NEXT THEME DEADLINE: Sunday 6th July for WOMEN & GIRLS - Austen Anniversary Edition!
2025 is Jane Austen's 250th birthday, & our 9th annual Women & Girls event is celebrating! Because just 1/3 of our general submissions are from women writers, we run an annual Women & Girls theme - & this year we want submissions from female authors, featuring female protagonists, inspired by Austen's works, characters, setting, themes, plots, or her own life & world.
Stories can be in any genre or style, so let your imagination run wild! We welcome traditional takes on 1800s romance of course - but also think Pride & Prejudice in space, a 2020s Emma Woodhouse on TikTok, horror, fantasy, humour, contemporary, Mansfield Park in the Wild West, etc.
As ever, we're looking for unpublished short fiction of
800-2000 words, & will consider flash fiction, short stories & even novel extracts (so long as they stand alone). See guidelines
here, then send to
[email protected]. Winners' stories will be read live by a professional actor at our August event, recorded for YouTube & podcast & we even buy you drinks (or dinner) on the night!
Nobody loves you when you're DOWN & OUT - except Liars' League and our talented troupe of actors, who get their kicks from reading the hell out of brand new fiction ... On Tuesday 10th June The Phoenix's bustling basement bar saw tales of subway blackouts, boxing knockouts, teacher burnouts, Victorian gamblers on the skids & downright doppelgangers. Read all the stories here, watch the YouTube video playlist or listen to the podcast.
WINNING STORIES
"The Replacement" by Neil James NEW AUTHOR, read by Oliver Yellop
"War with Troy: Year 9, Period 4, Friday" by Brian Kelly, read by Matthew McAloone
"Power Restored" by John Istel, read by Dan Starkey
"The Other Holly Williams" by Hannah Noyce, read by Kim Scopes
"The Golden Hell" by Maria Kyle, read by Rose Biggin
In addition to these five fantastic stories we'll also be hosting our usual literary quiz, with free books to win, PLUS there's free sweets for all! Tickets are just £5: we do accept card payments on the door, but it's well worth buying your tickets in advance to ensure you get a table.
BUYING TICKETS: sadly our Donate button is currently broken, but if you have Paypal you can pay for tickets directly by sending the appropriate amount (£5 for 1 ticket, £10 for 2 etc.) to [email protected] (if you use Friends & Family we get to keep the 50p Paypal takes on small transfers, but it's totally up to you). If you don't have Paypal just email the same address above to reserve your tickets, & you can pay on the door :)
DOWN & OUT
POV: in the gutter, but looking at the stars
TUESDAY 10th JUNE
Tickets £5: 6.30pm doors, 7.30pm show
Downstairs at The Phoenix
37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP
(nearest tube Oxford Circus)
Liars' League
Writers write. Actors read. Audience listens. Everybody wins.
SHORTLISTED & LONGLISTED STORIES
We had many excellent stories submitted for this theme, & we're only sorry we can't read more of them! However, we will be reconsidering some of the submissions for other themes later in the year: click below to see which. Authors of shortlisted stories ONLY may also email
[email protected] for brief feedback on their work.
SHORTLIST
All five stories below will be reconsidered for our Haunted & Hunted theme in October
"Puppetmaster" by Sarah Chin
"The Vauxhall Vagabond" by Alex Edwards
"Historical Pub Tour" by David McGrath
"A Foot of Earth" by Joseph Surtees
"Abalone" by Pat Black
LONGLIST
"The Biology of Courage" by Ronnie Cassano
"Uncle Hubert the Bad Influence" by David Klotzkin
"Fallen Angel" by Ken Towl (RECONSIDERING for Blessed & Cursed in December)
"Counterchange" by Lois McKay (RECONSIDERING for Blessed & Cursed in December)
"Fiat Justitia" by K. Lewis
"One Thousand Pieces of Silver" by M. Pengelly
"Stung" by Stephen Baily
"Oh the Worry" by Mark Baillie
"The Guy" by Dom Chadwick
"A Minor Legend" by Mark Blickley
No feedback is available for longlisted stories, but please be encouraged to submit again! Speaking of which ...
HEY WRITER! WHY NOT SUBMIT TO OUR OTHER 2025 THEMES?
Fire up the laptop, crack out the notebook, scroll through your 3am story ideas & submit, because ALL our 2025 themes are open RIGHT NOW! From our Women & Girls Jane Austen special to Halloween's Haunted & Hunted, check them out below:
AUGUST - WOMEN & GIRLS: Austen Anniversary Edition!
2025 is Jane Austen's 250th birthday, & our 9th annual festival of female-led & female-authored fiction is here to celebrate it! Send us your fiction inspired by any of Austen's titles, characters, settings or novels, or even by her own life & world. As ever, we're looking for unpublished short fiction of
800-2000 words, & will consider flash fiction, short stories & even novel extracts (so long as they can stand alone). Please see full guidelines
here, then send to
[email protected]
DEADLINE: Sunday 6th July
OCTOBER - HAUNTED & HUNTED
Spooky season is here, so it's time for tales of ghosts, hunters & ghost-hunters, stalkers & predators, premonitions & curses, sinister treasure-hunts & haunted houses - take the theme & go on the run with it! As ever, we're looking for unpublished short fiction of
800-2000 words, & will consider flash fiction, short stories & even novel extracts (so long as they can stand alone). Please see full guidelines
here, then send to
[email protected]
DEADLINE: Sunday 7th September
DECEMBER - BLESSED & CURSED
Seasonal blessings or Christmas curses (or both!) - take your pick & submit your story to our festive winter special. As ever, we're looking for unpublished short fiction of
800-2000 words, & will consider flash fiction, short stories & even novel extracts (so long as they can stand alone). Please see full guidelines
here, then send to
[email protected]
DEADLINE: Sunday 2nd November
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