WRITERS’ NEWS
92 APRIL 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.ukFLASHES
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
PDR Lindsay-SalmonLook on the bright side with Book*hug
Book*hug Press call themselves ‘a radically optimistic
Canadian independent literary press’. They publish
innovative and contemporary books of literary fiction,
nonfiction, literature in translation and poetry. They
want ‘work that meaningfully contributes to and reflects
culture and society; books that challenge and push at the
boundaries of cultural expectations.’
Check out the publishing list at the website, read the
detailed guidelines and what the editors want. Submit a
disposable manuscript by post. Include ‘an introductory
letter’ describing the work and which two other
Book*hug titles the work is closest to, or which authors
the work is similar to.
Response time is ‘approximately six months’. Rights
and royalties are discussed with the contract.
Details: Book*hug Press, 260 Ryding Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M6N 1H5 Canada; email: jay@
bookhugpress.ca; website: https://bookhugpress.caAutosport,
subtitled Britain’s
best motorsport
magazine weekly,
is edited by Kevin
Turner.
Details: Autosport,
Sport Media
UK Ltd, 1 Eton
Street, Richmond
TW9 1AG; 020
3405 8100; email:
autosport@
autosport.com;
website: http://www.
autosport.comChildren’s
publishers Puffin
are to publish a
new middle-grade
book from Charlie
Higson, billed as
‘Adrian Mole for a
new generation’.
Worst. Holiday.
Ever. is ‘a warm
and funny story
about facing
fears, dealing with
worries, and how
it’s okay to be
anxious, scared,
and sometimes a
little bit brave’, out
in May.Chocolat author
Joanne Harris
has been
appointed Chair
of the Society of
Authors’ board.
She succeeds
David Donachi for
a two-year term
as Chair of the
SoA Management
Committee, which
sets the society’s
strategy and
policies.
Website: http://www.
societyofauthors.
org.uk‘I’ve always
enjoyed the
idea of total
mundanity, and
the struggles and
the happinesses of
ordinary life, and
then contrasting
it with something
a bit strange;
the possibility
of magic in the
everyday.’
Naomi Ishiguro,
whose debut short
story collection is
out nowBe part of the
poetry canon
Live poetry organisation Live
Canon has three competitions
inviting entries.- The 2020 Live Canon
Pamphlet Collection is for
pamphlets between 18 and 35
poems. Four winning pamphlets
will be selected for publication
by Live Canon Poetry Press. The
entry fee is £12 per pamphlet.
The closing date is 31 March. - The 2020 International
Poetry Competition has a first
prize of £1,000 for a single poem.
There is also a £100 prize for
the best entry written by a poet
living, working or studying in the
London Borough of Greenwich.
Winners and longlisted poets will
be published in an anthology.
Enter poems of any length. The
entry fees are £6.50 for one
poem, £12 for two, £16 for three,
£20 for four and £35 for ten. The
closing date is 12 May. - The 2020 Live Canon
Collection Competition is for full
collections of 35+ poems. There
are categories for first collection
and second and subsequent
collections. Three books will be
selected for publication with Live
Canon. The entry fee is £12 per
manuscript. The closing date is
25 May.
Website: http://www.livecanon.
co.uk
The 2020 Frome Festival Short Story Competition is open for entries.
The international competition is for original, unpublished short stories
between 1,000 and 2,200 words. There is a first prize of £400, a second prize
of £200 and a third prize of £100, with additional local prizes for writers living
within a 25-mile radius of Frome Library. This year’s judge is Bel Mooney.
The entry fee is £8 per story.
The closing date is 31 May.
Website: http://www.fromeshortstorycompetition.co.uk/Find your voice for Frome
Encouraging emerging writers
The Belfast Book Festival is inviting entries for the Mairtín Crawford Awards for
Poetry and Short Story.
The Awards are aimed at emerging writers who have not yet published a full
collection of poetry or short stories, or a novel.
There is a £500 in each category and prize winners will be invited to read at
the Belfast Book Festival.
Enter 3-5 poems or short stories up to 2,500 words.
There is a £6 fee per entry.
The closing date is 29 April.
Website: http://www.belfastbookfestival.com/mairtin-crawfordFind new words for Wasafiri
The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2020 is open for entry.
There are three categories, each with a £1,000 prize: fiction, poetry and life writing.
Winners will be published in print and online, and will be offered the Chapter and
Verse or Free Reads mentoring. Shortlisted writers will be published online and
may be offered Free Reads mentoring. The judges are Simon Prosser (fiction), Aida
Edemariam (life writing) and Raymond Antrobus (poetry). The chair of judges in
Kadija Sesay. Writers entering the competition must not have published a book-length
work in the category they are entering. Self-published writers may enter.
Enter original, unpublished work up to 3,000 words, or up to three poems.
The entry fee is £10 for a single entry in one category and £16 for a double entry.
The closing date is 1 June.
Website: http://www.wasafiri.org/new-writing-prize/