Calling Scottish #writers! Apply for the 2026 Scottish Writing Fellowship at the @universityofotago.bsky.social’s Centre for Irish & Scottish Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand, from 1 Aug–30 Sept 2026. Includes flights, accommodation & stipend. Deadline 31 Oct! #writing www.otago.ac.nz/ciss

I'm starting the reading for my upcoming online book group, 'Reading Like A Writer', which kicks off on Thurs 9th Oct with Catherine Lacey's BIOGRAPHY OF X - described by the Guardian as “an impressive and enchantingly strange novel”. A few places left - details here: victoriamackenzie.net/teaching/

And hey, as it happens there's a gap in the Personal Anthology schedule THIS FRIDAY – so if you love short stories and feel like you could pick and introduce a dozen and get to me Thursday, then just let me know!

Opportunity here for a writer on a low income to get access to a nine week novel writing course taught by the great @silvanhistorian.bsky.social www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/course/break...

We are preparing a new UK/RoI #queerpoetry anthology. Up//Roar: Poems of Queer Resistance. call out is live until 1st Nov. arachnepress.submittable.com/submit/33689... pls share with any #queerpoets you know @hazardpressuk.bsky.social is editing with me @mxfrankduffy.bsky.social is doing cover

If you are ever in a fantasy novel and meet a handsome prince who's been turned into a magpie, DON'T KISS HIM. I just saw one on the back lawn, eating dog poop.

It's Friday morning, and if it's not quite the weekend yet, it soon will be... which means A PERSONAL ANTHOLOGY! This week's guest editor, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, is Amanthi Harris. Hitting inboxes at 2pm. Sign up here if you don't already, RT if you do!

📣 Applications are OPEN for BCLT Translators-in-Residence 2026! ✨ We're offering two BCLT translation residencies for UK-based literary translators. Find out more: www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-c... #LiteraryTranslation #Translation #CallForTranslators

Ready for a new issue? Pre-orders for The Mirror Issue are now open worldwide! ✨🪞✨ Mirror magic, ritual masks, films that cast a spell, doppelgängers and fetches, changelings, evil portraits, spirit traps and much more. 👉🏼 helleborezine.com

Small Publishers Fair returns to London's Conway Hall next month, with 66 UK & international publishers, a special exhibition, and readings & talks. More details soon. Fri 24 & Sat 25 October (11am-7pm) FREE, all welcome Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL smallpublishersfair.co.uk

Almost 900 fewer people have been injured on Welsh roads since the default speed limit was lowered from 30 to 20mph two years ago Casualties on 20 to 30mph roads between July and September 2024 were the lowest for the three month-period since records began in 1979 👏 Evidence-led policy

I’m having a tidy and have found I’ve got 3 second-hand mystery boxes left. Each one contains 3 hardbacks, used but in good condition. Want to surprise yourself with one? - Michael bertsbooks.co.uk/product/seco...

WE ARE LIVING THE LIFE OF REILLY - BUT HE WANTS IT BACK.

Yarn and yarns! 🧶 Unwind with needles, hooks, and good conversation at our Knit & Natter group. A lovely, relaxed way to spend a Wednesday morning. Free tea and cake included! Every Wed, 10am-12noon. #KnitAndNatter #Craft #Community #Splott

📚 BOOK GIVEAWAY! 📚 I've teamed up with some of the best and coolest queer historical romance writers for this awesome giveaway! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell your enemies-to-lovers! Form to enter: forms.gle/2dJteRjXmLxm5FkR7

Please share. If you live in Splott, Tremorfa, Adamsdown or near and have been bereaved - come along to this. Nic is a fabulous artist.

We're celebrating 50 years of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! Did you know takahē publishes short fiction & poetry in Te Reo Māori with English translation? You can also enter the Monica Taylor Poetry Prize with a poem in Te Reo with English translation. It closes at the end of this month, so kia tere!

Thanks for the Mars Bars.

There’s still time to sign up for today’s Personal Anthology, hitting inboxes at 2pm with a dozen favourite short stories picked and introduced by Leon Craig for your reading pleasure. Sign up here: apersonalanthology.substack.com/about

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. ~ Martha Graham

Hello lovely schools. If you are thinking ahead to World Book Day, I would LOVE to come visit your school and talk about spies, codes, history and pigeons (no, honest). Topics, rates etc can all be found at sarahtoddtaylor.com/author-visits/

It's September and the details are HERE: www.speculativeinsight.com/pitches-open . We want to hear your idea for an essay! Send us an email! ... and PLEASE pay close attention to the requirements, to make it easier for us to say yes...

‘The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds across Landscapes and Imagination’ by @michaelavieser.bsky.social & @ekostories.bsky.social, a wonderful book of 36 short essays on sound in place & imagination I commissioned for @reaktionbooks.bsky.social. Published this week.

3 weeks today at 7pm in @storyvillebooks.bsky.social, Ponty! I'm also really pleased to announce that I've donated 10% of the book total, £1325, to a Valleys charity. More details to follow! www.eventbrite.com/e/valleys-bo...

Holy crap this is exciting - my latest book now has a cover and in available for preorder! It breaks down how Cymru has been let down by successive governments both in London and Cardiff. But it also shows how the very system itself is setup for Wales to fail. 1/2

We are in Wales and to Mummy's surprise I spoke Welsh to a shopkeeper.

Picked your story yet? Just over 4 weeks to go. Closes, Midnight GMT 5 October 2025 Winners: Announced by 1 Nov Judge @kazbarwrites.bsky.social £1460 prize fund. 50 authors offered anthology publication, with all published authors getting a free print copy. Bathflashfictionaward.com/enter

Submissions close 12 September for the 2026 Eccles Institute & Hay Festival Global Writer’s Award, a £20,000 prize supporting writers in the creative stage of a new project. Apply now! www.hayfestival.com/eccles-insti...

Free online attendance at The Fantasy Summer School 2025, organised by the University of Oxford, and Bloomsbury Publishing, that brings together the expertise of scholars, publishers working with fantasy authors. Link here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oxford-blo... Please share :)

Thinking about starting your own podcast, but not sure where to begin? Hear it from someone who has done it: Crime Time FM Podcaster Paul Burke! Book a free ticket today, and come and join us at 5pm at @cardiff-hub.bsky.social on Thursday 25/09! 🔗 tinyurl.com/yrcxyc5e

Sounds like the start of a crime novel to me . . .

A reminder that our @badlilies.bsky.social submissions window closes this Sunday! If you’re thinking of submitting some beautiful blooms, you can find our submission FAQ here: www.badlilies.uk/submit

We loved hosting Rhys Warrington on his WIP writer's retreat at the Writers' Cabin in collaboration with @welshnattheatre.bsky.social Looking for some time and space to get into your next writing project? Book your next creative escape here: writewithin.wales/writers-cabin/

Oh hello Llandaff Cathedral! Fancy seeing you on a @pastpostcard.bsky.social aka one of my favourite Bluesky accounts.

📢 Writer in residence opportunity We are looking for a poet, writer, storyteller, spoken word artist, lyricist or playwright to play a central creative role in a unique new project, PAGE OF PLYMOUTH, funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Ladybird wisdom, 1976 “Life would cease without water. Seas and rivers MUST be kept clean” Artist: Pat Oakley (1976)

2026 NEW WRITERS AWARDS Applications for the 2026 New Writers Awards are currently open. The deadline for all applications is Wed 24 Sept 2025. The awards are free to apply to, all travel expenses are covered and awardees are chosen by a panel of judges. www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-...

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books

A reminder, halfway through the month, that our submissions window is open! Read our interview above to see what we're looking for... badlilies.uk/submit

I am teaching on this online short story course for Arvon in October - be great to see some of you there A few places are concession spots, available at a 30% discount for low-waged writers or those receiving certain benefits. Here's the link to the week: www.arvon.org/writing-cour...

Have you ever wanted to study the Gothic with me? At a British university but online so it's accessible to you anywhere? For a fraction of a usual university course cost? With delicious delicious library access? Come join me Liverpool uni starting October! www.liverpool.ac.uk/continuing-e...

Got an idea for a novel but not sure how to get started? Looking for a reset on a work in progress? Join me for the next run of my @faberacademy.bsky.social course KICKSTART YOUR NOVEL! 12 weeks online, super flexible to fit round life, bursaries available. faberacademy.com/product/kick...

Instead of watching the cup final some of us paid 20p out of our pocket money to see Cromwell at the Rivera Cinema. It was a very good film. Before King Charles was beheaded he seemed quite cheerful.

Ty Newydd, the fantastic writers' centre of Wales, are running a FREE fiction writing course in November for under-represented writers in Wales! Tutors Francesca Reece and Anthony Shapland. Applications close Sept 24. www.literaturewales.org/our-projects...

Here’s this month’s blog post of open submission calls for #SFF, #horror and #mystery writers! Featuring solar SF, nature-fueled magic, the SETI Institute and cliffhanging pulp fiction. timjmajor.com/2025/08/14/o... #AmWriting #WritingCommunity Please share!

When crossing Hafren, the River Severn, most people are struck by the impressive bridge which stretches across it. But what lies beneath? And what significance did this long river that stretches deep into Wales and England have for the people who crossed it long before any bridges were ever built?

Lecturer in Creative Writing (poetry) at Royal Holloway 💛 jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Famously, between the first and the second act of Waiting for Godot, the only difference in the stage set is that a previously bare tree ‘has four or five leaves’. So what’s the main note to self I found in this copy which seems to have belonged to a stage manager called Nigel...?

VALLEYS BOOK EVENT! THURSDAY 25TH OF SEPTEMBER, STORYVILLE BOOKS @storyvillebooks.bsky.social PONTYPRIDD, 7PM. PIZZA FROM ZUCCO! Writers/poets/designers! @dantyte.bsky.social, Rhian Elizabeth, @sionmun.bsky.social, Patrick Jones and @seanrees.bsky.social Come along and celebrate the Valleys!

Just found out about this brilliant UK charity. They place volunteers in schools to support children's reading. Check it out and sign up if you're interested. www.schoolreaders.org