WIGTOWN POETRY COMPETITION

Last call for The Wigtown Poetry Competition - the largest such competition in

Scotland - with a 1st prize of £2500. Full details at:

www.wigtownbookfestival.com/poetrycomp. Deadline: 5pm Friday 30 January. 



CARDIFF INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 

Last call too for the annual Cardiff competition. Entry fee is £6 per poem: download

entry form from website www.academi.org/cipc/i/132712. Deadline: 30 January.



WORDS BY THE WATER / MIREHOUSE POETRY COMPETITION 2009

The theme of this year's competition is a quote from Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur

(partly written at Mirehouse): "What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?" (to

be interpreted freely) Judge: Grevel Lindop; prizes: 1st Prize £350 and the

prize-winning poem and eight highly commended poems will be displayed on the

Mirehouse Poetry Walk, and appear on the website. Highly commended poets will also

receive a box of new books (value £100). There will be a reading of all nine poems

at a special event with Grevel Lindop at Mirehouse on Saturday 7 March at 11.30am,

as part of the Words by the Water Festival. 



Conditions of entry are detailed in the brochure, which can be downloaded now from

the Ways with Words website (from the Cumbria page) at www.wayswithwords.co.uk.

Cheques, payable to 'Words by the Water', should be sent with entries to:Mirehouse

Poetry Competition, Droridge Farm, Dartington, Devon TQ9 6JG



Closing Date: Thursday 12 February.



FRANCES LINCOLN DIVERSE VOICES CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is for a manuscript that

celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its

story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author. For more

information visit www.sevenstories.org.uk  Following a number of late enquiries

expressing interest in this Award, the closing date for all entries has been

extended to Wednesday 25 February 2009.



FLARESTACK POETS PAMPHLET COMPETITION

The competition is for collections of 20 - 30 poems. Prizes: two equal prizes of

publication and £250; anthology of best single poems. Winners receive 20 copies of

their pamphlet plus invitation to read. Entry fee: £8. Flarestack Poets Competition,

PO Box 14779, Birmingham BT13 3GU. See www.flarestackpoets.co.uk



Deadline: 28 February.



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Jerwood Aldeburgh seminar seeking applications
The Jerwood Aldeburgh seminar provides a unique opportunity for a select group of talented UK poets of any age to work towards a first collection in an intensive, five-day seminar, led by two excellent poet-tutors with strong editorial experience. For more information and to apply, see www.thepoetrytrust.org/site/html/jerwood_seminar.htm .

New Lit Up events to spark live literature growth
Plans to get more quality live literature work programmed by arts venues nationwide have received a boost with new Arts Council funding for a series of showcase and conference events. The Live Literature Consortium – which produced the highly successful Lit Up event in 2006 – has been awarded £64,000 to continue its drive to help create, produce and promote new work. To sign up to receive more information about Lit Up, please register at www.litup.org .

Bournemouth Short Story Competition
You don’t have to be a resident of Bournemouth to enter this one. Run in partnership with the National Year of Reading, full details and entry details are at www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Residents/Arts/short_story_competition.asp .

Fielding Programme residency 2009
The Fielding Programme is a specialist residency programme for new and early career writers. Running in April each year, it offers the opportunity to develop professionally in the spectacular and inspiring surroundings of Cove Park on the west coast of Scotland and to receive one-to-one mentoring. Taking their inspiration from Henry Fielding’s pioneering spirit in writing, they bring together the expertise of the hosts and the beauty of the surroundings to offer writers a unique opportunity to make real progress. They provide a special period of undisturbed time with a small group of fellow writers along with the option of informal one-to-one meetings or workshops with writer Polly Clark. These retreats run over three weeks only in April, so places are limited. For more information see www.fieldingprogramme.com .

ENGAGE looks for 2009 participants
ENGAGE is a MEDIA-funded training initiative for writers, directors and producers which ran over nine months in 2008, providing 24 participants from nine European countries with a unique training and project development opportunity including masterclasses, case studies and one-to-one project consultations with a wide range of industry professionals. In 2009, ENGAGE will be selecting 24 new participants. To find out more about the programme, the participants and their projects, see www.engage.eu.com .

Sama Salam UK: cross-cultural poetry book project seeks submissions
The Sama Salam UK project aims to bring together writing from diverse cultural backgrounds but with similar inspirations and influences in one book, and then bring the writers together at nationwide poetry readings. Poetry submissions for the book are welcome from writers resident in the UK of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds, although influences of Islamic cultural traditions, or inspiration from the Arabic, Persian and Urdu poetry traditions should be evident in some way. Writers can submit up to five poems in English, a maximum of 40 lines per poem. Electronic submissions of poetry via email are preferable, with the poems and full contact details contained within the email. Emails should be headed ‘Sama Salam UK Poetry’ and sent to electraglade@aol.com by 28 February.