MK Literary Festival’s Tales from the City writing competition closes 1 February

With categories for 14-19 year olds and 20+, there are six prizes to be had, and the chance to be published in the festival’s next #MinK anthology.

Since 2017, MK Lit Festhas published over sixty local poets and short story writers, and given many of them an opportunity to perform to audiences at its in-person festivals in CMK, in events in the city’s parks, and as part of the festival’s year-round Online Programme.

Entries are now open for the Festival’s fourth MinK Creative Writing Competition, for which they have chosen the theme of Tales from the City. As the cliché runs, every city has a thousand stories: or, more accurately in our city's case, a quarter of a million individual stories. They might be tales of arrival, of birth, of transformation, of the emotional rollercoaster of human existence: tales that are born of people’s experience of a place, and how it has impacted them. Life’s big events all take place somewhere, and cities are often their backdrop.

And then there are stories of cities themself. Without a story there can be no history, and buildings, streets, landscapes, and neighbourhoods have histories just as people – or animals, trees or plants – do. Maybe you remember ‘when all this was just fields’, maybe you’ve witnessed all the changes it has been through, or maybe you helped to transform it into what it is today. Architects, planners, builders, landscapers… they all leave their marks as a city evolves.

Entry is free, and open to anyone living, working, or studying in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire. Write a piece of flash fiction writing of up to 500 words in any genre you choose: sci-fi, thriller, romance, journalism, YA, historical fiction… Or submit up to 500 words of creative non-fiction: the biography or the past life of a street, or a neighbourhood or landmark, perhaps? A vivid memory firmly tied to the place where it occurred? Or send in a poem of up to 40 lines inspired by the theme.

There will be a cash prize of £25 for the best story, creative non-fiction piece and poem in each of two age categories: 14-19 and 20+. In addition, MK Lit Fest aims to select the best pieces for publication in an anthology that will be available in paperback and e-reader formats. Writers may also be invited to read their work at future Lit Fest events, either in person or online.

Submissions close on 1 February 2024.

For more information about this exciting opportunity, visit the Festival website. You can also follow the Festival on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or sign up for their email newsletter.