What a year 2016 has been. Enough has been written about the negatives (for the world in general, as well as the literary world) so instead I will focus on the positives. Please do feel free to add your own literary heroes/heroines in the comments below. And here’s to 2017!
I am very, very happy to be able to announce the results of the 2015 Mother’s Milk Books Writing Prize, which had as its theme ‘Love’ (in a family context). As there was an increase in the number of submissions compared with the first two years of the competition, with the quality of submissions as high as ever, the judges found it challenging (albeit in a good way) to make their choices. Keen-eyed readers will notice that this year, as well as the winning and commended pieces, as chosen by the poetry judge, Sarah James and the prose judge, Zion Lights, there is a ‘Publisher’s Choice’ as well. These were chosen by myself from the judges’ shortlist. Basically, these were pieces that I couldn’t bear to not publish in the anthology so I’ve treated myself to these “bonus” pieces.
It’s been an age since we’ve had a new post so I will do my best to do a succinct round-up of our 2015 highlights.
I was recently tagged by the talented and lovely Georgie St Clair over at Visual Toast with the question “If you could have just one room what would be in it?”. This was the prompt put forth by Jocelyn from The Reading Residence and it somehow made its roundabout way to me.
I’m so pleased to be able to share another excerpt from Musings on Mothering. Many thanks to Rachel O’Leary and Rosie Evans for giving me permission to share their contributions over at Story of Mum.I’ve always thought Rachel’s piece ‘High Heels and Lipstick’ powerful and thought-provoking. Do women compete a lot? Do we make too many assumptions about how we’re coping with the challenges of motherhood compared with other mothers?If you’re not aware of Rachel’s piece already, do take a moment to read it… the picture she conjures of a mother ‘drowning in isolation’ is so, so vivid.Feel free to share away. Thank you.
