The Monthly Flash #03

A white mountain range rose in the distance and against that backdrop the caribou moved on and on. Then they vanished. Fred craned his neck as far as he was able but only the brick terrace across the road now filled his field of vision …

Read Christine Howe’s story, Day of the Caribou>>

No Comments

The Weekly Poem #27

Short and sharp, sweet and sour – South Lakeland’s former Poet Laureate Maggie Norton gets her ticket punched en route to Penrith in A Late Love Poem>>

No Comments

Words by the Water competition deadlines looming

You have until 10 February to send in your entries to two competitions being organised as part of the Words by the Water Festival of Words and Ideas in Keswick this March.

Read more>>

No Comments

Free festival tickets for young and enquiring minds

Young people will be able to attend the Words by the Water Festival of Words and Ideas in Keswick for free, thanks to a new bursary scheme. Anyone aged 17-25 can apply for a place, and successful applicants will be given tickets to see up to ten events of their choice.

Read more>>

No Comments

Liars’ League – and other write ideas

Sedbergh’s Write Idea festival is back at the end of February with another three days of events to enliven England’s Book Town.

Topping the bill this time is Sedbergh’s take on one of the country’s most innovative live fiction events, Liars’ League – and they’re looking for Cumbrian ‘liars’ to contribute to a show scheduled for Friday 24 February. Read more>>

No Comments

Wanted – poets in bloom

Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery have asked poet Carolyn Richardson to organise a seasonal poetry gig as part of their First Friday series of events – and Carolyn’s looking for poets to join her for the spring-themed reading in May.

Read more>>

No Comments

The Weekly Poem #26

The nearest you can get to loft living in Carlisle, Shaddon or Dixon’s Mill is now a huge block of swanky apartments, itself dwarfed by the defiant finger of Dixon’s Chimney. Kathleen Jones’s great grandad knew it before the floors were sanded.

Read the poem, Dixon’s Mill>>

No Comments

YAK YAK

C-Art, the Eden Arts project which co-ordinates and promotes an annual open studios event with visual artists throughout the county, is organising its first ‘forum’ event.

YAK YAK invites creatives of all kinds (musicians, painters, craftspeople, writers, filmakers et al) to get together to meet and learn about each others’ work, share experiences and ideas, and generally socialise. Read more>>

No Comments

Ear ear

In collaboration with Edinburgh-based Maison Vee’s jewellery, Maryport-based The Journal and Original Plus Publications has announced the free-to-enter Silversmith Poetry Competition.

But not that free. All poems have to be about earrings. Read more>>

No Comments

Crime writer Reginald Hill dies

Cumbrian crime writer Reginald Hill, best known as the creator of detectives Dalziel and Pascoe, has died aged 75 after suffering from a brain tumour.

Fellow authors have been quick to pay tribute. On Twitter, Ian Rankin wrote: “A lovely man, fine writer, great wit …” Read more>>

2 Comments

Working Nights – A Festive Flash

Our Consulting Flash Fiction Editor, Brindley Hallam Dennis, sent us this story in the Christmas hols, in the hope that we might be able to rattle it out in a truncated Christmas issue of The Weekly Word. Sadly, we were so truncated by confectionery and cut-price single malt that we couldn’t get off the sofa. So treat this offering by Jenny Harrow as a late Christmas card and unexpected gift.

Read Working Nights>>

No Comments

The Weekly Poem #25

From Back o’ Skiddaw to the roof of the world – in this week’s poem, the well-travelled Angela Locke reflects on journeys corporeal, spiritual, and political.

Read the poem, After the sky burial: Tibet>>

No Comments

Mslexia Women’s Short Story Competition 2012

“There’s no recipe for a good short story – in fact, they need to be unexpected, surprising. The most familiar material can be surprising if it’s seen freshly.”

So says Mslexia competition judge Tessa Hadley. To see if you can surprise her, read more>>

No Comments