Lived it? Dreamt it? Write it!
The second Bruntwood Playwriting Competition for the Royal Exchange aims to find new plays, new playwrights and new voices. Go to www.writeaplay.co.uk for more information and be sure to get your entry in by 13 June.

Workshop: Dove Cottage Poets with Wordsworth Trust poet-in-residence Adam O'Riordan
A wonderful opportunity to try your hand at writing poetry at the Lower Rotunda, The Jerwood Centre, The Wordsworth Trust, at 2.30pm-4.30pm on Friday 27 June and thereafter on the last Friday of every month. Whether you have never set pen to paper before or you are a seasoned sonneteer, this is a monthly group for poets of all levels of experience. The discussion will be on a range of forms, from sonnets to sestinas, as well as focusing on approaches to the creative process and how best to harness the poetic impulse. For more information, contact literature officer Andrew Forster on a.forster@wordsworth.org.uk or on 015394 35544.

Aesthetica Creative Works competition
Aesthetica, the national arts magazine, is looking for undiscovered talent with this competition which is open to fiction, poetry and artwork and with a first prize of £500. For more information and how to apply, see www.aestheticamagazine.com by 31 August 2008.

The Manchester Poetry Prize 2008 - First prize: £10,000

Deadline for entries: 1st August 2008

The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University is launching The Manchester Poetry Prize – a new literary competition celebrating excellence in creative writing.

The Manchester Poetry Prize is open to writers internationally, and will award a cash prize of £10,000 to the writer of the best portfolio of poems submitted.

In addition, a bursary for study at MMU will be awarded to an entrant aged 18-25 as part of the Manchester Young Writer of the Year Award.

http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/