Lockdown has tended to throw up either winners or losers of us all. While many in the Circle will have had a positive experience, suddenly granted more space in their lives to be able to write, there are others who will have had a much less fortunate time. As a summer of publishing success is recorded here, let’s not forget those for whom this time has not fostered such creativity. Let’s hope we can soon get together to encourage each other face to face. Although the regular online Zoom meetings have been successful to a degree, we are so very much about that physical circle of people, writers of every level of ability and aspiration, all wanting to learn from each other. 

The hot news is that Graeme Hall’s first short story collection, The Goddess of Macau, has just been published by Fly on the Wall Press. An online launch event was held on August 21st, including readings of a couple of stories and a slide show introducing a little history of Macau. Lots of Circle members were in attendance, unable to clink glasses with Graeme but at least able to wave big hands of congratulations. Some of the stories in the collection were first heard at Circle meetings.

The other hot bit of news is that Gill Osborne is to have her first novel,  In A Flurry Of Feathers, published by Blossom Spring. No firm publication date yet but it’s coming soon. Huge congratulations to Gill for this well-deserved success. She’s already hard at work on the next one.

Congratulations also to Sandy Hogarth whose novel, Because of You I Am, is now published on Kindle.

Sunyi Dean has been successful in finding a home for two of her short stories with the literary print journal, Prole. It would be well worth taking out a subscription to read This Song Is Dedicated To the End of the World and  The Long, Slow Courtship of Mr. Death and Famishista. The titles alone are testament to the quality of her imagination! 

She also has a poem published in Ink, Sweat and Tears. Here is Dust.

There’s been no stopping Pat Belford, as usual. Her story, I’m Listening, has recently been published in a People’s Friend Special and she’s had her story, Up in Smoke, appear in the People’s Friend Annual 2021.

Members continue to be successful in having stories broadcast on Radio Leeds. In addition to the seven stories mentioned in the last post, we can now add five more to make a round dozen in total.

• ‘The Buskers’ by Stephanie Thornton
• ‘Stepping out of Line’ by Roz Kendall
• ‘Delivering the Goods’ by Joanna Bucktrout
• ‘Surprise’ by Pat Pickavance
• ‘The Harvest’ by Ann Clarke

You can hear them all on the Radio Leeds website here. 

Emma Storr continues to receive recognition for her poetry. She has had poems published in two recent anthologies. The first was chosen for These Are The Hands from Fair Acre Press, an NHS Poetry Anthology about the NHS and for the NHS, all profits going to the NHS Covid-19 Emergency Fund. The second was selected for When All This is Over from Calder Valley Poetry. Continuing the lockdown theme, inspired by her eldest son’s acquisition of a Doberman puppy, Emma had A Cautionary Story published by the Poetry and Covid Project. Finally, Emma had a review of Patrick Lodge’s Remarkable Occurrences published in The London Grip.

Matt Hardwyck has surprised himself with having a poem published, again with the Poetry and Covid Project. Here is The Invisible Vampyre.

John Biglands has had two pieces of flash fiction published in Havok and Everyday Fiction.

Stephanie Thornton has had a number of short stories published as part of the Spilt Ink collective in Layers of Life (Looking at Layers Book 1),  available on Kindle here.

Finally, Adelle Kirk was selected as a finalist for the DHA Open Day.