Cli-Fi plus
In Competition No. 3242, you were asked to submit a short story that is a mash-up of cli-fi with a…
Vernal
In Competition No. 3241, you were invited to submit a spring triolet. Banjo Paterson, the bard of the bush, had…
A life in limericks
In Competition No. 3240, you were invited to tell the life story of a well-known figure in three limericks. In…
Bookish
In Competition No. 3239, you were invited to submit political manifestos inspired by literary heroes. Sajid Javid loves Ayn Rand:…
Fighting talk
In Competition No. 3238, you were invited to submit a poem about a literary feud. Wallace Stevens’s 1936 fisticuffs with…
Single-minded
In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge…
Love is …
In Competition No. 3236, you were invited to submit a poem that begins ‘Oh my love is like…’ . From…
A bit previous
In Competition No. 3235, you were invited to invent a prequel to a well-known work of literature and supply an…
Time for a change
In Competition No. 3234, you were invited to submit either a poem or a short story entitled ‘Covid’s metamorphoses’. Thanks…
Mr and misses
In Competition No. 3233, you were invited to invent a new character for the Mr Men/Little Miss series by Roger…
Have I got news for you
In Competition No. 3232, you were invited to retell a news story from the past year in sonnet form. An…
Vindalism
In Competition No. 3231, you were invited to supply an example of pretentious wine writing. Space is tight and the…
Double issue
In Competition No. 3230, you were invited to supply a double acrostic poem, the first and last letters of each…
Born again
In Competition No. 3229, you were invited to provide the story of the Nativity retold in the style of a…
Small-minded
In Competition No. 3228, you were invited to provide a well-known extract from adult literature rewritten for inclusion in an…
Mnemonic
In Competition No. 3227, you were invited to provide verses to help children remember the sequence of the last eight…
Show time
In Competition No. 3226, you were invited to rewrite, in pompous and prolix style, any well-known simple poem. The seed…
Night terrors
In Competition No. 3225, you were invited to provide a version of the Lord Chancellor’s ‘Nightmare Song’ from Iolanthe for…
Tourist misinformation
In Competition No. 3224, you were invited to submit snippets of misleading advice either for tourists visiting Britain or for…
Anyone for Dennis?
In Competition No. 3223, you were invited to supply an acrostic poem in which the first letter of each line,…
Group think
In Competition No. 3222, you were invited to supply a dystopian short story that incorporates as many collective nouns for…
One for the ode
In Competition No. 3221, you were invited to submit an ode on the Marble Arch Mound. The 25 metre-high artificial…
Chapter and verse
In Competition No. 3220, you were invited to supply a newly discovered short story by a well-known 19th- or 20th-century…
Follow the science
In Competition No. 3219, you were invited to supply clerihews on well-known scientists, past and present. The subject of the…
Cooking the books
In Competition No. 3218, you were invited to supply a recipe as it might have been written by the author…
