Category Archives: News

Writing prompt – rig

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Oil rig at Clevedon Marine Lake. Photo by Judy Darley. Taken on New Year's Day 2024. Stormy skies above and swimmer just visible in foreground.As countless swimmers and spectators gathered at Clevedon Marine Lake on New Year’s Dave for the annual Big Dip, a vast structure drifted by. Like an industrial version of a child’s sandcastle, an oil rig floated past the morning’s revelries like a sea creature roused to curiosity by the shrieks. You can just see an uncommonly serene swimmer inside the pool’s perimeter.

These structures drill the seabed for the petroleum and gas that fuel our modern lives, and once decommissioned need to be dismantled, or become an art installation like Weston Super Mare’s See Monster.

What will be the fate of this one? Thousands of these edifices stand in seas around the globe. Can you devise a story or art work touching on the outcome for one? Could it be transformed into something beautiful that aids rather than harms marine life?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Submit your words to the Moth Poetry Prize

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Moth by Judy Darley

The Moth Magazine invites you to enter the Moth Poetry Prize. The deadline for entries s 31st December 2023.

It’s one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single previously unpublished poem on any subject and is open to anyone over 16.
The prize is judged anonymously by a single poet, and this year that poet is Hannah Sullivan. Hannah’s debut collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2019. She studied Classics at Cambridge, received her PhD in English from Harvard, and taught as an Assistant Professor at Stanford University. She is an Associate Professor of English at New College, Oxford. Her latest collection, Was It For This, was published by Faber earlier in 2023.
The Prize is open to anyone (over 16) from anywhere in the world, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.
There is no line limit, and the poems can be on any subject.
The shortlist will be announced in March 2024 and the four shortlisted poems will appear in the Irish Times online.
Prizes
The winner will receive €6,000.

There is a fee of €15 per entry.

The winner of The Moth Poetry Prize 2022 was British poet Laurie Bolger with her poem ‘Parkland Walk’ chosen by Louise Glück.

Visit www.themothmagazine.com for full details.

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw my attention to? Send me an email at judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Merry everything

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Star lights cr Judy Darley

I hope you are lucky enough to have those you love close by, and all the frivolity or serenity you crave throughout this joyful season, however you choose to spend it.

May your festive tangles bring you light, sparkle and laughter.

I wish you a creative, fulfilling and hopeful 2024.

Searchlight Writing for Children Awards chapter book contest

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Brandon Hill, Bristol, child in tree by Judy Darley

The Searchlight Writing for Children Awards is launching an exciting new competition seeking the Best Chapter Book for children aged between five and eight years old

The closing date for entry is 1st February 2024.

Your entry can be from a stand-alone book or part of a series. All you need to submit is the first chapter and a short pitch that tells Searchlight what the book is about.

Winners will be chosen by Katie Blagden of The Bright Agency.

The top ten entries will feature in a Pitch Book of winning stories, which will be sent to an extensive list of literary agents and publishers who have requested it so will be paying close attention!

First prize = £350 +plus a one-to-one call with judge Katie Blagdon, who will be happy to share her expert viewpoint as a literary agent.

The entry fee is £12.

For full details, visit www.searchlightawards.co.uk.

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Join a different kind of book club

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NSCRC children with Book Aid boxI love giving books as Christmas gifts – there’s always that sense of offering up a whole world for your recipient to discover.

This year, why not go a little further and offer that gift to a young stranger who needs the light of fiction in their life?

BookTrust aims to send 17,000 festive book gifts to children who need them most. Your gift will help send book parcels to food banks to make sure that as well as food on the table, children have presents under the tree. Or it could go to a child in care, spending their first Christmas in an unfamiliar home.

As well as a book — or two! — BookTrust festive book parcels include a beautifully illustrated bookmark and poster plus a heartfelt letter from an author.

BookTrust say: “It’s so much more than a book parcel. It’s joy. It’s wonder. It’s discovering worlds unknown. It’s making sure children feel special this Christmas. It’s magic, when it’s needed most.”

£10 could send a book parcel to a child who is spending their first Christmas in care.

£50 could light up Christmas for five children who are vulnerable or in care.

£100 could send ten book gifts to a community foodbank for children facing a difficult time this Christmas.

If you’re donating on behalf of someone, you will be sent a special Christmas gift certificate you can personalise to let them know.

Find out how to donate here.

Book Aid does amazing work to get books to people who need them, and you can help, Your donation will cover the cost of sending books to classrooms and libraries in the developing world to reach the minds hungry for all those page-bound possibilities, adventures and experiences.

How does it work?

You have the option of signing up for a monthly subscription of £6, £12 or £25, or donating the amount of your choice. You could also give in memory of a loved one or leave a gift in your will, or give in celebration. If you’re a publisher or other member of the book trade, you could even donate books.

Find out how your gift could help by reading the readers’ stories.

Find out how you can help Book Aid change lives for the better.

Enter The Masters Review chapbook contest

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Arnos Vale in the morning frost_by Judy Darley
The Masters Review is inviting submissions to their chapbook contest for emerging writers.

The deadline for entries is 17th December 2023 at midnight PT.

The winning writer will receive $3,000, digital and print manuscript publication, and 75 contributor copies.

Michael Martone, author of almost 30 books and chapbooks, will choose this year’s winner.

Michael  says: “I have always loved chapbooks. The first two books I published were chapbooks. What excites me is when a chapbook takes itself seriously as a literary form –up to something unique and different from other ‘packaging,’ other narrative or lyrical delivery devices — the novel, the short story collection, the novella, etc. (…) I love when a chapbook presents itself on an equal footing as those other forms. Not lesser or better but different, special. Its content is unable to be expressed in any other manner but this compact, shaped-charge of a book.”

Last year’s winner, Coats by Naomi Telushkin, selected by Kim Fu, will be published next spring.

The Masters Review say: “We’re interested in collections of flash fiction, creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and anything in-between. We encourage you to be bold, to experiment with style and form, as long as you stay under 45 pages.”

Find full details here: mastersreview.com/chapbook-contest/ 

Got an event, challenge, competition, new venture or call for submissions you’d like to draw my attention to? Send me an email at judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Become writer-in-residence for Quay Words

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Belfast Docks2

Literature Works are seeking a writer-in-residence for Exeter Custom House for the calendar month of March 2024.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 3rd December.

To apply, you can be a writer, storyteller, spoken word artist or other wordsmith.

The selected writer will be engaged by Literature Works on a contractor/freelance basis as writer-in-residence for the equivalent of at least one day per week during that time.

If you’re chosen, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with a visiting international writer-in-residence Olive Olusegun during the period of the residency as part of a collaboration with the Poetry Africa festival in Durban, South Africa.

The season’s theme is Heritage, and Quay Words are interested in residency proposals that look to uncover hidden voices.

Find all the information on how to apply here.

Got a creative event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Enter Mslexia’s poetry competitions

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Button on Kilve Beach cr Judy DarleyMslexia’s Women’s Poetry Competition and Pamphlet Competition are open for entries of poetry pamphlets and individual poems.

Both competitions have a closing date of 4th December 2023.

Mslexia Poetry Competition

You are invited to submit poems of any length, on any subject. Your £10 entry fee allows you to submit up to three poems.

The judge is Fiona Benson.

The winner of the single poem category will receive £2,000.

The second prize-winner gets £500 and the third prize-winner gets £250.

There’s also a special  Unpublished Poet Prize of £250, which will be awarded to the best poem by an unpublished poet.

The four winners, plus 16 additional finalists, will be published in Mslexia.

The winner and finalists will be announced on 1 March 2024.

Mslexia Pamphlet Competition

You’re invited to submit a collection of up to 20 poems, of up to 24 pages. To be eligible, you must never have had a full-length collection published previously.

The winner of the pamphlet category will receive prize £250, plus publication of the winning pamphlet by Bloodaxe Books. A selected poem from the winning pamphlet will be published in Mslexia.

The judge is Imtiaz Dharker.

The entry fee is £20.

The winner will be announced on 1 September 2024.

You can find full details of how to enter at www.mslexia.co.uk.

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

Enter the Bath Children’s Novel Award

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Roman Baths by Judy DarleyThe Bath Children’s Novel Award invites submissions of books for children or teenagers from unpublished, self-published and independently published authors worldwide.

Previous winners include Struan Murray for the manuscript of Orphans of the Tide (published by Puffin in 2020), Lucy Van Smit for The Hurting (Chickenhouse, 2018) and Matthew Fox for The Sky Over Rebecca (Hachette, 2022).

Longlisted submissions are whittled down to a shortlist chosen by Junior Judges aged seven to seventeen years. Those Shortlisted manuscripts will then be judged by Jessica Hare, who runs the Children’s Books department at The Agency where she represents authors writing for every age and genre, as well as illustrators.

Deadline: 30th November 2023
Prize: £3,000, plus the coveted Minerva trophy.
Entry fee: £29 per manuscript with sponsored places available for low income writers.

Initial submissions are up to the first 5,000 words plus one page synopsis of novel or chapter book manuscripts for children, novels for teens, or up to three entire picture book texts with summaries.

Entries should not include any photographs, maps or artwork.

Shortlistees win a compilation of award readers’ comments on their full manuscript and all listees win feedback on their opening pages and synopsis from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy’s Editorial Director and Head of Scouting Monica Chakraverty.

The writer of the most promising longlisted novel will  win a place worth £1,800 on acclaimed online course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way from longlist prize co-sponsors Professional Writing Academy and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy.

Find full details and enter here: https://bathnovelaward.co.uk/childrens-novel-award/ 

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud (dot) com.

On your marks… NaNoWriMo!

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Dove Holes to Whaley Bridge gap in wall by Judy DarleyWednesday 1st November marks the start of NaNoWriMo 2023. Are you taking part? I love the concept of this word-packed month, with ardent writers across the world hunched over laptops sweating out every last drop of inspiration.

New to the concept? It’s pretty simple really. As they state on the NaNoWriMo website: “On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.”

I know plenty of writers this enforced period of productivity really suits. For some folks it seems to be the ideal way to stoke up ideas and get them to catch alight on the page.

For me, the beginning stages of novel-writing are all about thinking ahead, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do some speedy planning even as you begin to write. After all, what else are you going to do when waiting for buses, in post office queues and doing the washing up?

Here are my top five preparation tips to ensure you make the most of this exceptional month.

1. Form a vision of the story you’re aiming to tell, with the beginning already shaped in your mind. If possible, do the same for the ending. Having an idea of the finale you’re working towards will mean you’re far less likely to veer off track!

2. Spend some time considering your characters – get to know who they are, how they think, what their goals are, and how they might help or hinder each other.

3. Know your setting. It really helps if you can really picture the place where your characters are spending time. Base it on somewhere you know, use maps or, for an imagined place, doodle your map! This is one of my favourites, particularly if it offers a valid excuse to meander in a much loved wilderness or similar.

4. Pick out a few dramatic moments your plot will cover and brainstorm them, then set them aside. Whenever your enthusiasm wanes over the intensive NaNoWriMo period, treat yourself by delving into one of those to reinvigorate your writing energy.

5. Finally, make sure you have plenty of sustenance to hand. For me, the essentials are coffee and chocolate. What are yours?

If you’re not a long-form junkie, why not take part in the flash version? Launched by the inimitable Nancy Stohlman in 2012, Flash Nano urges you to pledge to write 30 mini stories in 30 days. In 2021, more than 1,500 people took part. Even if not all turn out to be sparkling examples, you should end up with some that make your heart zing!