Nudge #6 – New
A new year, new thoughts, new shapes and sounds and textures! How does it speak to you? Does it whisper? Sing? Sit in silence? Does it love couplets, long paragraphs, short syllables? Or nothing?
Photo: Martin Parker
Nudge # 6 – New
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Brittle Star Open Writing Competition.
As part of our re-design and to celebrate new writing at all levels, we’ve launched a competition for poetry and short fiction. We’re very excited to have as our judges Mimi Khalvati and David Constantine, along with me (Brittle Star editor Jacqueline Gabbitas).
Meet the judges
Photo: Caroline Forbes
Mimi Khalvati’s poetry collections with Carcanet include The Meanest Flower, which was a Financial Times Book of the Year and shortlisted for the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize in 2007; and Child: New and Selected Poems which was awarded a Poetry Book Society (PBS) Special Commendation in 2011. Last year her pamphlet Earthshine, published by Smith|Doorstop, was a PBS Pamphlet Choice. Mimi has been a supporter of Brittle Star for over a decade and is the main judge for the poetry entries to the competition.
David Constantine is well known to poetry and short story readers alike, and it’s his skills as a short story writer that Brittle Star will be drawing on for our competition. David’s story collections include Back at the Spike (Ryburn) Under the Dam (Comma, 2005) and The Shieling (Comma, 2009), and last year he won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award with Tea at the Midland and Other Stories, published by the wonderful Comma Press, 2013 (who also run National Short Story Day).
And me? Well, you know about me but for those who don’t my poetry has been published in Poetry Review and The Forward Prize Anthology, my fiction has appeared in New Fairy Tales and Torriano Nights and my pamphlets include Mid Lands (Hearing Eye, 2007) and Earthworks (Stonewood Press, 2012).
The prizes…?
As we’re a short story and poetry magazine, we’ll be awarding two sets of prizes – one for each writing category – making six prizes in total. The first prize for each category is £250, second is £100 and the third is £50. All winners will be published in Brittle Star and invited to a launch event at the Barbican library in summer. Winners will also receive a copy of the anthology Said and done: New Writing from Brittle Star (Stonewood Press).
Subscribers get one entry free!
The closing date is March 12th 2014 and editor Martin Parker, who’s administrating the competition, says the entries are already pouring in. Entry forms can be downloaded from the competition page on our website and sent to the postal address on the form (we’re looking into online entries for next time). The entry fee is quite modest at £4 for the first entry then £3 for subsequent ones, and subscribers to Brittle Star get their second entry for FREE. If you’re not a subscriber you can subscribe online or through the entry form when you enter.
Good Luck!
So, now you know all about the competition it’s up to you to put your pens or pencils to paper or your fingers to keyboards and let your creativity flow. Good Luck! And I can’t wait until March to start reading the entries!