This month’s Writing Maps Writing Contest coincides with the official launch of the new Writing Map, Writing the Family Album, inspired by Sergei Dovlatov’s book Ours.

The prompt for October’s Writing Contest is: Write about a cousin, then and now. In no more than 150 words tell the story of a cousin, yours or a fictional character’s, as they were then and as they are now. As always, you can write this as a short story, a graphic story, a snippet of memoir, a poem, or a prose poem. Fiction or autobiography, SF or mis mem, erotic or academic. In 150 words.

The contest prompt coincides with the launch of our latest Writing Map, Writing the Family Album, in which you’ll be inspired to turn the family album – your own, or the characters you create – into a rich collection of stories.

Please make sure to view our full guidelines here or on the Writing Maps website by clicking here. In brief, the main rules are:

Entry is free. One entry per person. All genres welcome. All writers welcome. 150 words max.