Issue 13 of The Nottingham Review is now available to read online here!
Featuring original short fiction by Jason Jackson, Chelsea Stickle, Richard Berry, Spencer Litman, Sudha Balagopal, Jim Toal, Gerard McKeown, Emily Zido, Alicia Sometimes and Emma Venables.
Call for submissions
We are also now open for submissions of fiction between 100 and 3000 words (no theme) until the end of June. Submission guidelines can be found here.
The Nottingham Review is now open for submissions for our second print issue (to be published in December). We’re looking for fiction between 100-3000 words. There is no theme. The closing date for this reading period is Wednesday 31st October 2018.
For full submission guidelines please see our website for details. Our first 10 issues are archived on the website and are free to view. You can also purchase a copy of our first print issue from our online store, priced only £3 including free delivery.
Now in it’s seventh year, National Flash Fiction Day will be on Saturday 16th June 2018 and we’ll be celebrating with events and readings and submission opportunities! We’re currently open for our micro-fiction competition and our annual anthology, so get writing!
Micro Competition
From now until Saturday 17th March 2018, you can send us up to three micro fictions on any theme for our Micro fiction competition. These must be 100 words or fewer, and can be on any theme.
More details about the micro completion can be found here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/comp.html
Anthology
This year’s anthology theme is one you’ll be able to sink your teeth into, and we’re hungry for your flashes! From now until Saturday 31st March 2018, you can send us up to three 500 word flashes on this year’s theme: Food! The anthology will be edited by award-winning writer, Alison Powell, and National Flash Fiction Day Co-Director, Santino Prinzi. Your stories must be 500 words or fewer.
We’re looking for stories inspired by and about whatever’s on your plate. We’re ready to salivate over your sentences, to savour the subtle flavours of your subtext, to devour your delicious dialogue. Sweet, sour, savoury, sharp, tangy, rich, or rotten. Serve us up some scrumptious tales and tantalising treats with tasty twists. Are we all becoming too healthy? Or is suet the main dish of the day? Has a friendship been ruined by raw chocolate? We’re looking for full-fat, jam-packed flash fiction with an aftertaste we won’t forget. Feel free to interpret the theme of “food” however you wish, but your flashes must fit the theme in some way.
More details about the anthology submissions can be found here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/anth.html
We can’t wait to feast upon your words!
Since the Summer of 2016 we have been publishing the literary work of young, courageous and talented writers from across the globe, many of whom found their first writing credit with us. In fact, The Cardiff Review was founded for that very reason: to create a platform on which emerging writers could have their work read, viewed, shared and celebrated.
Of course, devoting an issue of the magazine to queer writing and queer writers is not say that other issues do not or will not feature either, but rather that we believe so strongly that filling the world with diverse voices is both impactful and important, the very least we can do is devote 72 pages to the cause.
That said, what is queer writing? Simply put, we define queer writing as literary work that is either written by someone who identifies themselves as queer, or that deals with the identities, themes, nuances, facts of life pertaining to queerness.
We’ll be reading for our queer issue until April 15, 2018. All submissions to themed issues must still abide by our submissions guidelines.
To submit:
1. Ensure that you have read our submission guidelines
2. Send your work to submissions@cardiffreview.com
3. Include Spring 2018 in the subject line of your email submission
Issue 7 of The Nottingham Review is now available to read online here.
Featuring original short fiction by Chloe Turner, Fiona J. Mackintosh, Anton Rose, Charles Haddox, Shannon McLeod, Rachel Wild, Kimberly Paulk, Jenny Bhatt, Neil Bristow, Mike Fox, Sonia Hope, and Bryn Agnew. Poetry by Adam Tavel, Ariel Clark-Semyck, Matthew Lippman, Sarah Escue, Jacq Greyja, and Benjamin Hertwig.
Call for submissions
We are open for submissions until the end of May. In our first themed issue we are exploring COURAGE. Controlling fear in dangerous or difficult situations. Having the confidence to be yourself. Doing or saying what you think is right despite opposition. Facing suffering with dignity or faith. Courage can be physical or moral, and come in many sizes and shapes. Fiction between 100-3000 words and poetry.
Submission guidelines can be found here.
We are looking for the most exciting flash fiction (up to 1000 words) and if you write poetry – you can submit that too (max 42 lines per poem). There’s no theme – just send us your best work on any subject, in any style. We wish you luck!
First place prize in each category will be £500, second place £250, and third £100.
All six prize-winning pieces will be published in issue 226 of Ambit Magazine, and winners will be invited to read at the launch on 25 October 2016 in London.
The competition open as of 1 May, closing on 1 July.
The winners will be announced on our website www.ambitmagazine.co.uk
Online submissions, all rules and guidelines are here – www.ambit.submittable.com
If you want to enter by post, or to find out about our fabulous judges David Gaffney for fiction, Sarah Howe for poetry, go to this page on our website:
www.ambitmagazine.co.uk/ambit-summer-competition-2016
All judging will be done strictly anonymously.
That Killer First Page – Lancaster, May 7, 10-4. Tickets and further details here.
You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll write a short piece and get feedback on that crucial story opening. In a form where every word counts, get tips on staying focused on your story and where to start the action. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.
About Paul
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel ‘The Good Son’ is currently Brighton’s City Reads and was shortlisted for the Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker Prize’. His short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. He has read his work for BBC Radio 5, the International Conference on the Short Story in Vienna, Belfast Book Festival, Wroclaw Short Story Festival and Cork International Short Story Festival the last 2 years. He has represented short stories in the UK for The British Council in Mexico and Turkey.
Paul’s short story blog shares writing opportunities and advice has had over 1 1/4 million hits.
Paul is co-founder of London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s leading short story literary salon. He is also been a reader and judge for national and international short story competitions. Completely Novel says that Paul is one of the 8 resources that will help you write a prize-winning short story.
Reviews for his writing:
“Heartbreaking..gripping” The Guardian
“A work of genius.” Pulizter Prize-winning short story writer Robert Olen Butler.
“Absolutely loved it.” Jackie Kay
“Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio 4
“Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro Newspaper
Comments for this class:
“Practical, insightful application of knowledge to writing.” “Fantastic! Practical, targeted advice like this is wonderful!” “This was my fav course yet! Informative, entertaining, and engaging. Hard to beat!”
This class has sold out in Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Cork, London and Melbourne.
Submissions for Issue 1 (September 2015) of The Nottingham Review close on Friday the 21st of August! However, anything received after this date will still be considered for Issue 2 (December 2015). The first issue is almost complete, but there’s still room for one or two more stories, so if you’ve got something you’d like to be considered for the inaugural issue then please submit! (Submission guidelines available here).
If anyone is a reviewer/blogger (or please pass this along if you know anyone who is) and would be interested in receiving an advance digital copy of Issue 1, please get in touch at thenottinghamreview@gmail.com
Submissions opened for The Nottingham Review (coming September 2015) earlier this month. We’ve had some great stories submitted so far and Issue 1 looks to be shaping up quite nicely. If you’ve got something you want us to consider for our first issue (50-3000 words), please submit it!
Please see this post on our website for more details about the kinds of stories we’re looking for.
Submission guidelines can be found here.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Dear writers,
The Manchester Review is currently reading submissions for Issue 12. We’re seeking previously unpublished high-quality literary fiction with an upper word-limit of 6,000 and no restrictions on theme. Novel extracts are welcome, but they must function as stand-alone pieces. We’ll be reading through until mid-May. Have a look at our archives for inspiration: in the past we’ve featured Kevin Barry, Jennifer Egan and Martin Amis – maybe next time we’ll feature you!
The Editors
(Ian, John and Valerie)
This month is proving a very exciting one for Visual Verse contributors. As well as having Booker Prize nominated author Adam Foulds headlining on the site, we are thrilled to announce a collaboration with the Berlin based literary journal, SAND.
More of that shortly, though. First, Kristen Harrison (Visual Verse curator) and I want to thank all the contributors who made the March Visual Verse our best month since we launched last November. Our image was by artist and illustrator Denise Nestor: a precariously balanced tower of birds who seemed to be sleeping, or dead. The writers loved it – so much so, we had 80 submissions in one month, which was unprecedented. Each piece was astonishing: carefully observed and written to make every word carry weight. The chapter as a whole is a thing of beauty in itself, it is fascinating to see how one image can bring so many responses.
Some of my favourite lines: ‘What does the sheep think of the sky?’ in Tristan Forster’s elegiac prose poem; Sarah James’ wonderfully forensic piece, with the line, ‘the delicacy of coiled intestines and death plucks song’ and of course our lead writer Adam Marek’s short story, with its simple control of voice: ‘The cheese was all prickly. Like battery tops. We fought the cheese was bad, but when we noticed the same taste was in everyfin, we realised it was our mouths.’
This month is lead by another Adam – Adam Foulds, whose Booker nominated ‘The Quickening Maze’ and ‘The Broken Word’ are poetry laced with violence and despair. The perfect choice for this month’s image, by photographer Marcus Bastel. I absolutely love reading all the submissions we get each day, and even more taking part in the conversation about them that is growing on twitter. I read and consider everything – there are only a couple of rules – it must be 50-500 words, written in the space of one hour in response to the image. It should not have been published anywhere before.
Those who submit find new opportunities opening up for them too. I’m delighted to say that Berlin-based SAND journal will be featuring Visual Verse in their next issue. In consultation with us, they have selected four pieces to publish in SAND Issue 09, both in print and online. SAND exposes fresh literary talent from Berlin and beyond and we are proud to be featured in it.
I can’t wait to read what the month will bring. If you are thinking of submitting, the only thing I would say is – you won’t regret it. Visual Verse is all about collaboration between what you see and how you write, you, us, our readers: art and words. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you. Enjoy!
Preti Taneja
Editor, Visual Verse
Submissions for Tasmanian/London book Islands and Cities will open on Monday, March 3rd and remain open till April 30th, 2014, midnight.
Submissions should be in the theme of ‘Islands and Cities’, and no longer than 5000 words in length.
There will be a small entry fee of £10GBP / $15AUD, details on this and more will follow with a full submissions guideline shortly.
Click the image below to find out more soon.
ShortStops 