Mslexia Magazine - Issue 76

Agenda: The youth vote: how YA fiction influences political opinion

PLUS: The dangers of writing tuition • Meditation and Creativity • Carrying on after rejection • Writing about pregnancy

Editor
Debbie Taylor

Plus

Sarah Perry • Jane Harris • Sibéal Pounder • Carolyn Jess-Cooke • Victoria Derbyshire

Agenda

• Could YA fiction swing the next election? Laura Steven explains how writers can change the world, one teenager at a time
• 2017 Poetry Pamphlet Competition winner

Forum

• What you’re saying about… prologues, famous poets and suffragettes
• What happened when you wrote a 25-word novel
• Life sentences
• Writing in the world: cancer, with Susmita Bhattacharya
• Noticeboard
• Spread the love: writers’ collectives
• Get creative with podcasts
• Blogwatch

Showcase

• Jane Harris introduces stories and poems on the theme of ‘Yesteryears’

Craft

• Creativity news
• Writing exercises
• What works for Naomi Foyle
• What’s the point? Karon Alderman on why she keeps writing in the face of rejection
• Musical theatre: Susannah Pearse on putting on a show
• Sibéal Pounder’s Achilles’ heel
• Flash genre: Helena Astbury
• Poetry challenge: specular poetry, selected by Linda France
• A visit to nowhere: Sita Brand on how meditation can aid your writing
• Rhyme story: ‘Swoop, poop, plop’ by Lalla Merlin
• Picture this: Bethan Woollvin
• First page surgery with Imogen Robertson

Interview

• Sarah Perry talks to Rebecca Swirsky

Career

• Publishing news
• Madame Lexi’s crystal ball
• Advice to my younger self
• Submission bootcamp: tenacity
• Safety first: Carolyn Jess-Cooke on the lack of regulation of writing workshops
• Pitch surgery with Carrie Plitt
• Pitch calendar
• Self-help book test drive with Meg Clothier

Doors open

• Open for submissions
• Insight: pitch prospects
• Three of a kind: writing in response
• Insight: script submissions to Paines Plough
• Open for entries: competitions and awards
• Insight: manuscript wish list, agent Joanna Moult
• Insight: Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust
• Insight: New Welsh Writing Awards
• Time away: writing holidays

Out now

• Début author: Chitra Ramaswamy
• Six best women in translation
• Books about writing
• Fiction issues: fairy tales by Zoë Marriott
• Short story news
• Short story review by Alice Slater
• Short story heroes: Sarah Hall
• Script news
• I confess
• Non-fiction: votes for women with Caroline Sanderson
• H is for…
• Poetry news
• Poetry review by Alex Pryce

Don’t miss

• Events and courses
• Insight: getting a gig at Stanza in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• Insight: Stacy Makishi in performance

And finally

• Victoria Derbyshire’s bedtime reading
• What we’re up to
• Submitting and subscribing to Mslexia