I hope all is well with you and you’re managing to make progress with whatever writing you’re working on. I’ll not be teaching during August, so I’m planning to spend more time on my own writing as well as planning for various courses that are starting in September. Having said that, I’ll still be around if you have any questions or need further information about any of my events, so please get in touch if I can help with anything.
Ouseburn Festival Mini Memoir Writing at The Biscuit Factory: I’m happy to be part of this year’s Ouseburn Festival where I’ll be running a FREE drop-in workshop at The Biscuit Factory to introduce you to some fun and accessible ways to write about your own life and memories. Drop in at any time between 11am-12.30pm (or stay for the whole session, which will close at 1pm) on Sunday 5 July.
The next Gather Online Creative Writing Workshop is this Thursday 2 July between 6.30pm-8.30pm. This will be the last session before we return in September and there’s no theme: I’m just going to try to cram in as many prompts and exercises as possible so you’ve got lots of things to carry on with over the Summer! Tickets are £14 – email me to book (you can do this at the very last minute as I manage bookings myself).
If you’ve ever been in an old building and wondered about who’s been there before you, then my upcoming writing workshop at the historic Tyne Theatre in Newcastle might be of interest. It’s on Monday 6 July between 10.30am-12.30pm and tickets are £16 and you can book at Hidden Stories Creative Writing Workshop at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House
If you’d like to focus on short story writing this Autumn, I’m running a Write a Short Story in Five Weeks course at the Biscuit Factory on Thursday mornings between 10 September-8 October. This is a practical course which aims to get you writing and – crucially – finishing a complete short story. As with all my workshops and courses, you’ll get detailed handouts at every session with written instructions for all tasks and additional prompts and information to help you make progress afterwards – including on where and how to submit your finished story for publication. It costs £180 and you can book through the Biscuit Factory using the highlighted link above.
My next Time to Write workshop at Koru Pizza (Salters Road, Gosforth) is on Sunday 20 September between 10am-12pm (while the restaurant is shut to the public). Tickets are £20 - email me to book.
Submit stories of up to 1,000 words about Scotland’s wildlife and wild places within the theme of changing seasons to The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Words of the Wild Writing Competition. Free to enter. Deadline: 12 July.
Submissions are open for MudRoom Issue 22. Send 3-5 poems or up to 6,000 words of prose on any subject or theme. Submission fee: free. Deadline: 25 July.
The Poetry Tyne 2026 North Tyneside Libraries Poetry Competition is a free to enter poetry competition with the theme of Reading. Deadline: 31 July.
Entries are invited for the 2026 Ledbury Poetry Competition which will be judged by Andrew McMillan. The first prize is £1000 and a week’s poetry course with Arvon and all winners will be invited to perform their work at the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2027. Entry fee: £6 per poem. Deadline: 27 July.
Submit poems that explore the shadows of language to the International Dark Poets Prize: Edition V. Entry fees: £6 for one poem/£10 for three poems/£14 for five poems. Deadline: 31 July.
Submit flash fiction of between 100 and 300 words on any theme to the Free Flash Fiction Competition Thirty-Five. Entry fees: £4.95 per story via PayPal or Stripe/£3.50 per story via BACS. Deadline: 25 August. Or submit flash fiction of between 100-500 words for publication on the Free Flash Fiction Website at any time and without submission fees.
The Edinburgh Flash Fiction Award is open for stories of up to 250 words on any theme or subject. Prize winners and commended stories will be published in the Edinburgh Anthology. Entry fee: £10 per story (bursaries available). Deadline: 31 August.
The Ironclad Short Story Competition is open for stories of up to 6,000 words in response to the prompt word of harvest. Winning and shortlisted stories will be published in a themed anthology. Entry fee: £9.75. Deadline: 31 July.
Finally, a reminder that the Crossing the Tees Short Story Competition is open for short stories of up to 3,000 words on any subject or theme. All shortlisted stories will be published in the competition anthology. Entry fee: £5. Deadline: 31 July.
Happy writing!
Amanda
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