Free Writers' Newsletter

Poetry competition winners and new magazine

This month, firstwriter.com has announced the winner, runners-up, and special commendations of its Tenth International Poetry Competition, as well as releasing Issue 20 of firstwriter.magazine, Hieroglyphs.

Shelley Griffiths, from Sidmouth, Devon, was announced as the winner of the competition for her poem "Estuary Mud", and wins £500 (around $750).

Shelley Griffiths was born in Portsmouth, UK in 1969, but was soon moved to the Cotswolds where she spent the formative years of her childhood with her two siblings and a dog called Buffy. At the age of eight, she moved to London where she stayed until she graduated with an English and Drama degree from Kingston University in her early twenties. After teaching for a few years, Shelley turned her hand to painting, and achieved global success with her abstract impressionism, painting under the name LAURIE MAITLAND. Royalties from print sales enabled Shelley to return to her first love – that of writing, and to study for a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at Exeter University, Devon.

Shelley still lives in Devon, where she continues to paint, alongside writing poetry, screenplays and novels – the first of which, Hailstones in May by Laurie Maitland, is now available on Amazon. The second novel, The Ganesha Keystone, will publish on Amazon in March 2012.

Shelley hopes to earn just enough from her writing and painting to move to a house with a bigger garden so that she can have chickens which she plans to name Betty, Marjorie, Ethel and Mabel.

Jessica Prather, of Hilliard, Ohio, wins $150 for submitting the best entry from the United States with her poem "Mortar", and Alice Stride of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, wins £100 for entering the best runner-up poem from the United Kingdom, "Walnuts and Apples". The winning poems can be read online at http://www.firstwriter.com/competitions/poetry_competition/previous_winners/10thpoetry.shtml.
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All the winners will also be published in a future issue of firstwriter.magazine, and receive vouchers worth £24 / $36 – as will the ten Special Commendations:

Pauline Asper, United Kingdom, "Maturity";
Christine Bond, United Kingdom, "Shamus Heaney. Queens University 1968s Heaney: Queens University 1968";
Richard Tyley, United Kingdom, "Home Sweet Home";
Joris Heise, United States, "Ashlie, the Student in Special Education";
Harvey Rothenstein, United States, "Our Example";
Kathleen Strafford, United Kingdom, "Under the Card Table";
Sarah Hosking, United Kingdom, "Armistice, November 11th";
Kate Brown, Australia, "102 degrees";
Ginna Wilkerson, United States, "Laws of Travel";
Tom Brown, United Kingdom, "Birds".

firstwriter.magazine Issue 20: HieroglyphsThe latest issue of firstwriter.magazine has also just been released, featuring quality fiction and poetry submitted from around the world, plus your first chance to see not just the winning story from our Seventh International Short Story Contest, but also all ten Special Commendations. To view the magazine click here. To enter your work in our Eighth International Short Story Contest click here.

If you submitted work for issue 20 you can check to see if your work has been included by viewing the magazine online (click here). If your work has not been included then, unfortunately, on this occasion your submission has not been successful. We'd love to see more of your work, though, and are now accepting submissions for issue 22 of the magazine. We accept poems up to 30 lines and short stories up to 3,000 words. You can submit your work for consideration online at http://www.firstwriter.com/Magazine/submit.shtml

The Bridport Prize 2012 website is now open for entries

The Bridport Prize is the richest open writing competition in the English language, with £5,000 first prize for a short story (of up to 5,000 words); and £5,000 first prize for a poem (of up to 42 lines). The category of Flash Fiction attracts £1,000 to be won for the best short, short story of under 250 words. [To read the full article, click here]

For details of over 150 writing contests, click here

Short stories required for new greeting card concept

The Circle of Joy is a new concept in greeting cards, with each card pairing a commissioned illustration on the front with a related short story on the back. The range of "storycards" will be launched in mid-2012, with the initial forty cards focusing on everything from the "Joy of Weddings" to the "Joy of Golf", from the "Joy of Birthdays" to the "Joy of Wine". At the end of each story, readers are invited to visit the Circle of Joy website, where they can enjoy thousands more anecdotes, stories and photos posted by other users, share their own stories of joy if they wish, as well as order more storycards from the webshop. [To read the full article, click here]

New website for travel writers
World of Travel Writers is a unique website where travel writers across the world can meet up, share their travel writing experiences and travel stories, and find markets and contests for travel writers all on one website. World of Travel Writers will be updated every two months: Feb/Mar, Apr/May, June/July/ Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, December/End of Year issue.
The website needs articles by travel writers; press releases about new markets for travel writers; press releases about upcoming writing competitions and photography competitions. It also needs news that pertains to travel writing. [To read the full article, click here]

Jewish Women's anthology seeks submissions
Submissions are being sought for a new anthology, Just Between Us – Jewish Women Get Personal. The stories should be personal true slices of life showing how you have grown, overcome challenges, gained wisdom, etc. All subjects are welcome: Dating, marriage, pregnancy, birth, nursing, raising children, mikveh, holidays, living in Israel, divorce, widowhood, illness, grandmotherhood, etc. Humor is welcome, as is poetry. [To read the full article, click here]

One month left to apply for £30,000 Futures Fund
Last year IdeasTap opened a fund in partnership with Sky Arts to give five young creatives the chance to win £30,000 each. They have already awarded funding to opera director Daisy Evans and visual artist Phoebe Boswell, and they will be taking applications for the remaining three bursaries until February 24, 2012. [To read the full article, click here]

New site for writers
Voices in Space is a new site that includes a free online writers’ forum, where writers can post original fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; receive critique from a global community of readers; and read new works by aspiring and established authors. The site also lets writers’ workshops create groups, through which their members can connect and share writing.Since Voices in Space is a new site, still in its beta stage, they are searching for writers and readers to populate the site with works and feedback. To visit the site, click here

Resources for writers at firstwriter.com
Visit firstwriter.com for the following invaluable resources for writers:
over 850 literary agencies
over 1,400 book publishers
over 150 writing contests
over 1,400 magazine publishers
and more...