The new year has got off to a hot start with the wonderful news that Andrew Lambeth’s poem Why the swan has just been selected as Guardian Poem of the Week. It’s a huge accolade. Please follow the link to read the poem, along with some hefty analysis. Huge congratulations to Andrew.

Monday, Jan 14th saw the adjudication for our own short story competition, judged by novelist, short story writer and creative writing tutor, Martyn Bedford. Described by the New York Times as “the genuine article, a writer of unmistakable flair and accomplishment”, we felt lucky to have him and he delivered a thoroughly engaging evening of feedback on the submitted stories. Martyn had praise for the high quality of writing across the entire entry for the competition and gave the impression of having thoroughly enjoyed the process of reading them all. Full details of the winners can be seen on the Competitions Page.