Get on air with Verb New Voices - call for poets!

Do you have something to say? Can you say it in verse – blank or free? Verb New Voices is looking for three talented artists (two between 18-30 and one of any age) from the north of England to create and perform a piece of new work for The Verb on Radio 3. The project – created by Arts Council England and supported by the BBC and organisations across the North, including New Writing North – aims to generate vibrant new writing that reflects something unique about Northern culture.

All you have to do to apply is write a statement of why you want to take part in the project, a professional biography and an outline of the piece you want to perform. Then record yourself – a mobile phone video uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo is fine – performing any piece of work (it doesn’t have to be the piece you want to develop).

Selected artists will receive a bursary of £2,500 and a package of in-kind support that includes professional development, working with voice coaches and a fully-funded place on an Arvon residential creative writing course. Deadline for entries: Friday 13th December 2013. 

To find out more or to enter, click here.

Literature Wales Writers' Bursaries 2014

Literature Wales Writers' Bursaries 2014

Application forms for the 2014 Literature Wales Bursaries are available to new and published writers. Bursaries are awarded to support writers creating new work in the following genres: novels, short stories, graphic novels, poetry, children’s literature, teenage fiction, literary criticism, biography/autobiography and factual prose of literary merit.

Bursaries are available for writers with disabilities in need of specialist equipment and assistance. Buying Time Bursaries are also available, and the Miscellaneous Fund can offer small-scale support to help cover the travel or research costs of specific writing projects.

Applicants must be resident in Wales at the time of application and throughout the period of the bursary.

Closing date for applications: Friday 25th October 2013

The guidelines and application forms for the 2014 Literature Wales Writers’ Bursaries
are available to download from the Literature Wales website, or contact Literature Wales: post@literaturewales.org / 029 2047 2266

Northern Writers’ Awards open for submissions across the north of England

£40,000 up for grabs as search begins for literature’s leading northern lights

Whether you’re an author of crime fiction, a children’s novelist or short story writer, whether your passion is poetry or prose, New Writing North want to see your submissions. New and established writers alike are being encouraged to enter for the awards, which are now open to wordsmiths from all over the north of England – from Carlisle to Castleford, Leeds to Liverpool and Humberside to Tyneside.

Originally aimed at writers living in the North East, the annual awards scheme has now been expanded to include entrants from the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, while the prize fund has increased dramatically, thanks largely to a new partnership with Northumbria University.

The awards have different categories for new and established writers, and for prose and poetry. Prizes include bursaries for writing courses, professional critiques on your work in development, cash prizes to help you buy time to write, and even an international residency in Newcastle, Australia, with an exchange with the Hunter Writers’ Centre.

You have until 5pm on Thursday 31st January to enter, and you can get all the information and apply at www.northernwritersawards.com.