Orbis 210, Winter 2024

Front Cover Artwork: ‘Bauble‘ by Tiffany Budd;

https://tiffanybudd.bigcartel.com/?mc_cid=1522bbc8b0&mc_eid=20aa911181

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Orbis 200: What a beautiful looking edition ! Must get this. 
Congratulations on the magazine’s longevity and high standards

  (Anna Saunders, Director at Cheltenham Poetry Festival)

Orbis 200: ‘All the best to you, and to Orbis!’
(Glyn Maxwell; shortlisted for Best Collection in the Forward Prize)


‘Best wishes for the journal – and congratulations
on such a successful magazine over the years’
(Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate)

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Jingle Bells…or jingle tills, a those of you with a more cynical mindset
may immediately think; Speaking of which, who doesn’t agree with
Faye Boland: Nobody Wants to Die, and end up In ‘The Ferryman’s Arms’
(Doreen Hinchliffe); Tim Love reminding us that
After great pain, a formal fee.
Moving swiftly on, it is also the time of year for The Family Reunion,
tho Pat Farrington’s version is a bit unusual. But why not treat yourself:
Mrs Hitchcock Gets Her Hair Done,Juliet Humphreys tells us.
And Xmas can be mystical…
let Khadija Rouf tell you a tale about a Mermaid, or harken to
Frances Sackett’s Song of a Rug and The Music In The Attic,
which David Mark Williams describes.
And if you’re curious about what Nigel Kent means by Libre,
or with Brian Daldorph, what happens Afterwards,
you can always enjoy plenty of excellent poems,
look no further than this issue of Orbis

Featured Writer

Single issue: £6.00 (Overseas: £12/€14/$16); Subs: £20/4 pa (Overseas: £45/€50/$60)

Associate Editor (Book Reviews): Maria Isakova-Bennett

Reviews by: Philip Dunkerley, Jenny Hockey, D.A.Prince,
Theresa Sowerby, Pam Thompson

Please note with new collections, press release in first instance
to the Book Reviews Editor – not review copies.

Featured Writer: Richard Williams

First Born; Dualling;

This ambition has been moved;
Strategy Meeting;

Dick Waving in the Czech Republic

Poets include Owen Bullock; Anna Akhmatova Caught In A Bob Dylan Song;
Rosie Hadden,The Fairmer’s Horse;
Juliet Humphreys, Mrs Hitchcock Gets Her Hair Done;
Garth Luetkemeier, Earthquake; Martine Padwell, If you were a hat,
Neil Rathmell, I had been dead for some time;
Kathryn Takara, My Ghanaian Name

Prose from Jenny King, Parshrink;
Charles Osborne, Red Balloon Girl; Lorna Sherry, Dada

Translation: Belinda Cooke, Ночь by Marina Tsvetaeva

Past Master: Jocelyne Thebault on Guillaume Apollinaire

Orbis 209 Contributors also include
Dan Boland ; Maggie Butt ; Susi Clare; Gareth Culshaw; Bill Dodd;
Lori Drummond-Mundal; Mary Earnshaw; Cosmo Goldsmith;
Isabel Greenslade; Alan Hardy; Tim Houghton; Lani O’Hanlon;
Neil Rathmell; Julia Stothard; Katherine Swett; Peter Viggers;
Robin Lindsay Wilson; Nicky Winder; Mantz Yorke; Alessio Zanelli

*****

November 25

Bradt Travel Guides & The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

Unpublished writers

Three finalists invited to attend the prize-giving:
the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards Presented by Viking in London in early 2025

1st prize: 4-night break to Pas-de-Calais in northern France, with a tailormade itinerary taking in the region’s towns, coastal villages, countryside and cultural sites.

Winner also commissioned to write an article about their trip,
to be published on the Bradt website, as well as in Traveller magazine.
2 runners-ups: three Bradt guides of their choice.

All shortlisted pieces published on the Bradt website.

Judges: Hilary Bradt, founder of Bradt Guides; Adrian Phillips, MD of Bradt Guides;

Hugh Brune, Commercial Director of Bradt Guides; Amy Sohanpaul, editor of Traveller Magazine; Jonathan Lorie, travel-writing trainer and author of The Travel Writer’s Way.

Theme: ‘A Hasty Exit’

NB, do not use as title but original piece of writing, 600 and 800 words
which focuses on this topic. Not compulsory to include the phrase
but must very clearly adhere to this theme: true story,
based on the writer’s personal experience, written as a first-hand account,
in the first person and in English.
Travel Writing Competition, Bradt Guides, 31A High Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1BW

www.bradtguides.com/new-travel-writer-of-the-year-2025/

The 39th Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition

Judge: Kim Moore

Deadline: 30 November 2024

Submission: A collection of 20 pages of poetry
Prize: The two winners will receive expert close editing and support in extending their entry
if they wish to up to 28 pages for pamphlet publication
under our award-winning imprint Smith|Doorstop Books.
They also receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine,
and readings at The Wordsworth Trust and online.
Four runners-up receive publication in a feature in The North magazine,
an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.
Cost: Full-price entry is £29.
Subscribers to The North, Friends of the Poetry Business, and members of the Poetry Society
are eligible for the discounted fee of £27.
All entrants receive a 10% code that can be used to purchase Poetry Book Society membership.
More details:
https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/competitions/the-international-book-pamphlet-competition/

The 2024 National Poetry Competition

Run annually by The Poetry Society since 1978,
one of the most prestigious poetry competitions for a single unpublished poem

Open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over

1st prize: £5000
2nd: £2000; 3rd: £1000; commendations: £500 each.
Top three winners published in The Poetry Society’s journal The Poetry Review

Notified by the end of February 2025; awards event, Spring 2025

Judges: Romalyn Ante, John McAuliffe, Stephen Sexton
Fee: £8, then £5 each.
Poetry Society members (including those joining at time of submission): one additional poem free.

Length: 40 lines

Enter online by midnight on October 31

www.poetrysociety.org.uk/npc

The Bedford Competition

International Short Story & Poetry Awards
Over 17s
Deadline: 31 October 2024

Short Story Competition – up to 3000 words Poetry Competition – up to 40 lines

TBC is a nonprofit group, with donations made to literary causes

Short Story judge: Liv Maidment; Poetry Judge: Jessica Mookherjee

Prizes: £1500, £300 and £200

Cygnature Prizes, sponsored by the University of Bedfordshire, for writers aged 17-25
Also, prizes for local Bedford residents

Entry fees: £8.50 or 3 for £17. Students, £6 or 3 for £12

Details: www.bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk

Sonnet or Not 2024

Cannon Poets invite you to submit poems of 14 lines –

which may or may not keep close to the sonnet form – (or not at all!)

First Prize: £500

Judge: Deborah Alma

www.cannonpoets.org.uk

or Hon. Sec. Cannon Poets, 22, Margaret Grove, Birmingham, B17 9JH

Closing date 31st October

Ironbridge Festival Poetry Competition
Closing Date: October 20
Open to poets from across the globe, and poems on any and every subject are welcome
1st prize: £300
2nd prize of £125; 3 x 3d prizes of £25 each. Local prize: £50
Maximum length: 35 lines Fee: £4.00; £10.00/3
Judge: Paul Francis
https://pandemonialists.co.uk/ironbridge-poetry-competition-2024/

October 19th, Midnight
Coast to Coast to Coast Individual Poet Prize

Prize: a mini portfolio of poems stitched between unique covers
with a launch in Liverpool during 2025
Submit a manuscript of 12 pages of poetry
Full details below
www.mariaisakova.com/individualpoet-journals-competition

The VOLE Summer Competition

​’AUTUMN MAKES ME SING’

Open to international entries
Entries invited up to 31st July 2024

NO THEME (despite the title):

Dorothy Parker famously said:

‘Summer makes me drowsy.

Autumn makes me sing.

Winter’s pretty lousy,

but I hate Spring.’

Poems on any subject are invited

1st Prize: £50; 2nd Prize: £30; 3rd Prize: £20.

50 poems will be selected and published in an anthology
and all poets included will receive a free copy
www.dempseyandwindle.com/competition.html

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Second Light Competition for long and short poems by women.
Deadline 6th August. Online or postal entries.
 Judge, Wendy French’s latest poetry collection
is Bread Without Butter (Rockingham Press, 2020).
Prizes £325 each long & short/£175/£100; publication in ARTEMISpoetry and online.
One free entry for Second Light members.
Details: http://www.secondlightlive.co.uk/downloads/comp24.pdf

THE FINGAL POETRY PRIZE 2024
For poems in English
Open to all writers nationally and internationally

Entries must be submitted by June 30th 
The winner will receive €500 with awards of €300 and €200 for 2nd and 3rd place 
Judge: Peter Sirr
Prize giving ceremony in Skerries, Saturday September 14th as Part of Fingal Poetry Festival
Rules and full details of how to enter: https://fingalpoetryfestival.com  
AN FIACH DUBH 2024
Irish Language Competition 
Open to all writers nationally and internationally.
All poems must be composed in the Irish language. No translations to be sent with poems.  
Entries must be submitted by June 30th 
The winner will receive €500 with awards of €300 and €200 for 2nd and 3rd place 
Judge: Brid Ni Mhorain
Rules and full details of how to enter: https://fingalpoetryfestival.com

Wigtown International Poetry Prize

awards £1500 to the winning entry,

welcoming poems of up to 40 lines, on any theme.

Worldwide entries are welcome.

Entry Fee: £7

Deadline: 6 May, 2024

Visit www.wigtownpoetryprize.com for full details

The Anne Brown Essay Prize

£1500 for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland.

Invites fresh, insightful short-form writing

Entries may be on any subject and entry is free.

Deadline: 31 May, 2024

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