Liars' League

Heads & Tails Competition Winner: Mustard Moon by Sarah Evans

After a truly hard-fought contest and some great performances of our three finalists, MUSTARD MOON by Sarah Evans was announced as the first prize winner on the night of the Heads & Tails event, Tuesday 11th July. Here's actor Rich Keeble reading the hell out of her wonderful story.

(P.S. Keep watching to see our two superb (and very different!) runners-up, DAY OF SKULLS by Simon Sylvester, read by Gabriel Moreno, and The Special Circumstances of Mr Oakeshott by Paul Currion, read by Gloria Sanders.

Thanks again to all our talented actors and authors, and to everyone who entered the competition. We really enjoyed reading your work. 

Heads & Tails on Tuesday July 11th: Top Three Stories Announced!

*drum roll please* 

Our judges have deliberated, cogitated and digested, and would like to offer their hearty congratulations to the authors of the top three stories named (in no particular order) below!

 

The winning story will be revealed at the competition event on Tuesday 11th July, starting at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm), when it will be read alongside the two runners-up by our marvellous actors. Who will triumph? Will it be spectating skulls, wandering words, or OAPs with antlers? You'll have to come along to find out ... Click here for the Facebook event and further details.

 

HEADS & TAILS COMPETITION: TOP THREE STORIES

 

Day of Skulls by Simon Sylvester

Mustard Moon by Sarah Evans

The Special Circumstances of Mr Oakeshott by Paul Currion

 

The night will also feature an interview with the winning author(s) by Rupert Dastur of our competition partners Theshortstory.co.uk, plus our usual book quiz and loads of Jelly Babies. Tickets cost £5 on the door (cash only, no advance booking) and seating is unreserved - so it's a good idea to get there a bit ahead of time if you want a good table. Accessibility note: access to the basement bar is via stairs - there's no lift, alas. 

The venue is downstairs at:
The Phoenix
37 Cavendish Square 
London 
W1G 0PP

(The Phoenix is five minutes' walk from Oxford Circus tube station, which is on the Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines). Map here.

P.S. Because they were so good, we've decided to award the shortlisted authors of the three stories below consolatory prizes of free entry to the event, plus a Liars' League anthology of their choice: we hope to see them - and you - on Tuesday 11th!

SHORTLISTED STORIES

Fillet by Liz Wride

Heads by Jason Jackson

Monsieur de Paris by Matt Lovett

Heads & Tails July competition: shortlist announced!

We're delighted to announce the shortlist for our Heads & Tails competition. Congratulations to all the authors listed below! Check back next Monday July 3rd, when the top three stories will be announced.

HEADS & TAILS COMPETITION: SHORTLIST

 

Day of Skulls by Simon Sylvester

Fillet by Liz Wride

Heads by Jason Jackson

Monsieur de Paris by Matt Lovett

Mustard Moon by Sarah Evans

The Special Circumstances of Mr Oakeshott by Paul Currion

 

The winning story will be revealed at the competition event on Tuesday 11th July, at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm) when it will be read alongside the two runners-up by our marvellous actors. Click here for the Facebook event and further details. Tickets cost £5 on the door (cash only, no advance booking) and seating is unreserved - so it's a good idea to get there a bit ahead of time if you want a good table. Accessibility note: access to the basement bar is via stairs - there's no lift, alas. 

The venue is downstairs at:
The Phoenix
37 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PP

(The Phoenix is five minutes' walk from Oxford Circus tube station, which is on the Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines). Map here

Heads & Tails July competition: Longlist announced!

We're delighted to announce that the quality and number of the submissions to our short story competition have obliged us to come up with a longlist before we can whittle them down to a shortlist ... so hearty congratulations to the authors of the stories listed below (in no particular order).

Check back on Monday 26th June to find out which stories have made the shortlist, and the three top stories will be announced on Monday July 3rd!

HEADS & TAILS COMPETITION: LONGLIST

 

Day of Skulls by Simon Sylvester

Fillet by Liz Wride

A New Purana by Victoria Bird

Heads & Tales by Ben Hopwood

After the Talk by Peter Higgins

M by Jacqueline Downs

The Box Trick by Joanne L. M. Williams

Top End Bottom End by Magnus Nelson

Heads by Jason Jackson

Monsieur de Paris by Matt Lovett

Mustard Moon by Sarah Evans

The Last Roman by Tom Heaton

The Special Circumstances of Mr Oakeshott by Paul Currion

One Head, Many Tales by Fiona Salter

Once Upon a Hairy Tail by Juno Baker 

 

The winning story and two runners-up will be read at the competition event. The Heads & Tails readings (click here for Facebook event) will begin at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm) on Tuesday 11th July. Tickets cost £5 on the door (cash only, no advance booking) and seating is unreserved - so it's a good idea to get there a bit ahead of time if you want a good table. Accessibility note: access to the basement bar is via stairs - there's no lift, alas. 

The venue is downstairs at:
The Phoenix
37 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PP

(The Phoenix is five minutes' walk from Oxford Circus tube station, which is on the Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines). Map here

Submit to our HEADS & TAILS Short Story Competition - FREE ENTRY - £100 First Prize - Deadline SUNDAY 11th JUNE

 

FREE TO ENTER COMPETITION in partnership with TSS Publishing:

DEADLINE: Sunday June 11th. The winner announcement and prize reading event will take place on Tuesday July 11th at our usual venue of  The Phoenix, Cavendish Square, London.

HEADS & TAILS is our competition theme ... so what are we looking for? First and foremost, fantastic storytelling. Secondly, stories which are relevant to the theme. What do we mean by this? Well, you could write about heads of state, egghead intellectuals, brains in jars or animal tails; tailspins and tail-chasers; coin tosses, games of chance and literal or metaphorical snakes-and-ladders. Creative interpretations of heads and/or tails are welcome!

Liars’ League & TSS Publishing Short Story Competition: brief details

Liars’ League and TSS Publishing are combining forces for a themed short story competition and literary evening on Tuesday 11^th July 2017.

Entry is free.

1st prize: £100.

2^nd & 3^rd: Read by LL actors & published on www.TheShortStory.co.uk. Free entry for author and a guest, plus free drinks (author only!)

Three winners will be read on a special Liars’ League evening on Tuesday July 11th, followed by a Q&A discussion with one or more of the winning authors.

Videos and a podcast of the winning stories will be published on the Liars’ League website and the stories will be features on TSS Publishing.

Judges: Katy Darby and Liam Hogan of Liars' League, and Rupert Dastur of TSS Publishing (The Short Story.co.uk)

National Gallery Story Competition: WINNERS for 22nd July event!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of The National Gallery’s celebrated Friday Lates, we ran our first ever short story competition for unpublished short stories of 1000-2000 words inspired by paintings or galleries - and boy were we impressed by the response! We had 88 submissions, and after much wrangling and debate, chose the five winners listed below. Heartfelt congratulations to these successful authors, and thanks to everyone who entered - the standard was extremely high and many of the stories really excellent. 

The five winning stories will be read live by our professional actors in the elegant Room 61 of the National Gallery on the evening of their summertime Friday Late, which is themed around Inspiration. The event will take place from 6 to 9pm on Friday 22^nd July 2016. It's FREE and we encourage you to come along, admire the artwork, and of course listen to the stories! The winners will be published online after the event as text, podcast and HD video.

NATIONAL GALLERY COMPETITION: WINNING STORIES

(and performance times on 22 July)

6.15pm - Authenticity and the Madonna by Ingrid Jendrzejewski, read by Sarah Feathers

inspired by Madonna with the Iris, workshop of Albrecht Durer

 

6.45pm - Stilleven by Gregory Jackson, read by David Mildon

inspired by Still Life with Pewter Vessels and Crab by Willem Claeszoon Heda

 

7.15pm - The Lost Species by Jenny Ramsay, read by Miranda Harrison

inspired by Surprised! by Henri Rousseau

 

7.45pm - Desperately Seeking Hephaestion by Elizabeth Hopkinson, read by Nicholas Delvalle

inspired by The Family of Darius before Alexander by Paolo Veronese

 

8.15pm - The Ugly Duchess by Fiona Salter, read by Claire Lacey

inspired by An Old Woman (The Ugly Duchess) by Quinten Massys

We were so impressed by the standard of work that we would also like to congratulate those who made the shortlist below, some of which we have singled out as Highly Commended (and some more of which we would love to consider for future events ... we'll email authors individually.)

NATIONAL GALLERY COMPETITION: SHORTLIST

Man on a Ladder by Caroline Greene *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Olive at the Gallery by Sadie Nott *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Pruinescence by Claire Lawrence *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
Sid & Henry James by Jeremy Galgut *HIGHLY COMMENDED*
They Were the Only Ones Dancing by Emily Bullock *HIGHLY COMMENDED*

Michaela, No Saint, Triumphs over the Devil by Barney Walsh
Repetitions by Arike Oke
The Beginning of Wisdom by Raymond Walker
The Last Man on Earth by Anstey Spraggan
The Morning Walk by Emily Longmore

Bonus fun facts:

- The two most popular paintings on which to base a story were Turner's The Fighting Temeraire and Gainsborough's Mr & Mrs Andrews, both of which had three stories written about them. 

 

- The next most inspiring artworks, prompting two stories each, were van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, Degas's Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, Matisse's Portrait of Greta Moll, Rousseau's Surprised! and Renoir's At the Theatre (La Premiere Sortie).

 

Curious? Click the titles to check out the paintings ... and come along to the National Gallery on Friday 22nd July to check out the winning stories!

 

NEXT EVENT: NATIONAL GALLERY 'INSPIRATION' LATE

Friday 22nd July, 6-9pm, FREE

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, 

London WC2N 5DN

What works for Liars’ League?

Liar's League regular Niall Boyce offers his perspectives as a writer to others considering writing for the League

Your story could be reviewed by literary agents Janklow & Nesbit

Exciting developments are afoot at Liars' League! We are now working in association with prestigious literary agency Janklow & Nesbit, who represent such luminaries as Jasper Fforde and Sean Connery. 

They have kindly agreed to read the winning stories chosen each month with a view to talent-spotting the best and brightest of new writers (that's you). So if you want to be in with a chance of having your story read, not only by a highly talented actor, but by a top literary agency looking for new clients, keep submitting your very best work to us. For info on how to submit see So you want to submit a story, eh?

Decongested seeks heirs to the story throne ...

Our good pals and fellow live literature promoters over at Tales of the Decongested are retiring - oh noes! But if you fancy taking up the reins and stepping in to event-manage one of London's longest-established short story nights, read on ... it's a great opportunity if fiction is your thing, so email them if you're interested.

THEY SAY:

"Dear Short Story Lovers,

after five fabulous years of Tales of the DeCongested, Paul and Rebekah feel the time has come for new faces, fresh energy and ideas to take the event forward. We are seeking a team of two or more people interested in taking over the event.

If you think you might be interested in running this high profile event at a leading independent bookshop, please email us at [email protected]. Think of it as a proposal, of a rather informal variety. We'd especially like to hear what new ideas you have, what you like about the existing event, and what you think you might change.

We'll give careful consideration and respond to all and any proposals. In due course, we'd also like to meet our potential successors. After five years you tend to get a bit possessive. We'd like to be sure we're passing the baby on to the very best of new parents!

Rebekah and Paul"

Call for submissions: Staple magazine

Ashley Stokes is a contributing editor for Staple magazine:

http://www.staplemagazine.wordpress.com

He's looking for short fiction (with an optional theme of the links between writing and the visual arts) up to 3000 words. provosional deadline mid-December. Enclose an SAE of sufficient size and postage for return of submissions. If submitting from outside the UK you should include two IRCs. Please allow up to eight weeks for a response.

Submissions should be sent to: Ashley Stokes, 76 Caernarvon Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 3HX.

Call for submissions from .Cent magazine

.Cent magazine strives to support the written word. Last issue we saw a number of new writers' work published in the magazine by introducing each of our chapters with a piece of creative writing. If you would like to be part of the next issue, please find the details below.

Our next edition is titled the 'Spaces In Between' issue, guest-edited by greyworld. For more information on this edition please see the website. Our chapter titles for creative writing submissions are as follows:

• Inside Out, Back to Front, Upside Down and On the Spot

• In Rehearsal

• Between Sleeping and Waking

• Cinch and Ease Unexpected Faces, Unusual Places

• Trouble, Mischief, Rebellion

The brief is as follows:

• A strict maximum word count of 350.

• First draft deadline Monday 15th December.

• We will be seeking a mixture of forms: prose/ poetry/ script.

• You may submit work for as many titles as you wish.

• Submissions and printed work are on an unpaid basis.

• You may feel free to interpret the title however you wish, although please - bear in mind that we will chose the piece that best encapsulates and introduces the chapter theme.

• .Cent reserves the right to make the final decision.

The best submission for each chapter title will be printed in the issue. Submissions which do not make the magazine may still be published on our website, which is now up ( www.greyworld.org although still in transition). Please include the credit you wish to be published should your work be selected. We would like to support your work so feel free to include website details or alternative projects that are suitable to print. Should your work be published we will gladly send you a hard copy, please make sure you include your name, address and phone number.

If your work is not selected for this issue, we can gladly keep you on file for creative writing submissions to future issues. Please let me know if this is of interest to you. We look forward to receiving your work.

Please feel free to contact Natalie Evans-Harding at [email protected] with any questions you may have.

Call for submissions to .Cent magazine

.Cent magazine strives to support the written word. Last issue we saw a number of new writers' work published in the magazine by introducing each of our chapters with a piece of creative writing. If you would like to be part of the next issue, please find the details below.

Our next edition is titled the 'Spaces In Between' issue, guest-edited by greyworld. For more information on this edition please see the website. Our chapter titles for creative writing submissions are as follows:

• Inside Out, Back to Front, Upside Down and On the Spot

• In Rehearsal

• Between Sleeping and Waking

• Cinch and Ease Unexpected Faces, Unusual Places

• Trouble, Mischief, Rebellion

The brief is as follows:

• A strict maximum word count of 350.

• First draft deadline Monday 15th December.

• We will be seeking a mixture of forms: prose/ poetry/ script.

• You may submit work for as many titles as you wish.

• Submissions and printed work are on an unpaid basis.

• You may feel free to interpret the title however you wish, although please - bear in mind that we will chose the piece that best encapsulates and introduces the chapter theme.

• .Cent reserves the right to make the final decision.

The best submission for each chapter title will be printed in the issue. Submissions which do not make the magazine may still be published on our website, which is now up (

www.greyworld.org

although still in transition). Please include the credit you wish to be published should your work be selected. We would like to support your work so feel free to include website details or alternative projects that are suitable to print. Should your work be published we will gladly send you a hard copy, please make sure you include your name, address and phone number.

If your work is not selected for this issue, we can gladly keep you on file for creative writing submissions to future issues. Please let me know if this is of interest to you. We look forward to receiving your work.

Please feel free to contact Natalie Evans-Harding at [email protected] with any questions you may have.

Call for submissions from Orbis Magazine (poems and prose)

A post for all our multi-talented writers who work in poetry as well as fiction ... please note the tight deadline!

"First-class poems and prose wanted for Orbis 145, Special Issue on the theme of Culture, or Liverpool, or from poets with some link to the City, eg, used to play in a band there when I was in Uni - but not if your neighbour used to live near somebody who used to know somebody who said their sister’s friend may have gone out with Ringo

Deadline: Tuesday September 30

UK Submission Guidelines

4 poems by post with SAE (C5 preferred);
2 pieces of prose, maximum 1000 words (extracts can also be considered);
please state word count
Article suggestions also welcome

Overseas Submission Guidelines

2 poems or 1 piece of prose by email; no attachments
Please include address in email

NB, it’s not a competition but please heed above; saves time and effort all round; around 50% of entries to contests are immediately disqualified for not following the rules.

Full guidelines for submissions to Orbis at www.kudoswriting.wordpress.com

Orbis Group on www.poetrymagazines.org.uk