Writing Magazine

Tina Jackson Content Editor It’s never more important to hold onto the things that really matter to us – like writing – than in tough times. Writing is how we make sense of the world. More than that, though, it can be a useful way of adding to the po

Like many readers of this magazine, writing started out as a hobby, but over time I’ve been fortunate to turn my love of the written word into a full-time job. However, in the space of a week, I received a double blow. First, a magazine I’d been writ

If you enjoy writing, believe the quality of what you do is publishable and aim to make some money from it, then freelancing is a beguiling prospect. And it can be very satisfying; I know, my work portfolio has been done that way for many years – wit

One of the things that contemporary literary fiction can do better than anything else is make its readers see, and understand, things that are not just outside their experience, but beyond their comprehension. This is what Guy Gunaratne does, outstan

Solmaz Sharif was born in Istanbul but later settled in America where she gained a degree from UC Berkeley and NYU. She won awards including the Pen Center Literary Prize for her first collection of poetry, 2016’s Look. I ask if a poet’s day can be

I’ve been writing nearly as long as I can remember, penning my first ‘novel’ aged six, featuring the exploits of my luminous green toy bear. The story was scrawled in an exercise book – lavishly illustrated by the author – and spawned numerous sequel

When I first started writing, I sold a humorous article with the title of My Overflowing Sewing. It was about a large and beautiful basket I’d been given that held secrets because, inside, it held so many unfinished projects. One item was a half-fini

My latest book is The Red House. It’s mainly written from the point of view of a young woman, Eve, who survived (and witnessed) a family annihilation when she was just five years old. She saw her fifteen-year-old brother, who she adored, murder her m

Each month in WM, we feature creative writing by our subscribers. Selected pieces will be published in WM and we pay £50 for prose and £25 for poetry, and provide a minicritique explaining what made the pieces stand out to us. This month, inspired by

Over the three long years that I have been working on my debut novel, The Life I Owe Her, I have often looked at the Subscribers’ News and wondered if it might one day see my name on this page, writes Allison Meldrum. In March, I finally published m

When asked what I write it’s easier to answer, ‘Everything, except poetry and pornography,’ writes regular WM contributor Lynne Hackles. I call myself a butterfly writer because I’ve had a go at so many things – greeting cards, advertisements, comic

A few months back, my mental health took an almighty nosedive, writes subscriber Kayleigh Manley. It wasn’t just one thing, but a perfect storm of anxiety, stress, and unfathomable heartache. I was broken. Lower than I think I ever thought possible.

Weather Complaint Day is coming up in August, to celebrate the great British tradition of grumbling about the weather. It’s our favourite way of connecting with neighbours and strangers, and a common conversation starter with family and friends. So h

Salman Rushdie made a pre-recorded video appearance via Zoom at the Hay literary festival in June in which he announced that: ‘I’m trying to write a book about the attack on me – what happened and what it means, not just about the attack, but around

To feature in subscribers’ news contact: tjackson@ warnersgroup.co.uk After nine novels in paperback, my next novel, Caesar’s Soldier, is being published in hardback, writes subscriber Alex Gough. My first novel, Watchmen of Rome, was published in

1. When and where did your journey as an author begin? I have been writing in one form or another all my life. Having lived abroad for most of it, back in the snail mail days I used to write long (sometimes humorous) letters home. My first completed

• Unless they’re at a football match or a rock concert, as a race the British certainly tend to be reserved, undemonstrative, or even boring. But, dig a little deeper, and some of us turn out to be bubbling cauldrons of emotion which occasionally boi

If you have a query for Lisa, please send it by email to lisacuttsenquiries@ gmail.com Q In my novel I have a person aged sixteen who rides a motorcycle to and from the scene of a crime. His pillion passenger is the murderer. What would the charges

Amber Caravéo was the editorial director at Orion Children’s Books, and Joanna Moult edited Cressida Cowell and Alex Shearer, among others, at Hodder Children’s Books. They joined forces to establish their boutique literary agency representing writer

Footnote Press and Counterpoint Arts have joined forces to create the 2023-2024 Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize, a new £15,000 writing award for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. The award launched on 19 June, at the start of Refug

We love this pic of Chumbawamaba singer-turnedscriptwriter Alice Nutter at the WGGB protest that was part of Screenwriters Everywhere, the 14 June Global Day of Solidarity in support of WGA writers striking because conglomerates like Amazon, Disney a

This year’s categories are novel, short story and flash fiction. For 2023, Mslexia is inviting entries from women writers for the following fiction prizes: • Novel: The first prize is £5,000. The judges are Sophie Hannah, Natasha Onwuemezi and Sophie

The £20,000 prize is open to writers who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing. The competition is for original books in any genre first published through Amazon’s KDP programme between 1 May and 31 August 2023. Books have to made avail

The Kavya Prize celebrates writing by Scotland’s ethnically diverse communities. The prize was founded by Indian/Scottish author Leela Soma and is run in association with the School of Cultural Studies at Glasgow University. The 2023 New Writers Awar

Win novel writing courses including mentoring in the contest from The Writers College. The international competition for unpublished novelists is inviting proposals for novels in any genre. Include the first three chapters up to 6,000 words and a syn

Win a full novel report in the competition for unpublished novels and novellas. Now in its fifth year, the Page 100 Competition from independent publisher Louise Walters Books invites entries of p100 of a novel or novella manuscript. The competition

Anthology magazine runs annual Creative Awards. The Flash Fiction Competition is for original, unpublished short stories up to 250 words. The winner will receive €300 and their story will be published in Anthology. The entry fee is €8 until 31 May an

Win a £2,000 first prize for a story up to 250 words. The Edinburgh Flash Fiction Awards are run by Scottish Arts Trust, which also runs the Edinburgh Short Story Awards. The Flash Fiction Awards are in two categories. • The Edinburgh Flash Fiction A

Win a £1,000 first prize in the new flash fiction competition.The Subbub Prize is a new competition for original, unpublished flash fiction no longer than 500 words. There is a first prize of £1,000 and second and third prizes of £200 and £100. The j

B Cubed Press is a small press devoted to publishing thought-provoking anthologies. The editorial team currently seek stories for Alternative Leadership, an anthology about leadership. The team seek stories about ‘leadership by the under-represented,

War Monkey Publications is a small USA press specialising in speculative fiction with elements of horror and dark fantasy. Currently the editorial team seek submissions for From The Yonder: Volume V. The anthology is to be ‘a horror, short-story coll

The Hungur Chronicles are ‘short stories, poems, articles, and illustrations related in some way to vampires, especially those on other worlds.’ Submit original stories no more than 8,000 words, preferred length no shorter than 3,000 words. Spooky ho

The new £2,000 scholarship is for new students at the University of Sutherland in September. The scholarship has been set up by bestselling author from the North-East, Glenda Young, and will include expert support from Glenda on how to break into the

Bellevue Literary Review is a specialist award-winning independent literary journal which ‘probes the nuances of our lives in illness and in health.’ The editorial team publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry which ‘brings together the perspectives

Existere – Journal of Arts & Literature, is a biannual Canadian magazine published by York University’s Writing Department in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The title publishes short fiction, non-fiction, poetry, book reviews and interviews from writers a

Anthophile is a UK-based website which publishes interviews related to the botanical. However, the editors are launching a biannual magazine of the same name, which is to be published as a 250-page book. It will explore ‘the close relationship each p

Planet Scumm is a US print science fiction magazine published as a paperback book three times a year. It was born out of the editorial team’s reverence for the ‘bizarre science fiction magazines’ of the pulp era and each issue features around 10 scie

You might not believe it but it’s true, the Liars League holds monthly readings of themed short stories at The Phoenix in London. Their basic principles are ‘Writers Write, Actors read, Audiences listen, Everybody wins’. They are looking for 800-2,00

Unpublished speculative fiction and poetry is invited from writers of all backgrounds for Orion’s Belt, an online literary speculative fiction magazine which specialises in ‘the strange and poignant and awe-inspiring stories that have a cosmic scale

Northwest Review is the University of Oregon’s literary journal with a difference. The team like to publish novellas which they think are ‘perfect for that in-between space–fiction too long for a short story, too brief for a novel.’ Currently the tea

Quagmire is a brand new literary magazine located in the Canadian prairies. The editorial team publishes one print issue annually and release weekly short fiction and poetry online. It offers revenue sharing to all the print published writers. Submit

Pseudopod is a genre magazine in audio form, for mature audiences only. The editorial team seek horror: dark, weird fiction. They like ‘the whole spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy.’ Th

The Theatre Three 25th Annual Festival of One Act Plays has staged 132 world premieres from 102 playwrights since its inception in 1998 and is now on the lookout for submissions from writers worldwide. Between five and seven plays will be selected fo

The annual RSL awards are for first-time writers of non-fiction. The RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction were launched by the Royal Society of Literature in 2017 thanks to a bequest from author Giles St Aubyn, who died in 2015. They are intende

Looking annually for a new full length play, including TYA (Theatre for Young Adults), the free to enter Woodward/ Newman Award has a first prize of $3,000 plus a full production. All submissions will be considered for eight forthcoming production sl

Win a £10,000 book deal with Canongate in the competition for underrepresented nature writers. The biennial Nan Shepherd Prize, named in honour of the author of The Living Mountain, was set up in 2019 to celebrate nature writing and provide an inclus

The new contest is for writing by entrants with a connection to UK Children’s Services A new anthology, In the Blink of an Eye, is to be created, which will connect a poetry anthology created by the staff and residents of Tyson House Children’s Home

It will be clear to any reader of this magazine that if you regard writing as any sort of business you need to do some, probably regular, research – about writing itself and about the publishing industry and the people with whom you hope to interact.

There are first prizes of £250 in the poetry and short story categories. The Hastings Book Festival Competitions are for short stories up to 2,500 words and poems up to 40 lines. The short story judge is VG Lee and the poetry judge is John McCullough

The contest from Writing East Midlands is for poetry and short fiction. The Aurora Prize, run by Writing East Midlands in partnership with the Society of Authors, is a national and international competition for outstanding new poetry and short fictio

The annual international contest is for poetry in translation. The Stephen Spender Prize is an annual contest for poetry in translation, with an open category for adults as well as two categories for young poets. The open category is for English tran

So, you’ve written the book you’ve planned for months and it’s not getting enough interest. It’s time to question what’s getting in the way… and this is where editors, and their synergy with an author, can be a game-changer. I’ve worked with several

Matthew Warren is the new European News Editor at Science, a magazine published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. He is particularly interested in stories covering science poli

Original satire and humour are invited for End of the Bench, a sports humour magazine based in America. Content includes Fake News eg ‘Baseball Hall of Fame Unveils New Interactive Exhibit on Fighting With the Umpire’ and ‘NFL to Play Game on the Moo

Still Alive! is, not just, as you might guess, ‘a magazine about people who are still alive’, but also about other things that have arguably passed their sell-by date. As founder Erin Somers explains in ‘A Letter from the Editor’ at https://www. stil

Diva magazine is for LGBTQI women and non binary people and invites pitches of article ideas. It aims to ‘spotlight all that is fresh, funny, exciting, controversial and cutting-edge’ in the LGBTQI community and is not afraid to tackle tough topics.

The North East Playwriting Award is a new venture for playwrights from or based in the North East of England. The Award offers a winning playwright a commission fee of £10,000 plus a production for a play of a minimum 70 minutes at Live Theatre in Ne

The Clive Awards Playwriting Competition is a new venture of New York’s Fellowship for Performing Arts which has a mission to produce theatre ‘from a Christian worldview to engage a diverse audience’. Submissions are open to playwrights worldwide and

Travel involves getting from A to B, but it offers many options for so doing. It was Dionne Warwick who sang Trains and Boats and Planes and even that trio leaves out a good deal. There are certainly moments when travelling is pleasurable, but much –

Entries are invited for the Best Novel Opening for Children and Young Adults and Best Picture Book Text. The Searchlight Writing for Children Awards is an international competition with a mission to support and champion aspiring writers for children.

The Olga Sinclair Prize is an annual creative writing competition from Norwich Writers’ Circle. This year’s contest is for writing on the theme of ‘The Sea’. The prizes are £500, £250 and £100. Winners and seven shortlisted entries will be published

Submit inspiring short fiction set in the future. Many Planets is inviting 500-word entries of projected narratives and speculative fiction from emerging writers. Each month’s winner receives £50 and their story is published online on the 15th of the

The theme for this year’s contest is ‘Between’. Now in its fourth year, The Ovacome Writing Competition is in aid of ovarian cancer support services and awareness projects. There is a first prize of £250 and a runner-up prize of a £50 Waterstones boo

The Romantic Novelists’ Association’s 2023 conference will take place at Imperial College, London from 11-13 August and is suitable for writers at all stages of their career. Both traditionally and independently published authors are welcome. Among t

The Indie Book Awards 2023 were announced on 23 June as part of Independent Bookshop Week. That was too late for WM’s deadline, but the nominated titles for best Fiction were: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver; You Made a Fool Out of Death With Yo

Dahlia Books is a small British independent publisher of ‘contemporary, original fiction and champion regional and diverse voices.’ Dahlia Books is ‘passionate about pushing for change....to be more reflective of the multicultural society we live in.

If you want to know what state-of-the-art science fiction is like in 2023 before submitting to a leading magazine, there are links to all the winners and runners up of the 2022 Analog AnLab awards, including Best Novella, ‘Communion’, by Jay Werkheis

Paige Cowan-Hall has won the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction Discoveries Prize with her historical novel work-inprogress Marooned. The story was chosen from almost 3,000 entries and is described as a ‘vividly imagined historical fantasy set in Jamaica

The first Curae Prize for writers who are also carers has been announced as being won by Kate Blincoe – fiction, ‘Reborn’ – and Helen O’Neill — creative nonfiction, ‘ALP650’. The Prize was launched in January for short works up to 4,000 words. The wi

It’s almost seven hundred years since Marco Polo died at the age of 69, having opened up the world of central Asia and China to the West. Although he was not the first Westerner to visit those regions, his explorations were recorded in books, the mos

She thought she saw the Queen of Hearts descending from a wall. She looked again and found it was the Duchess in a shawl. ‘If only it were mine,’ she said. ‘But I am far too tall.’ She thought she saw the Jabberwock swimming in a pool. She looked aga

Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk? By Jennifer Moore No seat at a raven to pen my debut, I’ve been here at my desk since 2002, a battered old thing where I sit and I write - my novel goes nowhere while ravens take flight. No beating of wings and no

Hannah lives in Roslin, Edinburgh, and loves walking in wild places with her collie. Whenever she’s not walking or working as a pet behaviourist, you will find her reading or dreaming or writing. Hannah has had a poem and short story published in Dre