A WRITE HIGHLAND HOOLIE!

Mallaig Book Festival November 11th-13th 2022

Press Release

Calling All Poets!

THE DEIRDRE ROBERTS POETRY COMPETITION

An exciting new poetry competition has just been announced by A Write Highland Hoolie – the Mallaig Book Festival. Entries are invited from any poets over the age of 18 writing in English who live in the British Isles.

The competition is in memory of former Write Highland Hoolie committee member, Deirdre Roberts and is named in her honour.

The closing date for entries is July 1st 2022 at midnight. For an entry fee of £10 poets may submit up to three poems of 40 lines or less, that reflect VisitScotland’s designated Year of Stories for 2022. The rules, entry form and payment details can be found at:

www.a-write-highland-hoolie.com

It is thanks to two extremely generous sponsors that the competition has taken flight, and it is the intention to run this annually. The magnificent prize consists of The Mary Manson Trophy - a quaich engraved with the winner’s name; £250 cash; plus £250 in book tokens to be redeemed at The Highland Bookshop in Fort William or on their website. The Highland Bookshop are also donating a bottle of whisky. The winner will be invited to attend the prize giving in the West Highland Hotel on Sunday 13th November 2022 when the judge, eminent widely-published poet and Deputy Chair of StAnza – Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, Marjorie Lotfi will present the prize.

Director Polly Pullar said, ‘We are expecting lots of entries for this exciting new competition. It’s a wonderful prize and we feel privileged and grateful to have such generous sponsors.’

For further information contact: Polly Pullar pollypullar@yahoo.co.ukor Ann Martin ann.martin6@btopenworld.com

Poetry Competition

Submission Details & Rules

1. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 writing in English who lives in the British Isles.

2. Entry fee is £10 for up to three poems per person.

3. This year has been designated Scotland’s Year of Stories by VisitScotland and we would like entries to reflect this.

4. The poems should not exceed 40 lines, excluding title and line spacing.

5. Work submitted should be original and not have been previously published nor broadcast, nor have won a prize in another competition. The poems should not be under consideration for publication or prizes elsewhere.

6. The prize is The Mary Manson Trophy - a quaich engraved with the winner’s name, £250 cash, plus £250 to be spent in the Highland Bookshop, Fort William or on their website. The Highland Bookshop are also donating a bottle of whisky.

7.  Payment must accompany entries.

8. Entries close at midnight July 1st 2022 – no entries will be considered thereafter.

9. The judge’s decision is final. There will be no correspondence or discussion regarding this choice.

10. The winner will be announced on our website and social media on September 1st 2022.

11. The winner will be invited to the prize giving at A Write Highland Hoolie on Sunday 13th November 2022 in the West Highland Hotel, Mallaig.

12. By entering the competition, you agree to A Write Highland Hoolie sharing your work through digital and print medium. Winning entry will also be published in our community newspaper – West Word.

Our judge for 2022 is Marjorie Lotfi, whose writing has won numerous competitions, and been widely published. She has performed on BBC Radio 4, and is winner of the inaugural James Berry Prize. Her first full collection will be published by Bloodaxe Books in 2023. Refuge, poems about her childhood in revolutionary Iran, is published by Tapsalteerie Press. Marjorie is the Deputy Chair of StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, and the Co-Founder and Development Director of Open Book, a charity reading and writing in community settings across Scotland.