prizes: $500 each category
Tusculum Review Prizes: A week’s holiday for two Entry fee: $6.30
Short stories up to 1,500 words, Poetry Chapbook Prize on Serifos Closing date: 28 June
creative non-fiction up to 2,000; Entry fee: €10 TBC www.ruminatemagazine.com
up to 5 poems. All details TBC Poetry manuscripts, 20-30 pages Closing date: 20 June, TBC
Prizes: Can$250 in each category Prizes: $1,000 and publication www.eyelands.gr/en/ F(r)iction Literary
Entry fee: $20 Entry fee: $20 Contests
Closing date: 15 June, TBC Closing date: 15 June A Midsummer Tale
http://edenmillswritersfestival.ca https://web.tusculum.edu/ Narrative Writing Fiction and creative non-fiction,
tusculumreview/contest/ Contest 1,000-7,500 words, poems, up
Living Springs to 3; flash, up to 750 words
Publishers Stories Autumn House Literary fiction and creative Prizes: $1,000 for short stories,
Through the Ages non-fiction, 1,000-5,000 words, $300 each for poetry and flash,
Competition Full length non-fiction or fiction on a theme TBC $500 for creative non-fiction
manuscripts, 50-75,000 words; Prizes: $50, $15, $10 Amazon Entry fee: $15 stories; $8 flash, $12
Short stories, 900-4,000 words, poetry collections, 50-80 pages gift cards for 3; $10 poems, $12 for three
by writers born before 1966 Prizes: $1,000 and publication, Free entry Closing date: 29 June, thrice
Prizes: $500, $200, $100 in each plus $1,500 travel grant for Closing date: 21 June, annual yearly
category promotion, in each category http://tclj.toasted-cheese.com https://frictionlit.org
Entry fee: $25 Entry fee: $30
Closing date: 15 June Closing date: 15 June, TBC Wild Words Summer Aura Estrada Short
http://livingspringspublishers.com www.autumnhouse.org Solstice Writing Story Contest
Competition
Hummingbird Flash Bodley Head/FT Essay Short stories, up to 5,000 words
Fiction Prize Prize 1,000 words of poetry, prose, on a theme TBC
song or spoken word, inspired Prizes: $500 and publication
Short fiction, up to 1,000 words Essays up to 3,500 words by by a theme posted on the Entry fee: $20 for US/Can/
Prizes: Can$300, $75 writers between 18 and 35 website Western European entrants;
Entry fee: $15 early bird Prizes: £1,000, £500, publication Prizes: One-hour mentoring otherwise free
Closing date: 15 June Free entry session, online publication Closing date: 30 June, TBC
http://pulpliterature.com/contests/ Closing date: 15 June, TBC Entry fee: £7 http://bostonreview.net/
www.ft.com/bodley Closing date: 21 June, TBC
Crabbe Competition www.wildwords.org UoC Vice-Chancellor’s
Goi Peace International International Poetry
Poems, up to 50 lines, by Essay Contest for Young Writers Digest Annual Prize
Suffolk poets/members of the People Writing Competition
Suffolk Poetry Society Poems, max 50 lines
Prizes: £600, £300, £150, 2 x £75 Essays of 700 words or fewer Prose, various lengths, 2,000- Prizes: Aus$15,000, $5,000, 4x$50
Entry fee: £3 in English, German, Spanish, 4,000 words; poetry up to 32 Entry fee: $25
Closing date: 15 June, TBC French or Japanese, by writers lines Closing date: 30 June, TBC
http://suffolkpoetrysociety.org.uk aged under 25 Prizes: $5,000 overall; $1,000, www.canberra.edu.au/about-
Prizes: ¥100,000, 2x¥50,000, in $500, $250, $100, $50, 5x$25 in uc/competitions-and-awards/
Segora Competitions each category each of 9 categories vcpoetryprize
Free entry Entry fee: Stories $35, poetry
Short stories, 1,500-3,000 Closing date: 15 June, TBC $25; $30/$20 before 4 May Blue Mountain Arts
words; poems up to 50 lines; www.goipeace.or.jp/work/essay- Closing date: 22 June Poetry Competition
vignettes up to 300 lines; one- contest/ www.writersdigest.com
act plays, up to 35 minutes Biannual competition for
Prizes: £300, £100, £50 for Narrative Prize Lascaux Prizes greetings card poems
poetry and short story; £100, £50 Prizes: $350, $200, $100
for vignettes; £150, £50 for plays The best short story, novel Short stories, up to 1,000 words; Free entry
Entry fee: £5 poems and excerpt, poem, play, graphic up to 3 per entry; up to 5 poems Closing date: 30 June, 31 Dec
vignettes, £8 story, £12 play story or piece of literary non- Prizes: $1,000 and publication www.sps.com
Closing date: 15 June fiction published in Narrative Entry fee: $15
www.poetryproseandplays.com Prizes: $4,000 Closing date: 23 June Storyhouse General
Free entry http://lascauxreview.com/contests/ non-fiction contest
42 Miles Press Poetry Closing date: 15 June
Award www.narrativemagazine.com/ Poetry London Prize Non-fiction, 1,000-10,000 words
great-stories/narrative-prize Prizes: $200, $100
Unpublished poetry collections, Poetry up to 80 lines

14 www.writers-online.co.uk Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022

COMPETITION GUIDE 2022

Free entry Los Angeles Review Audio Arcadia Short Craft First Chapters
Closing date: 30 June Summer Literary Awards Story Competition
www.storyhouse.org/ The first chapter(s) of an
Short fiction and creative Short stories up to 5,000 words unpublished novel
Liverpool Hope non-fiction, up to 2,500 words, Prizes: anthology publication, Prizes: $2,800 and publication
Playwriting Prize poems up to 50 lines, flash royalties Entry fee: $20
fiction, up to 1,000 words Entry fee: £6.50 Closing date: 30 June, TBC
Full-length comedy plays Prizes: $1,000 in each category Closing date: 30 June www.craftliterary.com
Prizes: £10,000, possiblestaging at and publication www.audioarcadia.com
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, Entry fee: $20 New Women’s Voices
2 x £1,500 highly commendeds Closing date: 30 June British Fantasy Society Chapbook Award
Entry fee: £20 https://redhen.org Short Story Competition
Closing date: 30 June, all TBC Chapbook poetry collections,
www.playwritingprize.com Drue Heinz Literature For any kind of fantasy short 16-35 pages, by unpublished
stories, horror, sf, magic realism women
Hidden River Arts Short fiction collections etc, up to 5,000 words Prizes: $1,000 and publication
Playwrighting Award by writers with a record of Prizes: £100, £50, £20; year’s Entry fee: $16
publication membership of BFS; publication Closing date: 30 June, annual
Full-length, unpublished and Prizes: $15,000 Entry fee: £5, free for BFS members www.finishinglinepress.com
unproduced play scripts Free entry Closing date: 30 June
Prizes: $1,000 and a reading Closing date: 30 June, TBC www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk Lindisfarne Prize
Entry fee: $20 https://upittpress.org
Closing date: 30 June, TBC Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Crime short stories or novel
https://hiddenriverarts. North Street Book Prize Contest openings, up to 10,000 words,
wordpress.com/ total, by unpublished authors
Self-published books, max Deliberately bad opening lines from, or writing about the
James White Award 200,000 words, in: mainstream to novels, comic writing inspired North of England
and literary fiction, genre by Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Prizes: £2,500, plus mentoring
Science fiction (broadly fiction, creative non-fiction notorious Paul Clifford opening, Free entry
defined), 2,000-6,000 words, by & memoir, poetry, children’s ‘It was a dark and stormy Closing date: 30 June
non-professional writers picture book, graphic narrative night...’ www.ljrossauthor.com/
Prizes: £200, plus publication in Prizes: $5,000 overall, $1,000 Prizes: Modest prizes ($250 lindisfarne-prize/
Interzone category winners, multiple $250 Grand Prize), but a lot of interest
Free entry Entry fee: $65 Free entry Continued on p20–––>
Closing date: 30 June Closing date: 30 June Closing date: 30 June
www.jameswhiteaward.com https://winningwriters.com www.bulwer-lytton.com

Festival of Literature

WELLS

CoInmternaptioenatl itions

From 1 April to 30 June 2022

Poetry A Book for
Children
Judge: Tristram Fane Saunders
Judge: Lucy Cuthew
Entry Fee: £6
Entry Fee: £6
Prizes: £1000 £500 £250
plus £100 for a local author Prizes: £750 £300 £200
plus £100 for a local author
Short Story
Young Poets
Judge: Lucy Jago
Judge: Caleb Parkin
Entry Fee: £6
Entry Fee: £3
Prizes: £750 £300 £200
plus £100 for a local author Prizes: £150 £75 £50

plus a year’s membership to
The Poetry Society.

www.wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk

Writing Magazine - Competition Guide 2022 www.writers-online.co.uk 15

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