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Deadlines Extended: PENfro writing competitions 2018
Don’t miss this last minute opportunity to enter the PENfro writing competitions.
The PENfro Book Festival is now in its eighth year and the popularity of our writing competitions continues to grow. Entering competitions, daring to dip your toe into the water and compete with others, encourages writers to hone and develop their work. The benefits are obvious. Not only might you win a nice cash prize, or – better still – some professional editorial help, but you’re also taking steps to put your work out into the world. Whether it’s a poem, a play or the beginnings of a novel, entering a competition is great way to honour your work.
This year they have three writing competitions: their ever-popular poetry competition, a first chapter competition and a short radio drama competition.
The extended deadlines are: First chapter to July 29, poetry and radio drama till 15 August. Enter via the web site: https://penfrobookfestival.org.uk
Debut novelist Lloyd Markham collects his Betty Trask Award for 'Bad Ideas\Chemicals'
'Writers and poets from across the globe were celebrating tonight (Thursday 19 July) as the 2018 Authors’ Awards were announced by the Society of Authors at a ceremony at RIBA. Hosted by Stephen Fry with an introduction by the President of the SoA, Philip Pullman, eight awards were presented to 31 writers with a host of debut names joining recognised writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry to share a prize fund of £98,000.'
From left: Betty Trask Prize 2018 winner Omar Robert Hamilton, and Betty Trask Award 2018 winners Lloyd Markham, Eli Goldstone, Sarah Day and Clare Fisher (photographer: Tom Pilston)
Congratulations to Lloyd Markham for his Betty Trask Award and to all the other winners and thanks to the Society of Authors for hosting an enjoyable Summer Party!
From Bengal to Wales: Sophie McKeand Explores Indian Landscapes in New Recording
The keen, passionate, yet dreamy voice of Sophie McKeand drifts out of the speakers as she recites her poems 'Morning Prayer' and 'Dharma.'
North Welsh poet and performer Sophie McKeand went to the Bengali Region in India in 2017 as part of the cultural exchange program “The Valley, The City, The Village.”
Listen to the full recording on Soundcloud.
The Golden Orphans: "A Brilliant concept ... Intense and Unnerving"
Gary Raymond’s mystery set in Cyprus, The Golden Orphans, was released earlier this summer, and it has already garnered much attention and acclaim. Most recently, the Spectator’s crime fiction expert Jeff Noon reviewed the novel and wrote that “It’s a brilliant concept” and that the novel is “intense, unnerving and brilliant.” The Golden Orphans begins when the old painter Francis Benthem dies and the narrator, an artist himself and an old friend of Benthem’s, arrives in Cyprus to attend his funeral. Short on money and good fortune, the narrator agrees to take on Benthem’s job working for the Russian gangster...
'a new, highly distinctive and exciting poetic voice.' Jonathan Edwards reviews 'Better Houses' on Ink Sweat & Tears
'Susie Wild’s Better Houses announces a new, highly distinctive and exciting poetic voice. [...] The author’s balance between opening the door for the reader, and then hitting them with the poem’s highly original approach to language and a slightly slant way of looking at the world, make these poems highly entertaining and rewarding. [...] an accomplished and auspicious debut...' – Jonathan Edwards, Ink Sweat & Tears Buy Better Houses from Parthian for £8.99 About Better Houses: This lively first collection from Susie Wild introduces a poet with a nomadic spirit. She tramps with humour, love, and loss across the UK, even...
