This figure, a modern carving on a modern house, became a bit of a landmark in Carshalton. It was removed for restoration a long time ago, but today Anne is back!
Why Anne Boleyn? She stands opposite ‘Anne Boleyn’s Well’ by All Saints’ churchyard, but in fact the history is garbled: the well was originally associated with the local Boulogne family, not connected with the Boleyns (or Bullens as they were more prosaically known).
I have again reached the shortlist of the estimable Parracombe competition, which means my story They All Left the Room will be in this year’s anthology even if it doesn’t progress further.
Here again are some writing competitions with deadlines during the coming month. The list is not comprehensive (I don’t bother with flash much, for example), but I hope it might be of interest.
Folly Journal takes stories between 800 and 2,500 words: NZ$10 to enter and first prize is NZ$1,000 – but the deadline is 1 May, so you need to be quick.
F(r)iction is looking for 1,000 to 7,500 words and it’s $10 to enter with a $1,000 prize. The good news is, you’ve got until 2 May. Incidentally, the same publisher is running Dually Noted, where people submit short (500 word) self-contained episodes which can continue the main story arc or be incidental episodes fitting the overall theme, a new addition every week. At the moment the overall theme, which continues until December, is A Night Club for the Newly Departed. No prize except online publication, but it’s free.
The Australian Book Review’s Elizabeth Jolley prize looks for up to 5,000 words. AU$30 to enter, a nice $5,000 prize, and the deadline is 5 May.
Old stalwart Writer’s Digest is back with a word limit of 4,000, a fee of $30 and a $5,000 prize. Enter by 5 May.
Ironclad want stories on the theme ‘Planted’. Up to 6,000 words, it’ll cost you £9 and you can win a comparatively unexciting £100. The deadline is 10 May.
Lush Triumphant offers a prize of $1,000 for stories up to 3,000 for a fee of $30 – deadline 15 May. I entered one of these a couple of years ago and could never seem to find out who won.
Ploughshares wants up to 6,000. The competition is free to subscribers, or you can pay $30 to enter (for which you also get a year’s subscription – see what they did there?). Enterr by 15 May.
The Ghost Story wants – well, have a wild guess – of up to 10,000 words. $20 entry gets you a chance at a $1,500 prize. Deadline 30 May.
All the rest have a deadline of 31 May.
The lively Frome Festival wants between 1,200 and 2,000 words: it’s £8 to enter and the top prize is £625.
You do not want to miss the prestigious Bridport competition. £5,000 for 5,000 words, with entry £14. This year a new Never Too Late prize will be awarded to the best entrant across all categories who is over 60 (discreet cough).
The Goldfinch Novel competition wants your first 3,000 words, plus a synopsis. £10 entry, and the winner gets £500.
Yeovil’s short story competition is for stories up to 2,000 words, entry £10.50 and the prize £625. It seems they don’t believe in round figures.
The Blue Pencil Agency First Novel competition asks for your first 5,000 words plus a 300-word synopsis. It’s £25 to enter and the prize is £1,000, but if you place you also get an introduction to one of their literary agents: I suppose you finally get to use that elevator pitch.
Finally I really have to mention the Robert Traver Fly Fishing Writing Award. (J.R. Hartley! Thou shouldst be living at this hour.) The word limit is 3,000, the fee $25 and the prize $2,500. Judges will look for three key things in the writing: the joy of fly-fishing (personal and philosophic experience); ecology (knowledge and protection of the natural world); and humour (piscatorial friendships and fun on the water). Apparently this has been going on since 2019, and long may it continue.
If you enter any of these and get anywhere, do let me know!
Brian Cox gives a masterly performance as J.S.Bach in The Score at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (whose opulent interior provides a suitably baroque background). The play, by Oliver Cotton and directed by Trevor Nunn, centres on the true story of Bach’s visit to the court of Frederick the Great, where he was challenged to improvise a three-part fugue on an ‘unfuguable’ theme – which he did, a feat of mental musicianship that seems hardly credible.
Here though, Bach rather implausibly uses the opportunity to denounce Frederick’s military ‘interventions’ and the horrors they bring with them. The King is portrayed as a precursor of later German belligerence, but Bach’s musical insights reveal the complexes that motivate him, rooted in an unhappy childhood. The play is neatly constructed and works pretty well apart from sometimes getting just a little bogged down.
The weakest part, in my view, is Voltaire, who appears as a secondary character but is written, not as the sharp and witty sceptic we know, but as a over-demonstrative French stereotype. He is allowed only one characteristic witticism (‘murderers are severely punished, unless they kill thousands, to the sound of trumpets’). If Voltaire had written this play it would have been shorter and funnier, but that’s a tough benchmark, and Cox’s bravura turn helps make it a well-spent evening.
This old sweater had been attacked by moths: I thought I would have a go at visible darning, where you make feature of the hole repair. Experts produce works of art, but I just went for traditional square darns with coloured threads for a slight tartan effect. I don’t think I will actually wear this much, but it was an interesting thing to do.
We were lucky enough to get really good tickets at a reasonable price for The Seagull at the Barbican with Cate Blanchett. This is a modern, rather innovative (some might say gimmicky) production by Thomas Ostermeier. Most of the additions, changes and updates are OK, I think. Some, like regularly breaking the fourth wall, are intended to highlight a kind of dialogue about the relation between performance and reality: modern music and references are either irrelevant or legitimately funny. Probably the most uneasy thing imo is the way the character Semyon Medvedenko is changed from a poor schoolteacher into a ‘factory worker’ (how is a factory worker hanging around this country estate all the time?) who drives around on a quad bike and sings Billy Bragg songs – though of course we are made well aware that it is not Medvedenko singing, but the actor Zachary Hart.
The cast is terrific, by the way though obviously Cate Blanchett’s amazing performance as the famous actress (see what they did there) and attention-hogging narcissist Irina Arkadina outshines everything else. The tap-dancing and doing the splits are the least of it, I promise you.
It’s a terrific show, and the fact that it is so clever, funny and profound is largely due to the fact that none of the fancy tricks is ultimately allowed to get in the way of Chekhov’s classic play, which is delivered pretty well intact. I would strongly recommend it, but I think it’s sold out.
The porridge was made from Scandinavian black oats. It baked rather quickly, and another time I would go for something lighter – but it tastes pretty good.
Another look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month (so no poetry or competitions that are not open to UK writers, for example).
Don’t forget the Alpine Fellowship Prize, deadline 1 April! The word count has been reduced this year, to 1,250, and the prize, at £3,000 is no longer quite as large as it once was: but this is still easily one of the best free competitions going.
The John Gardner Memorial Prize looks for up to 4,500 words, charges $19 and offers a prize of $500. Again the deadline is 1 April.
The Letter Review keeps going, offering a $600 prize for a maximum of 5,000 words: $20 to enter, by 1 April.
The Barry Hannah Prize from the Yalobusha Review takes up to 5,000 words, charges $3 and has a prize of $500: once again the deadline is 1 April.
A few more days for the Mairtín Crawford prize, with a deadline of 9 April. Up to 2,500 words, £10 to enter, £500 prize.
Desperate Literature is back wanting up to 2,000 words. €20 to enter and the prize is an attractive €2,000 plus a residency in Italy. Get your entry in by 13 April.
Fractured Lit wants ghost, fables or fairtales with a fresh approach, up to 1,000 words. $20 fee, $3,000 prize and the deadline is 13 April.
For the Perkoff Prize your story must relate to health or medicine, and it can be up to 8,500 words long. It costs $15 to enter and the prize is $1,000. The deadline is 15 April.
BOMB magazine takes up to 5,000 words for an entry fee of $30 and offers a prize of $1000. Deadline 15 April.
With the same deadline the New Ohio Review looks for 20 pages: $22 entry and $1,500 prize.
The Hemingway Shorts prize has a limit of 2,000 words, a fee of $15 and a prize of $1,000 and again the deadline is 15 April.
The Eyelands Contest has a theme of ‘2025’ (Did someone get the columns in their table transposed?) it wants stories up to 3,000 words, €10 to enter and a mere €500 prize. The deadline is 20 April.
The HoneyBee Prize from the Goodlife Review (how wholesome it all sounds) takes up to 5,000 words. $18 to enter, a relatively modest prize of $300, deadline 21 April.
Those excellent folk at FreeFall magazine have a word limit of 3,000. Entry is CA$25, and the prize is CA$500 plus publication. The deadline is 30 April, as it is for the next two.
The Plaza Prizes comp wants up to 5,000 words, and for £15 you could win a very decent £4,000.
Finally the Gulf Coast Prize has a limit of 7,000 words, costs $26, and offers $1,500
If you enter any of these and win (or get anywhere), do let me know.
Seen and Done 