New website literary consultancy

Maggie McKernan, a leading editor-turned-literary-agent, has launched a new website consultancy, www.writing-room.co.uk, which offers aspiring writers the answer to the perennial question: how do I get publishers and agents to pay attention in today’s highly competitive market?

Short story competition and residency

The Ruth Rendell Short Story Competition is run by InterAct Reading Service, a registered charity that uses professional actors to provide a live and interactive reading service in hospitals and stroke clubs (www.interactreading.org). 

The Harry Bowling Prize

The prize is for an unpublished novel - entrants may be established writers but must not have published a novel for adults. The first prize is £1,000 and there is an entry fee of £10.

Literature training

The literaturetraining website contains information for writers and those involved in creating or supporting new writing and literature in the UK.

Bleak House - For Sale

The finest residence with the most inspriring views...

Bleak House commands one of the most prominent positions in Broadstairs - high up on the cliffs on the coast of Kent stands this Mansion House, known far and wide as the once seaside residence of the great novelist, Charles Dickens.

The Word Cloud - a free social networking site for writers

The Word Cloud is a free social networking site where writers can read each other's work, offer comments and get feedback. It’s also a place where you can discuss books, scripts and writing with like-minded souls, enter regular competitions, and much more.

Aurora Metro - The Virginia Prize for Fiction

To celebrate 20 years of success as a small independent publishing house based in Richmond-upon-Thames, Aurora Metro has launched a new competition to encourage and promote new writing by women.

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Each year the Trust aims to award 100 Travelling Fellowships to British citizens. Each Fellow receives a grant to cover return and internal travel, daily living and travel insurance within the countries visited.

Work In Progress - A Critical Reading Scheme For Scotland's Writers

HI~Arts is delighted to announce that its highly successful critical assessment scheme for writers - Work In Progress - is now open to writers across Scotland!

Turn2us - helping those in financial need

Turn2us, is an independent charity that helps people access the money available to them – through welfare benefits, grants and other help. Their free, accessible website is a comprehensive and invaluable resource that helps you find sources of financial support, quickly and easily, based on your particular needs and circumstances. In some cases, you can make online enquiries to grant-giving charities listed on the site.

To find out about the money that may be available through welfare benefits and charitable grants, visit www.turn2us.org.uk.

The Professional Writing Research Portal

Whatever field you’re working in as a writer, you need to know how to research effectively.

The Professional Writing Research Portal provides you with links to the best writing-related research sites on the Web, with short descriptions of what they offer. There’s also a section on research skills where you can access expert advice on different types of research, both online and offline. You can search the site by clicking on the search button at the top of each page.

Free Intellectual Property Events

Own-it: a free intellectual property resource.  Own-it organises regular events and workshops covering Intellectual Property issues for creative people. The majority of the events are free, however you must register with Own-it in order to make a booking.

Meet the Author

Meet the Author works with leading publishing companies, authors and their agents, filming short video clips of authors introducing their books.  There are over 1,200 clips at the moment and more are filmed every day.

Each clip costs £400 plus VAT (plus travelling expenses if filmed outside Greater London). The cost includes filming, production, editing, formatting and web-streaming plus formatted clips for the publisher’s or author's own use.

Online database of UK Literary Festivals

The British Council has an online, searchable database containing a comprehensive guide to Literary Festivals (and general Arts Festivals with a literary content) happening around the UK.

Scottish Memories seeks contributors

Scottish Memories, the monthly magazine of stories, history and nostalgia, is looking for new contributors. The publishers would like to hear from anyone who can write about unique and fascinating aspects of Scotland’s history, in any period, from the dark ages through to the twentieth century, though nostalgia from the 1930s onwards is of particular interest.

CBN CandleBook News

CBN CandleBook News is a bilingual (English/Spanish), independent, online, cultural publication and an online bookshop based in Spain.

Call for University of the Third Age workshop leader - Cambridge

Members of the U3A Cambridge are looking for a member of The Society of Authors, preferably retired, who would be interested in running writer's workshops.

Notes From the Underground - call for submissions.

We accept submissions of all sorts, from 1800-2000 word feature stories to novels in a sentence or a paragraph, comedy poems and sketches, and non-fiction features on books, film, theatre and art.

CompletelyNovel.com - an online community for Booklovers

CompletelyNovel.com is an online community for everyone who loves books. It is free, fun, and for the first time links everyone in the book industry together.

Mentoring scheme for fiction writers

Gold Dust is a mentoring scheme for fiction writers, founded by novelist Jill Dawson in response to frequent requests from writing students for more individual support. The scheme operates from London, Cambridgeshire, Manchester and Oxford.

For more information, visit www.gold-dust.org.uk