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Launch of Brittle Star issue 43 at Barbican

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With the nights drawing in, now’s the time to settled down with a cocoa, a blanket and a good book on washing machine maintenance. OR, you could say boo-sucks to the cold nights, pull on your warmest autumn jacket and join us at the Barbican Library, on Wednesday 14th November for the launch of ISSUE 43.

We have some brilliant readings of poetry and short fiction from some exciting new and emerging talent. We’re thrilled to also be hearing from inspiring voices coming out of our thriving independent publishing scene.

Join us and be a part of this lively twice yearly literary event. We look forward to welcoming you all!

Wednesday 14th November
Barbican Library, Barbican Centre, Silk St, London.
Doors open at 6.30. (Reading starts at 7pm and the Library closes at 9pm).
Tickets to the launch are FREE and refreshments, as always, are available (and tasty!)

Space is limited, so you will need to book directly through the Barbican Library on 020 7638 0569.

Brittle Star is a not-for-profit magazine published twice a year. It receives no funding and is produced on a voluntary basis by a small team of dedicated writers and arts professionals.

Competition winners 2018

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We had a wonderful launch at the Barbican on the 20th June where we were joined by readers, competition prize winners, our judges Pascale Petit and Nicholas Royle, and a whopping big audience (we didn’t have a spare seat in the house). There was a lovely, celebratory, party feel and we heard some excellent stories and poems until we ran out of time and Pimms & strawberries. We’re hoping to do some more events across the country, and we’ll let you know on our website when we do.

This issue is a bumper 140+ pages, featuring our regular magazine with its feast of new writing, columns from Wayne Burrows and Sarah Passingham (lovely Paul Blake is taking a break from this issue but will be back for the next), and articles from Hilaire & Joolz Sparkes and Robert Chandler. Plus the results of our competition.

We had almost 700 entries of poems and stories and the standard was incredibly high. Pascale Petit, our poetry judge, compared the quality to that of other competitions she’d judged this year, including the National Poetry Competition, and Nicholas Royle, our fiction judge, talked of the difficulty he had in making his final decisions, how stories kept fighting for his attention.

Poetry

First Prize: Cathy Grindrod – Surrender

Second prize: Leonardo Boix – Detail

Third Prize: María Castro Domínguez – When Stealing Water from the Sky Becomes Magic

 

Highly Commended

Leonardo Boix – Tree-Man

Louise Warren – He Come Up for the Day

.

Commended

S M H Davies – Icebreaker

Stuart Charlesworth – Phoenix and Vulture

NJ Hynes – Wave or Particle

.

Short fiction

First Prize: Sally Jubb – The Arrangement

Second Prize: Ren Watson – Sky-sions

Third Prize: Josie Turner – The Guide

..

Highly Commended

Tracy Fells – Telling

Jupiter Jones – Ready Salted

Claire Fuller – Tiny and Pointed

 

Commended

Jeanette Lowe – The Hat the Hat

Lucy Grace – (Hark, Now I Hear Them) Ding Dong Bell

Astra Bloom – Truth, Lies and Pastry in the Modern Age

 

Congratulations to all of our commended, highly commended and winning writers. Have a look from page 73 of the magazine to read the judges’ reports and the winning and commended entries.

Competition Prize Giving and Launch of Brittle Star Issue 42

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We had a wonderful response to our competition this year with almost 700 entries of poems and short stories. Thank you all for supporting us.

The standard, as always, was very high and it was a pleasure to read them. The prize winners, highly commended and commended writers have all been notified now and we’ll be announcing who they are at the Prize Giving on Wednesday 20th June 2018. If you haven’t heard from us, we’re afraid your entry hasn’t won a prize this time.

We’ve also nearly completed the reading for Issue 42 and will be letting people know our decisions as soon as possible (there was about twice as many as usual, so it’s taken us a bit longer than anticipated). To whet your appetite, this issue also has some excellent pieces by Robert Chandler, London Undercurrents and Sarah Passingham.

In the mean time, we’d like to invite you all to the Competition Prize Giving and Launch of Issue 42 at The Barbican Library, Barbican Centre, Silk St, London. Doors open at 6.30 for 7pm- 9pm. There will be readings from both the competition and magazine, plus our usual summer Pimms and strawbs. And you’ll also get a chance to meet our competition judges, the lovely Pascale Petit and Nicholas Royle.

Tickets to the event are free, but space is limited, so you will need to book directly through the Barbican library on 020 7638 0569. We’re looking forward to welcoming you all and hearing some fantastic new writing.

Brittle Star is dedicated to providing a platform for new writing.  We are edited by Jacqueline Gabbitas and Martin Parker on a voluntary basis. We receive no external funding and survive on your subscriptions, sales and patronage through Patreon. Click HERE to subscribe today and receive fresh new writing to your door twice a year.

This one goes to 11! Brittle Star survey.

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Fill in our survey for a chance to win a Stonewood Press print (worth £75), and help us to develop the magazine. 

We came up with 10 questions to help us learn more about what you like about Brittle Star and what you’d like to see included in the future, but when we were checking it over we realised we’d missed out a major question (which goes to show the power of proofing!). So this 10-question survey goes to 11!

It would be brilliant if you could take a little time out of your busy day to fill it in. It really will take only a few minutes (round about 5) and goes well with a cuppa and a bicky in your lunch break or a nice glass of wine of an evening. We’re not asking for any personal information such as your name, postal address, what you ate for breakfast – it’s not that kind of survey – but your answers really will help us to develop. Most of the questions need to be answered for you to move on to the next one. The survey closes 12 April 2018. Thank you for taking the time to help us – Martin & Jacqueline, Editors, Brittle Star.

 

Click on this big blue button to take our survey.