Issue 69 (Mar/Apr/May 2016)

Agenda

Are there too many literary prizes? Debbie Taylor asks whether winning is losing its value

Forum
What you’re saying about… fees, tweets, and the colour pink
Noticeboard
What happened when you tried our ‘5-a-day’ challenge; Life sentences
Spread the love; Tribal loyalty
Get creative with Pinterest; Blogwatch

Showcase

Juliet E McKenna introduces poems and stories on the theme of ‘monster’

Craft

Creativity news; writing exercises; What works for Lucy Gannon MBE
Playing the part: Carol McGuigan on what actors bring to their fiction
YA: Laura Steven on a growing genre
Frances Hardinge’s Achilles’ heel; Flash genre: Tracy Davidson
Poetry challenge: triolets introduced by Linda France
Rhyme story: Mr Theophilus by Wendy Stickley; Picture this: Yasmeen Ismail
First page surgery with Jill Dawson

Interview

Storyteller Jan Blake talks to Anna Sayburn

Career

Publishing news; Advice to my younger self; Self-help test drive
Make an impression: author photo; Submission bootcamp: rejection
Can’t pay, won’t pay: how Annabel Abbs designed her own writing MA
Pitch surgery with Juliet Mushens; Pitch calendar
Madame Lexi’s crystal ball; Self-publishing survivors: Cathie Hartigan
Stand tall and stop apologising: Sarah Myers urges us to take performance seriously

Doors open

Open for submissions; Insight: pitch prospects
Three of a kind: literary mags with art
Insight: script commissioning at Finborough Theatre
Open for entries: competitions and awards
Insight: fellowship at Hawthornden Castle
Insight: competition, Faber New Poets
Time away: courses and retreats

Out now

Debut author interview: Julia Forster talks to Danuta Kean
Top 10 children’s books; Books about writing
Fiction issues: Muslim characters by Ayisha Malik
Short story news; review by Alice Slater
Short story heroes: Zadie Smith
Script news; I confess
New nonfiction: travel writing with Caroline Sanderson; A is for…
Poetry news; review by Alex Pryce

Don’t miss

Events and courses; Insight: getting a gig at Writers in the Bath
Writing in the world: dementia, with Gemma Seltzer
Insight: a Joolz Denby performance

And finally

Ruby Wax’s bedtime reading; What we’re doing
Submitting and subscribing to Mslexia